Puppies

Yesterday while going on my run over the mesa in back of my house I came across two puppies sitting on the side of the road miles from any dwelling. I am sure they were left there by someone who could not or did not want to care from them any more. They were only a few months old and it broke my heart to see them there alone and without food or water. On my way back about thirty minutes later they were gone. I drove up there to the spot where I had seen them and could not find them. Perhaps a coyote got them or maybe they were picked up by a passing car.

Abandoned and feral animals abound here. There is no animal control officer and the local culture believes in letting them be. If they are smart enough to survive on their own than so be it. There are many, many, feral horses that are somewhat like civic pets. People will leave out food for them to supplement the grass they eat. With goats, sheep, and a few feral pigs there is almost a mini zoo in town. I have heard the mountain lion come down from the highlands to feast on the varied diet of Chinle. I cannot forget the puppies though. There must be a better way than simple abandonment. The Navajo have a love and respect for animals so there should be a solution that is consistent with the Navajo Way and humane to the animals.

Dedication and Retention

The Pediatricians I work with are a great group of people.  The have come out here to one of the most isolated spots in the lower 48 to deliver top quality care where the need is great.  The core group of Pediatricians are all young (at least relative to me) and within a few years of leaving their Pediatric Residency.  Coming here gives them an opportunity to practice a very broad spectrum of Pediatrics from the inpatient practice of sick children to the outpatient practice of well children who need immunizations. The Indian Health Service guarantees a good paycheck with a relatively low cost of living. It is an exciting practice at times with many sick children rolling into the emergency room and one does a lot more the average Pediatrician in Portland. I great admire and respect my fellow Pediatricians, especially the lead Pediatrician who is a woman who is headed to bigger and better things.

The down side is that living in Chinle is hard on the Pediatricians and other practitioners who do not have roots in the community. There is little intellectual stimulation nearby, little recreation opportunities, and not much shopping.  The hardest area for young physicians is the lack of opportunity to meet and romance other people. There are no sports clubs, book clubs, and cultural activities to meet others. There are very few active churches except for the LDS church in town.  There aren't even any bars. (Not a bad thing in my mind.)  Many of the young people feel isolated so after a few years move to large cities where they meet others with interests similar to their own.  I am not sure what the Indian Health Service can do to change this trend of people moving on after a few years. I love the mutton stew, the Navajo tacos, and the local color but I can so how it would wear thin after a few years.

Rollover

Last night there was a rollover accident outside of town where a family of five was traveling at three in the morning.  No one was wearing a seatbelt or in a carseat.  The parents were ejected out of the vehicle and the children were found in the car.   The parents died shortly after the accident.  The children were all injured with broken bones and multiple trauma but most likely will all survive. Unfortunately they are now all orphans.  This is a part of my job I do not like.

This is all to common an event in the Navajo Nation. We as physicians are partly to blame for not asking each and every time we see a family if they are using a carseat.  We supply every tribal member with a car seat when they leave the hospital. We get cooperation and help from the tribal police who will pull people over when they a child bouncing around in the car when they should be restrained.  Unfortunately some people feel it their right as citizens to refuse to wear seatbelts or use carseats.  I wonder where are the rights of the children who will now grow up without parents because of the carelessness of those they trusted.  Who will be there for their first date or their graduations?  This is really not a Navajo problem but a problem for us all.

The good thing is that the community comes together in events like this and relatives are quick to take the children in and support them. The "It takes a village to raise a child." is nowhere more true than in the Navajo Nation. For my part I will do what I can as a Pediatrician to make sure this does not happen again.

McMutton

 While visiting Window Rock, capitol of the Navajo Nation, I noticed short sleeve shirts for sale with the McDonald emblem and "McMutton" on the shirt.  A few years ago the local McDonalds in a bow to the Navajo had McMutton burgers for sale.  The burgers made from old sheep were not very popular and the burgers were dropped quickly.  However, the shirts persist and are even a source of pride to the Navajo.

The Navajo cuisine is famous for Navajo Tacos and Indian Fry Bread but what really sets the Navajo apart is mutton,  Mutton is sheep older than two years and can be quite strong tasting,  The sheep to Navajo is what the buffalo was to the plains Indian, the camel to the Bedouin, and the horse to the cowboy.  A sheep is killed for feasts, to celebrate, and just to survive.  The wool makes the famous Navajo blankets.  It is as much a part of Navajo culture as the language. Almost every family keeps some sheep.  Liking the sheep is one thing, using its wool another, but eating mutton is an acquired taste. 

I hope to cook mutton stew some weekend.   I have many recipes from the elder grandmother types around here. I've been told to open the windows and be prepared for an all day adventure as it takes a while for the mutton to tenderize to the point that is edible.  So if you are driving through Chinle in the next few weeks and you see people fleeing the doctors compound you know what's going on.

