Home Care In Montezuma Creek, UT

Pfawnn Eskee noticed there wasn’t a dedicated space where Navajo Nation residents could find health information and resources. So she created a website that bloomed into something much bigger.

| Updated: 3:46 p.m.

This story is part of The Salt Lake Tribune’s ongoing commitment to identify solutions to Utah’s biggest challenges through the work of the Innovation Lab.

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While attending the Native American Conference for Behavioral Health and Mental Health in Portland, Oregon, Pfawnn Eskee, a Navajo woman, came across something she had never experienced before--a website she resonated with.

“It was all Native, by Natives and for Natives,” Eskee said with a half-grin on her face, recounting her experience at a presentation for We R Native. “It was just really cool to see a website that I could relate to.”

A lightbulb went off in Eskee’s head during the presentation. There wasn’t a central hub where Navajo Nation residents could look up information and resources pertaining to their community, but Eskee knew there was a need for one.

“I realized that it was really hard to find information about our community. It was hard to find resources,” said Eskee, recalling when she didn’t know how to enroll for food stamps after finding out she was pregnant in graduate school to become a therapist.

Turning inspiration into innovation

She carried the motivation from the conference back to Montezuma Creek, Utah, where, with the help of a 2017-2018 grant from the National Alliance of Mental Illness, she founded the website We Are Navajo under the Utah Navajo Health System.

The intention behind We Are Navajo didn’t stop at telling community members where the closest health clinic was. Eskee wanted to build a space where people could learn about the Navajo culture and contemplate complicated topics. For some Indigenous people, conversations about things like depression, anxiety and LGBTQ identity rarely occurred because, “A lot of subjects were taboo for our Native community to openly discuss and ask questions about,” said Eskee.

“In our community, from the traditional aspect, you don’t talk about those things,” Eskee said pointing to Indigenous suicide rates as an example, “because then you’re asking for bad things to be brought into your home, or into your family.”

Eskee wanted to expand the message of We Are Navajo to social media. But the NAMI grant lasted a year and only covered website maintenance, so most of the social media work was done off the clock, primarily by Eskee.

Her efforts paid off. Within a year, We Are Navajo evolved from a website to attract thousands of social media followers from all over the globe.

Specifically, the colorful content on We Are Navajo’s Facebook and Instagram pages were the main conversation starters for followers. They began reaching out to Eskee, thanking her for the encouragement to schedule a mammogram or therapy appointment.

“The comments and feedback that I got from the community kept that passion going,” said Eskee about all the unpaid hours spent on the project, “because they were so appreciative of all the information that I was providing.”

Little did Eskee know that in 2020, We Are Navajo’s online presence would skyrocket and turn into community aid work when a pandemic hit the sovereign land.

Serving the community through care packages

“COVID-19 was something that we’d never experienced before,” Eskee recounted with a sting in her voice. “We were put into lockdown on our Navajo reservation.”

The pandemic drove the Navajo Nation into isolation. According to Eskee, for a lot of Nation residents, social media was a fundamental source of constant COVID-19 information. Eskee expanded her content to reflect the frequently changing pandemic regulations enacted by Navajo Nation President Johnathan Nez.

Eskee watched her followers on Instagram jump from a few hundred to 10,000 nearly overnight. Her statistical tracking showed people from New York to Afghanistan were scrolling through and engaging with We Are Navajo content.

The unanticipated virtual traction resulted in followers requesting We Are Navajo merchandise and ways to donate to COVID-19 relief efforts back on the Nation.

“We all found ourselves in the middle of the pandemic,” said Sahar Khadjenoury, the program coordinator for the Utah Navajo Relief Program, “doing community service projects, finding ways to feed the community and [implementing] efforts to slow COVID-19 on the reservation.”

We Are Navajo partnered with the Utah Navajo COVID-19 Relief Program to donate items and distribute care packages for any Navajo Nation resident in need of one, but especially for the elderly who could not leave their homes out of concern for their safety.

“Our elders really need to be protected at all costs,” Khadjenoury said. “Our elders are so precious. They are our knowledge keepers. They are the pillars of the community. They possess so much traditional knowledge that encompasses everything from astronomy to botany.”

