Kayenta Health Center emergency room director Dr. Anthony Griffy, second from right, works with Team Rubicon volunteers, Dr. Stan Chartoff, with the U.S. Air Force Reserve from Hartford, Conn., third from right, EMT Hannah Tellier from Boston, left and Cindy Robison, a U.S. Air Force veteran and nurse from Colorado Springs, Colo., right, as they practice with a new intubation shield that just arrived to help protect medical workers at the Kayenta Health Center emergency room Kayenta, Ariz., on April 23, 2020. Assisting the medial staff on the table, posing as a patient, is Team Rubicon safety officer and EMT Vick Dempsey. When used, the shield is placed over the coronavirus patient’s head during intubation, inserting a tube down a sedated patient’s throat to give them oxygen.
Agathla Peak is seen through the window of the Kayenta Health Center on the Navajo reservation in Kayenta, Ariz., on April 18, 2020. The reservation has some of the highest rates of coronavirus in the country. Team Rubicon is helping with medical operations as cases of COVID-19 surge.
Team Rubicon volunteer Dr. Stan Chartoff, U.S. Air Force Reserve from Hartford, Conn., is reflected in the window as he walks to the emergency department of the Kayenta Health Center on the Navajo reservation in Kayenta, Ariz., on April 19, 2020. The reservation has some of the highest rates of coronavirus in the country. Team Rubicon is helping with medical operations as cases of COVID-19 surge.
Christra McDermont, a U.S. Navy veteran from Los Angeles, center, talks with other Team Rubicon volunteers, Dr. Stan Chartoff, with the U.S. Air Force Reserve from Hartford Conn., left, and EMT Tracy Thomas from Omaha, Neb., in a patient waiting area at the Kayenta Health Center on the Navajo reservation in Kayenta, Ariz., on April 19, 2020. The reservation has some of the highest rates of coronavirus in the country. Team Rubicon is helping with medical operations as cases of COVID-19 surge.
Team Rubicon Volunteers Dennis Grooms, an EMT from St. Louis, left, nurse Cindy Robison, a U.S. Air Force veteran from Colorado Springs, Colo., and EMT Tracy Thomas from Omaha, Neb., prepare to see a coronavirus patient in the emergency room of the Kayenta Health Center in Kayenta, Ariz., on April 23, 2020. The Navajo reservation has some of the highest rates of coronavirus in the country. Team Rubicon is helping with medical operations as cases of COVID-19 surge.
Team Rubicon volunteer, EMT Hannah Tellier, from Boston, holds a COVID-19 test in the emergency room of the Kayenta Health Center on the Navajo reservation in Kayenta, Ariz., on April 23, 2020. The Navajo reservation has some of the highest rates of coronavirus in the country. Team Rubicon is helping with medical operations as cases of COVID-19 surge.
Team Rubicon volunteers work with local medical staff in the emergency room of the Kayenta Health Center on the Navajo reservation in Kayenta, Ariz., on April 23, 2020. The Navajo reservation has some of the highest rates of coronavirus in the country. Team Rubicon is helping with medical operations as cases of COVID-19 surge.
Agathla Peak is seen in the distance beyond the parking lot of Kayenta Health Center on the Navajo reservation in Kayenta, Ariz., on April 18, 2020. The Navajo reservation has some of the highest rates of coronavirus in the country. Team Rubicon is helping with medical operations as cases of COVID-19 surge.
Scott Nargis, of Wisconsin, a U.S. Army veteran and Team Rubicon incident commander, left, and Christra McDermont, of Los Angeles, a U.S. Navy veteran and Team Rubicon operation section chief, enter the emergency department at the Kayenta Health Center on the Navajo reservation in Kayenta, Ariz., on April 18, 2020. The reservation has some of the highest rates of coronavirus in the country. Team Rubicon is helping with medical operations as cases of COVID-19 surge.