Indian Route 7

Yesterday I went to Gallup NM to go shopping and enjoy time away from Chinle. Normally the route taken over paved highway lasts about two hours. I had heard about a "shortcut" over Indian Route 7 that goes over the mountains between Chinle and Fort Defiance. It is marked on most maps although it is shown as a dirt/gravel road for about 25 miles.

So began an adventure over Route 7. Route 7 climbs from 5500 feet of Chinle to over 8000 feet at the high point. After being paved for the first 15 miles through Canyon De Chelly National Monument it turns to dirt or at this of year mud. It narrows to one lane if you can call it a lane and is rutted with furrows and thick viscous mud. It must have been created before the Spanish came on wagons because this time of year one is much better off walking through parts of it. I should have paid attention to the fact there was no traffic in the other direction. I had two voices in my head: one (the angel) telling me to turn around now before I sank into the ooze forever: the other (the devil) saying to just keep going because it would soon get better. As my wife knows well, the devil usually wins.

 Up and down I went through muddy ruts and narrow passes. My black Mitsubishi was now coated in red. After an hour of this I saw a car up ahead that was stopped in the middle of the road before a water filled 20 foot long ditch. I stopped, got out and met a nice German couple trying to decide to go through the ditch. They had been using a GPS unit which stated that this route was the shortest between Chinle and Gallup. "We don't have roads like this in Germany!" they said. However, they do have fools like myself in the USA so as they watched I backed up to get some distance and speed and went right through the ditch mud flying everywhere (I may have floated a bit). They soon followed and made it through without problem. They asked if I minded having a follower and the fool and two naive tourists continued on slowly until we hit the pavement near Fort Defiance.

Window Rock

Window Rock, about an hour away from Chinle, is the Capitol of the Navajo Nation. The major administrative offices for the tribe are located there and the tribal council meets there regularly. The tribe has a president, not a chief, who serves a specified term. The tribe is self governing and pretty much controls daily affairs of the Navajo as do our federal, state, and local governments. Just as our goverment has its critics and supporters so does the Navajo Council.

Window Rock also has a tribal museum and a small tribal zoo. Although I did not quite qualify for the zoo I did go into the tribal museum which traces the history of Navajo. I learned who Chief Manuelito was and why he was important. (I currently live on Chief Manuelito Drive.) The Chief was born in the early part of the 19 th century and first fought the Spaniards who were taking Navajo as slaves and later the US goverment who were taking the Navajo land. He had many wives which was common among the Navajo of that time as they tried hard to keep everyone related to one another through the chiefs. Unfortunately, he was unable to prevent the "Long March" where many Navajo died on a forced walk hundreds of miles to central New Mexico. (more later about that)

I do recommend a stop in Window Rock if not only for the museum but also for the sandstone formation of Window Rock. The Navajo called it "hole in the rock" and soldiers used a term for the female anatomy but I like Window Rock just fine.

Navajo and Humor

Navajo have stereotype of being humorless. This simply is not true. The difference is that Navajo are much more selective about who they share humor with. Workplace humor is rare and since there are no bars in the Navajo Nation there are no bar room jokes. Humor is much more expressed with family members and not with acquaintances. So I was very curious the other night when they had a comedy group from the local high school perform at parent-teachers night.

There were many jokes I just did not get because they involved puns in the Navajo language which I had no clue about. It would have been like me telling a joke to Navajo with Yiddish puns such a "A schlemiel, a schlumuzel, and a schlump walk into a bar and and order a drink on Pesach..... " .

The Navajo language is full of puns and Navajo like to make liberal use of it. There were a few jokes I liked such as the one about an Arizona politician who came campaigning(true story) on the reservation and started talking about why illegal immigration to the United States was so harmful to Arizona. Each Navajo looks at each other and questions, "Where was he 200 years ago?"

There was also a story about the Navajo being worried when the wind blows hard not that their car might blow into their house but that their house might blow into their car. Other jokes that night dealt with the extended families that all Navajo belong to and the wisdom of the elders.
I enjoyed seeing people laugh at themselves and thought it was great for the mental health of the community as well as being entertaining.

If a Navajo shares humor with you consider that a sign of closeness and respect and know that it is a gift of good friendship.

Gallup NM

Gallup, New Mexico is a small city of 21,000 just outside the border of the Navajo Nation. It also borders on the Hopi and Zuni Reservations. Due to its location it serves as the commercial center for the different tribe. It takes its name from a paymaster and executive of the the Atlantic and Pacific Railroad when it pushed through town in the late 1800s, not from what a horse does when you say "Giddiup".