With the donations pouring in from social followers and elsewhere, Eskee braved public spaces to thoughtfully curate boxes when people were too scared to leave their homes, lost their jobs, or simply needed the support.

“When Eskee sent a box of leather working gloves, I was blown away,” said Khadjenoury, “because I thought, ‘That’s genius. That’s really what we needed because a lot of our elders still have to chop wood and bring it in themselves.’”

Shelly White began picking up care packages for her elderly mom when she discovered the resource on We Are Navajo’s Facebook page.

“We are Navajo had the best items,” White listed off fresh produce, cleaning supplies, and a reusable tote as an example. “We actually do use these items.”

The boxes contained not just everyday essentials, but also traditional Navajo items.

“We use blue corn, the grained kind,” said White, which is used to make blue corn mush, a popular Navajo dish, “and Juniper Ash that we use to make cornmeal with. Some of those things were in there. And those are really hard to come by.”

(Pfawnn Eskee|We Are Navajo) The creator of We Are Navajo, Pfawnn Eskee, on May 21, 2020, with a vehicle packed full of items in Cortez, Utah to create care packages for Navajo Nation residents in need during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Marissa Woody, who lived 15 miles away from Eskee’s pick-up spot, would bring back We Are Navajo care packages to members of her community.

“My two grandmas, they didn’t go anywhere during the pandemic at all,” Woody said. “So these packages really helped out with just providing the groceries that were needed.”

The layered impact of We Are Navajo

Just recently, Eskee resigned as a licensed social worker at UNHS and became a mental health specialist with the Indian Health Services in Shiprock, New Mexico. The transition meant she handed the keys to We Are Navajo over to UNHS, despite hoping to remain on the project as a contract worker.

“In the end, UNHS wanted to keep it within the company,” said Eskee. “That was probably the hardest part about leaving my job, having to leave We Are Navajo.”

Even though Eskee no longer holds creative control over the project, the fruits of her labor did not go unnoticed.

Kolenya Dempsey, the new director of We Are Navajo and current director of Iina Bihoo’aah Program, a UNHS initiative promoting a healthy transition to adulthood for Navajo youth with serious mental illness or emotional disorders, says Eskee’s passion project exceeded expectations.

“It was originally targeting mental health topics and education,” said Dempsey, referring to the early intention behind We Are Navajo, “It grew bigger than that. It highlighted our culture and heritage and showcased it for the world to see.”

As Eskee stayed up late, packing We Are Navajo apparel and branded items to ship on her own time, those on the receiving end got a visual token of their culture to share with everyone.

For Kurt Holiday, an employee at UNHS and longtime supporter of We Are Navajo, says the merchandise gave him a strong connection to his Navajo identity.

“It’s a conversation starter,” mentioned Holiday about his We Are Navajo t-shirt, “it’s also very empowering.”

Woody, the woman who brought Eskee’s care packages back to her Navajo neighbors, feels a community in the We Are Navajo apparel. “I own five shirts.”

“We are Navajo, just the word itself,” Woody contemplated, “always brings me back to the number one teaching we were always told growing up: be proud of who you are and where you come from.”

The future of We Are Navajo

We Are Navajo started as one person’s idea and bloomed into an irreplaceable resource. As the project progresses into the future, one thing remains abundantly clear from those taking over: Eskee deserves immense kudos for the launch and success of We Are Navajo.

“She does receive a lot of credit on the development,” said Dempsey when asked about how We Are Navajo will continue without Eskee.

“We are going to have to get creative on upcoming projects, on how we will create new content, and keep it up to date with the community’s needs and what’s going on nationwide,” Dempsey added.

Even though Eskee is no longer involved directly with We Are Navajo, the impact of her passion project will live on, whether that be through her newly named Instagram (@Phenomnal_Navajo), Facebook (@PhenomnalNavajo) and Twitter (@phenomenalNDN) pages, the conversations sparked in the grocery store over a We Are Navajo t-shirt, or the future plans UNHS has for the program.

“I’ll continue with the social media accounts, and hopefully continue to inspire others and empower others to have those important conversations that should be had,” Eskee said. “I’ll continue to hopefully make something great again, and hopefully We Are Navajo’s legacy will live on.”