Team Rubicon volunteers, from left, Dennis Grooms, an EMT from St. Louis, Cindy Robison, a U.S. Air Force veteran and nurse from Colorado Springs, Colo., and Christra McDermont, a U.S. Navy veteran from Los Angeles, and operation section chief, gather in the emergency room during a lull at the Kayenta Health Center on the Navajo reservation in Kayenta, Ariz., on April 18, 2020. The reservation has some of the highest rates of coronavirus in the country. Team Rubicon is helping with medical operations as cases of COVID-19 surge.
Team Rubicon volunteer Dennis Grooms, an EMT from St. Louis, cleans his face shield with a sanitary wipe after seeing a patient in the emergency room of the Kayenta Health Center on the Navajo reservation in Kayenta, Ariz., on April 23, 2020. The reservation has some of the highest rates of coronavirus in the country. Team Rubicon is helping with medical operations as cases of COVID-19 surge. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)
Team Rubicon volunteer, EMT Hannah Tellier from Boston, left, and a member of the Kayenta Health Center staff prepare to practice with a new shield that just arrived to help protect medical workers when they intubate patients, in Kayenta, Ariz., on the Navajo Reservation on April 23, 2020. Assisting the medial staff on the table, posing as a patient, is Team Rubicon safety officer and EMT Vick Dempsey.
A sign on a door warns people to wear face coverings at the Kayenta Health Center on the Navajo reservation in Kayenta, Ariz., on April 18, 2020. The reservation has some of the highest rates of coronavirus in the country. Team Rubicon is helping with medical operations as cases of COVID-19 surge.
Scott Nargis, a U.S. Army veteran and incident commander with Team Rubicon, works in his housing at the Kayenta Health Center on the Navajo reservation in Kayenta, Ariz. on April 18, 2020. The Navajo reservation has some of the highest rates of coronavirus in the country. Team Rubicon is helping with medical operations as cases of COVID-19 surge.
Team Rubicon volunteers, EMT Tracy Thomas from Omaha, Neb., and Dr. Stan Chartoff, with the U.S. Air Force Reserve from Hartford Conn., stand outside the emergency room at the Kayenta Health Center on the Navajo reservation in Kayenta, Ariz. on April 19, 2020. The reservation has some of the highest rates of coronavirus in the country. Team Rubicon is helping with medical operations as cases of COVID-19 surge.
Team Rubicon volunteers, nurse Cindy Robison, a U.S. Air Force veteran from Colorado Springs, Colo., left, and Dennis Grooms, an EMT from St. Louis, center, work with their only ventilator, as Christra McDermont, a U.S. Navy veteran from Los Angeles, and operation section chief, counts face masks in the emergency room of the Kayenta Health Center on the Navajo reservation in Kayenta, Ariz., on April 19, 2020. The reservation has some of the highest rates of coronavirus in the country. Team Rubicon is helping with medical operations as cases of COVID-19 surge.
A sign posted April 23 in Oljato-Monument Valley, Utah, saying the Navajo Monument Vally Tribal Park is closed, in an effort to prevent the spread of COVID-19 on the Navajo reservation. The reservation has some of the highest rates of coronavirus in the country.
Under the watchful eye of Agathla Peak and just south of Monument Valley on the Navajo reservation, the Kayenta Health Center struggled under an onslaught of COVID-19.
The center’s only ventilator was in use on a patient in late April and, suddenly, the oxygen valve failed. Dennis Grooms of St. Louis spent the next three hours hand-pumping oxygen into the patient’s lungs until he could be flown to a larger medical facility.
“We had to keep him breathing,” said Grooms, an EMT volunteering with the Los Angeles-based Team Rubicon. The disaster relief organization pairs the skills of military veterans with first responders and medical professionals.
After his shift ended, Grooms walked the 10 minutes back to his housing through empty parking lots and quiet playgrounds carrying his uneaten peanut butter and jelly sandwich in a paper bag. He sprayed his shoes with disinfectant, put his clothes into the washing machine and decompressed while soaking in the bathtub.
Still, he was glad to be there: “Almost every day you go back home from here you feel like you did something good.”
Federal officials called on Team Rubicon to help fill positions at Kayenta when much of the staff was unable to go to work. The group is funded by private donations.
