Gallup Sun

COVID-19 has hit Native American communities harder than most. As a member of Isleta Pueblo, I am deeply concerned. Currently, the New Mexico Department of Health’s website reports that Native Americans account for nearly 50 percent of our state’s COVID-19 cases, and there is no telling what that number could be by the time you read this.

To make matters even worse, the Native population also has the highest uninsured rate in New Mexico.

As a lifelong advocate for the health and well-being of Native Americans, I worry that many of our community members will not have access to the healthcare they may need during this pandemic. At beWellnm, we want to make sure Native Americans...

The COVID-19 crisis has shown how quickly life can change.  But it also has shown how much we need one another, that we are a community, looking out for one another, taking care of one another and being responsible for and to one another.

Because of that commitment to our neighbors, we had to shut down the economy, an action which has reverberated down Main Street, hurting us both personally and as a state. New Mexico now faces an unprecedented budget shortfall of up to $2 billion which will require the governor to call a special session of the legislature to address the deficit.

Extremely difficult decisions will face our lawmakers. Less than three months ago they returned to...

When I lived in Gallup unattended/unwitnessed death from exposure/hypothermia/addiction was a common occurrence. Based upon the article I read in the April 24, 2020 Gallup Sun unattended death on the streets of Gallup and within the city limits is still a common occurrence, sad. It appears that Covid-19 may have exacerbated this problem.

Before moving I remember that the Mayor (McKinney) decided that this was a negative portrayal of the City of Gallup to denote exposure/hypothermia/addiction deaths on and around the streets of Gallup. He decided to call these sad incidents Open Field Deaths because it was not such a negative reflection of the reality for street people and homeless...

Well our wonderful state and local government strikes again, locks down Gallup for another weekend which caused problems in Grants from lines of people waiting to get into the local Wal-Mart that stretched all the way to the back of the building, to the Milan Super Market having to start shutting down at 7 pm.

Why? Because people were told they could get back into Gallup on Friday but were stopped. These folks need stuff too, so they went to Grants where the stores are still open, and few people have the virus!

So now we have lots of people trying to get in from out of town, lots of empty shelves in the stores, and my guess is more virus than before. Sleep well tonight your government...