___

Solutions in practice

(Courtesy of the Utah Farm Bureau) Volunteers help distribute donated sheep in Montezuma Creek on Monday, May 25, 2020, as part of the Farmers Feeding Utah program.

| Updated: 7:57 a.m.

Even as miles-long food bank lines have become emblematic of the coronavirus pandemic, many Utah farmers and ranchers have found themselves with plenty of food but nowhere to sell it.

“Farmers and ranchers have been in just a crazy moment through all of this,” said Ron Gibson, president of the Utah Farm Bureau. “It’s been devastating to some of our industries, and one of the industries that’s been hurt the most is the sheep industry.”

A sheep rancher in Sanpete County recently had a freezer full of meat he couldn’t sell, Gibson said, just as the Navajo Nation, where mutton is a staple for many families, was becoming one of the regions most affected by the coronavirus in Utah.

Looking at the twin problems of food insecurity caused by the economic crises and a drop in market demand for food products, a coalition of groups including the Utah Farm Bureau formed Farmers Feeding Utah, a new effort designed to address both issues at once.

In less than three weeks, the initiative raised enough money, mostly from grassroots donors, to pursue its first project: purchasing 16,000 pounds of lamb and 500 live sheep from Utah ranchers and donating them to families on the Navajo Nation.

“It’s really a Utah program for Utah families,” Gibson said. “The purpose is to help farmers and ranchers in the state ... to buy food from them and give that to people that have food insecurities.”

(Zak Podmore | The Salt Lake Tribune) Former San Juan County Commissioner Rebecca Benally speaks at a Farmers Feeding Utah event in Blanding on Friday, May 22, 2020.

Rebecca Benally, a member of the Navajo Nation and former San Juan County commissioner, helped facilitate the daunting task of distributing thousands of pounds of frozen lamb and truckloads of sheep to families who live in the remote reaches of the county and where commercial-scale freezer space is in short supply.

San Juan County "is 51 percent Native Americans, and we are told statistically that we are the poorest county in the state,” Benally said at a kick-off event on Friday in Blanding, where lamb and bags of Bluebird flour, another local favorite, were loaded into vehicles at the Blanding Food Bank.

“We're working 24 hours a day to pull this off, and we will,” Benally added, noting that the live sheep distribution would take place this week and next in communities all across southeast Utah from Aneth to Navajo Mountain.

“When we tell the people they’re getting a live sheep and flour, they’re one step from heaven,” she said. “They’re very appreciative.”

The governor’s office and the Utah Department of Agriculture and Food supported the project, and The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints covered some shipping and transportation costs. The Farm Bureau paid for administrative costs to allow donations from individuals to go directly to purchasing, processing and distributing food.

(Courtesy of the Utah Farm Bureau) Wade Garrett from Utah Farm Bureau helping load the sheep in Montezuma Creek on Monday, May 25, 2020.

Logan Wilde, commissioner of the Utah Department of Agriculture and Food, said the impacts of the pandemic on the food industry have been widespread.

“Across the board, every industry that’s in agriculture has been hit,” he said. “The price of corn just hasn’t come up like it usually does towards spring. There’s been a lot of problems.”

“We think [the Farmers Feeding Utah program] is a marvelous way for community outreach to happen across the state and across this country,” Wilde said.

Cheryl Bowers, director of the Blanding Food Bank, member of the Blanding City Council and county commission candidate, said the impacts of the pandemic were felt almost immediately in southeast Utah. The coronavirus arrived just as tourist-industry workers were ramping up for the busy spring season.

“At the first food bank in April after COVID hit, I had food for 220 families. About 500 families showed up,” Bowers said. Volunteers scrambled to increase capacity, but she said she’s worried about burnout.

Mutual aid efforts, donation drives and programs like Farmers Feeding Utah have helped local food banks adapt, and local groups have been critical to helping facilitate larger scale food distribution efforts. The lamb meat, for example, was stored in the Blanding Food Bank’s facilities.

When you simultaneously support local farmers and enhance existing food drive efforts in the state, you get a “true win-win," said Michael Mower, Utah Gov. Gary Herbert’s deputy chief of staff. “Nothing better exemplifies the Utah spirit and the Utah way than this program."

For Farmers Feeding Utah, the San Juan County project is just the beginning. The group is currently fundraising through its website and hopes to replicate the effort by supporting farmers and families in other parts of the state.

Zak Podmore is a Report for America corps member and writes about conflict and change in San Juan County for The Salt Lake Tribune. Your donation to match our RFA grant helps keep him writing stories like this one; please consider making a tax-deductible gift of any amount today by clicking here.

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MONTEZUMA CREEK, San Juan County — Forty-four students and adults from Montezuma Creek Elementary School were treated for possible carbon monoxide poisoning Monday.

"An exhaust pipe coming from one of two water heaters had become disconnected at some time, venting gas into a mechanical room, the kitchen and classrooms," San Juan County administrator Rick Bailey said in a prepared statement.

The carbon monoxide scare and subsequent school evacuation started shortly after school began Monday. Many students were gathered for an assembly in the school's gymnasium, located next to the room where the water heaters operate.

The San Juan County emergency management office reported the 44 people, including a male volunteer EMT, were transported to hospitals in Blanding, Monticello and Cortez, Colo.

A female teacher was taken by medical helicopter to Southwest Memorial Hospital in Cortez, Colo., and later transferred to a Salt Lake City hospital, where she remained overnight, Bailey said.

A third-grade student was also flown to Southwest Memorial Hospital, where she was treated and later released.

A second adult woman who was inside the school was taken by medical helicopter to Mercy Medical Center in Durango, Colo. Bailey did not have an update on her condition Monday night.

The volunteer EMT, who was being treated for a broken leg he sustained during the response at the school, was also expected to remain hospitalized overnight at San Juan Hospital in Monticello.

Others affected by the gas, some of whom had passed out, were taken by bus or ambulance and treated at area hospitals, San Juan School District Superintendent Douglas Wright said.

Blue Mountain Hospital in Blanding reported treating students and school employees for dizziness, difficulty breathing and nausea.

"The CO levels rose to dangerous levels; they measured it at about 300 parts per million, which is really high," said San Juan County Commissioner Phil Lyman.

For adults, carbon monoxide levels can get dangerous at 35 parts per million.

About

CO PoisoningUnborn babies, infants, elderly and people with respiratory problems are at the most risk

In a series of 911 calls, a female employee of the school described the symptoms children and adults were experiencing, including dizziness, vomiting, headaches and collapsing. She first called about a little girl who was sick, then a woman.

"What's going on over there?" a dispatcher asked.

Soon after, the principal talked to the dispatcher, saying several other students were experiencing similar symptoms.

"Get as many ambulances as you can over here," the principal told the dispatcher.

The illnesses alerted school officials to the possibility of a leak.

"Within an hour they started to show some symptoms, and then by 9:30 there were a number of kids who were actually unconscious," Lyman said. "We're really concerned about the whole situation. That's not the kind of news you want to get on a Monday morning."

He did not believe that initial reports of up to 15 students being found unconscious inside the school were true.

The elementary school was evacuated, sending faculty, staff and students who were not immediately effected to nearby Whitehorse High School. Students were being evaluated at the high school. According to the sheriff's office, 30 people had been triaged at the scene.

The elementary school was closed for the rest of the school day. Classes will resume Tuesday, and a meeting will be scheduled for parents who want more information about the incident, Wright said.

Carbon monoxide detectors aren't required in the school, but the school district will be reconsidering the policy, he said.

Montezuma Creek Elementary holds kindergarten through sixth grades. About 280 students were estimated to be at the school at the time.

Contributing: Sandra Yi and Peter Samore

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View Montezuma Leak in a larger map

| Updated: Aug. 7, 2020, 9:56 a.m.

Utah will reap million of dollars’ worth of environmental cleanup and monitoring benefits in a “landmark” agreement arising from the disastrous 2015 Gold King Mine spill.

On Wednesday, officials announced a deal to settle Utah’s claims against the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency associated with the massive spill from the breach that washed tons of toxic waste out of Colorado’s San Juan Mountains and into the Beehive State via the San Juan River.

The Aug. 5, 2015, disaster sparked dozens of claims against the federal government, with Utah’s the largest at $1.9 billion. In the suit filed in U.S. District Court in New Mexico, Utah Attorney General Sean Reyes alleged the spill deposited tons of toxic metals in the state’s waterways and Lake Powell, resulting in a costly cleanup and disrupting the lives of San Juan County residents.

In the deal announced five years to the day since the spill, at least $220 million will be provided toward the cleanup of the historic Bonita Peak Mining District and other abandoned mine sites, including many in Utah. Reyes called the settlement “cooperative federalism,” representing a true partnership between the state and federal governments.

“After years of intense litigation and negotiations, we are very pleased that millions of dollars can now be spent towards mitigation, remediation and assuring water quality in Utah rather than years of more litigation, trial and appeals,” Reyes said in a statement.

The state had two goals in the case.

“First, get the federal government to clean up massive amounts of waste still lurking in many historic mining districts, including the one that caused the Gold King Mine blowout,” Reyes said. The second goal was to get the feds to pay for any damages caused by the spill.

“We are highly encouraged,” the attorney general said, “the EPA has stepped up and committed hundreds of millions of dollars toward cleaning up several dangerous mining districts containing billions of gallons of potentially harmful substances that threaten Utah if they are released.”

FILE - In this Aug. 14, 2015, file photo, water flows through a series of sediment retention ponds built to reduce heavy metal and chemical contaminants from the Gold King Mine outside Silverton, Colo. The U.S. government settled a lawsuit Wednesday, Aug. 5, 2020, brought by the state of Utah over a mine waste spill caused by federal workers that sent wastewater downstream to several states from the inactive Gold King Mine in southwestern Colorado five years ago. (AP Photo/Brennan Linsley, File)

The disaster unfolded when EPA contractor Environmental Restoration and its subcontractors inadvertently unleashed a 3 million-gallon torrent of mine waste while conducting cleanup work at Gold King outside Silverton, Colo. The waste turned the Animas River an alarming shade of orange and contaminated the San Juan as it flowed through New Mexico and into Utah, terminating at Lake Powell.

Utah officials are elated with the federal government’s pledge to address abandoned mines and give Utah a voice the remediation of upstream sites in another state.

“It is a large commitment, given the level of damages the state couldn’t prove in a legal case. That was one of the challenging things going into this,” said Scott Baird, executive director of the Utah Department of Environmental Quality. “We always projected a worst-case scenario to come up with something reasonable for a lawsuit. Dredging Lake Powell isn’t a practical approach to this.”

The Gold King spill was a catastrophic event, but the 540 tons of metals it released into the environment pales in comparison with what has gradually leaked from the Bonita Peak district, not to mention dozens of other historic mining districts, over the years, Baird noted. Monitoring has shown that Utah’s waterways were not that badly damaged by Gold King because much of the harmful sediments settled out of the water before reaching Lake Powell.

The bigger threat to Utah’s water quality is from hundreds of retired mines, not just Gold King, that have gone unreclaimed, and Wednesday’s settlement dedicates resources to address that threat, according to Baird.

The EPA has so far put out $75 million toward reclaiming the Bonita Peak district since the spill and will spend another $65 million there over the next several years, according to Reyes. The settlement obligates the agency to spend $80 million to $100 million remediating other sites affecting Utah water quality.

“While not related to [the Gold King] incident, it is related to the issue of abandoned mines,” Baird said. “The other point is we have a seat at the table in the final remediation of this whole [Bonita Peak district] so we can make sure, as the downstream partner, we have a say. If other issues come up, it allows us to come back to the table.”

In the 10-page settlement agreement, Utah dismisses its legal claims against the federal government as well as the EPA contractors involved, but not its claims against the owners of Gold King and neighboring mines, namely the Harrison Western Corp., Kinross Gold USA, Sunnyside Gold Corp. and Gold King Mine Corp.

While Colorado opted to not sue over the spill, Native American tribes and New Mexico filed suits against the EPA, which are still pending.

The EPA had already reimbursed the $500,000 Utah spent on its initial response to the disaster. But Wednesday’s settlement also secures $3 million in funding for the Utah Division of Water Quality for a variety of projects that have little to do with mine waste, such as monitoring harmful algal blooms, reducing agricultural and septic runoff and protecting underground drinking water sources.

Also in the settlement, the EPA agreed to initiate and pay for waste removal evaluations at three historic mine sites in Utah. They include Mill D or Cardiff Fork in Big Cottonwood Canyon outside Salt Lake City, a uranium-tainted site in San Juan County’s Lisbon Valley and the Bauer tailings dump at Tooele County’s Ophir Mining District. These evaluations can cost up to $200,000 each and would not likely happen were it not for the settlement.

Correction: Aug. 7, 9:50 a.m. • This story was corrected to reflect the accurate value of the settlement.

The (Farmington, N.M.) Daily Times

FARMINGTON, N.M. — The plume of heavy metals released last week into the Animas River from the Gold King Mine near Silverton, Colo., reached Utah on Monday.

As of Monday evening, officials said the plume of contamination was southeast of Montezuma Creek, Utah, and was headed for Lake Powell. Environmental Protection Agency officials say the pollutants in the plume include arsenic, lead, copper, aluminum and cadmium, but have not released any detailed information on the spill that started Wednesday morning and has since been contained.

The Gold King Mine's discharge raises the possibility of long-term damage from the toxic metals falling out of suspension as the plume slowly moves along the river.

"Sediment does settle," said Shaun McGrath, administrator of EPA's Region 8. "It settles down to the bottom of the riverbed."

EPA officials announced Monday afternoon that public access to the Animas and San Juan rivers would continue to be closed until at least Aug. 17.

One rural water user association in San Juan County, where New Mexico Gov. Susana Martinez declared a state of emergency Monday, has spent thousands of dollars buying water from Farmington and Aztec because it had to shut down its wells after the toxic mine waste spilled into the Animas last week.

"We don't want to take a chance of contaminating them — and it sure has cost us a lot of money," said Rick Mitchell, Flora Vista Mutual Domestic Water Association general manager.

Mustard-colored water began rushing out of the Gold King Mine in southern Colorado on Wednesday after an EPA team disturbed a dam of loose rock lodged in the mine.

The deluge of polluted water poured into Cement Creek and continued into the Animas River. The plume of pollution, clearly visible from the air and estimated to be more than 80 miles long at one point, reached Farmington, N.M., on Saturday morning.

McGrath said future runoff from storms will kick that toxic sediment back into the water, which means there will need to be long-term monitoring.

He added that "the Animas River has historically been polluted by acid mine drainage."

Chapters within the Northern Agency have started the process of issuing emergency declarations after toxic mine waste flowed down the San Juan River onto the Navajo Nation.

The San Juan River travels west through the Navajo Nation, then converges with the Colorado River at Lake Powell in southeastern Utah. For the chapter communities near the San Juan River, it is the main source of water for crops and livestock.

So far, the chapters of Upper Fruitland, Nenahnezad, San Juan and Shiprock have issued either declarations or resolutions calling for a state of emergency within their boundaries.

The "slug" of pollution, which the EPA says contains metals and is about as acidic as black coffee, is headed toward Lake Powell.

Silverton is surrounded by abandoned mines, and the EPA was checking on one of the worst ones, the Gold King, when the breach occurred. Area residents are furious that the federal agency charged with fighting pollution accidentally caused it.

The Animas has largely returned to running clear below Silverton and into Durango, although some of the orange sediment remains in some puddles and along the shore.

Officials advise residents with wells in the flood plains of the Animas River and the San Juan River downstream of the confluence of the two rivers to have their water tested before using it for cooking, drinking or bathing.

County Executive Officer Kim Carpenter voiced frustration about the delay in getting information about the chemicals in the water. The data, he said, will "give us a big picture of what we are going to deal with and the long-term effects we will have to deal with."

Contributing: Steve Garrison, Joshua Kellogg and Noel Lyn Smith, The (Farmington, N.M.) Daily Times; and Trevor Hughes, USA TODAY