It contains a small shopping mall, several supermarkets, many restaurants of questionable quality and most importantly a Wallymart. The Wallymart (Wallmart) is the busiest in terms of volume per square foot in the state of New Mexico and one of the busiest in the country. This is due to the fact that so many people from the various reservations do the bulk of their shopping there. On the first of each month when paychecks, tribal checks, and welfare checks are issued it is near impossible to find a parking space there. Wallmart is popular because of the few groceries that are found on the reservation and the prices are substantially lower than on the reservation. A weekend trip to Gallup is almost a tradition in the Navajo Nation.

Depending on whom you talk to Gallup is either hick quaint small town or Sodom and Gomorrah. It is the closest town with alcohol sales for all the reservations. It also has gambling and places to find members of the opposite sex with questionable reputations. It also is on old route 66 and many business employ the "Route 66" in their names. Just five years ago they changed a state highway that ran north through town from Highway 666 to Highway 491. This was due to the number 666 being associated with the devil in some New Testament writings. In fact, prior to the change it was called "The Devils Highway" and thought to be unlucky for those who traveled it.

Sleepless Nights and Barriers

The Pediatricians here work all weekend from Friday morning until Monday covering all the Pediatric services with one doctor so that the others can have a weekend off. It is dreaded by most as there are many calls into the emergency room at night to admit babies and children as well as deliveries to attend to. There are many sleepless nights.

Last night we had a snowstorm in Northern Arizona. After a week of temps in the low 70s the winds came through with snow and temps in the 20s. It was in these conditions that I would trudge back and forth to the emergency room or Pediatrics ward to see patients. Unfortunately although I found the work exciting and interesting I had a bad encounter with one of nursing staff.

To preserve privacy I cannot go into the nature of the case of the encounter but I know encounters come up, and especially with locum tenens (temporary) physicians like myself who are viewed often as second class physicians or hired guns. There are also cultural issues at play. Many Native Americans just as with Afro Americans suffer from societal prejudice and I know Native
American nurses feel the sting of this prejudice. I too feel the sting of prejudice against the Native American hospital and empathize with the Native American staff. Most had to surmount barriers of poverty and education to achieve the positions they have. Most are reminded of the discrimination the moment they step off the reservation and encounter not so empathetic people in the four corners region. We here are working for the same goal of providing quality care for children and with that thought we (Native and Non Native) can come together to for the benefit of our patients.

The Weather and Air Ambulence

Everybody likes to talk about but nobody can do anything it. Yesterday it was in the 70s here and today it is snowing. Weather changes very fast here and the winds howl when it does. The weather is so bad now that we cannot use air transport so I am stuck here in the hospital with a sick baby waiting for the weather to clear so that we can use a unit to take the baby to Flagstaff or Albuquerque. There are so many transports by air of sick people that there is a private air transport crew and airplane based here in Chinle, a town of 5000. This is due to Chinle hospital that draws from an are the size of Rhode Island but does not have an intensive care unit for children or adults. There are also a lot of traumatic accidents in the area due to the rural life style. People use a lot of All Terrain Vehicles, Horses, and power tools. Everybody has a pickup truck which is almost a necessity. Although alcohol is not allowed on the reservation and even the transportation of alcohol is illegal there are many alcohol related accidents when people drive after drinking in Gallup, NM or Flagstaff, Arizona.

Chinle is located at 5500 feet and is in a broad valley between two high mesas of 7,000 feet. The valley produces a venturi effect such as the Columbia River Gorge. Wind here is similar to Hood River, Oregon. Too bad we don't have the micro brews, trees, or water that Hood River has. We do have a lot of dust and sand so if you look sand dunes you've come to the right place. March is also the big season for the winds as changes in pressure that spring brings also bring the winds and sand. I get demabrasion treatments everytime I walk outside and I think by nose has ground down to a nub.

Trailer Life

Most people in the Navajo Nation live in trailers or double wides including yours truly. This is due to a number of factors. Trailers cost less than conventional housing is the biggest reason. The other reason almost just as important is the process needed to build a house. All the land is held in common by the tribe so it sort of a commune without the hippies. Each family can only lease the land although the lease can almost be perpetual and passed down in families. If one wants to build a house the design and location must be approved by the tribal engineers and council. The land has to be surveyed and inspected by the tribal archeologists. Finally, the house has to be inspected and then re-inspected each year. If the house is not maintained the tribe can order it to be torn down.

Trailers have none of these restrictions as they are considered "temporary". Thus, there is a proliferation of trailers. The tribe is working to reverse this by building approved developments and slowly more people are moving into conventional housing.


My trailer is not unique in that it houses feral animals. A family of cats lives under me and although shy can be noisy when they have a disagreement. It seem like the floor comes alive. I guess it is a bit better that the chickens I slept with before I got married. At least the cats sleep late.

Hair

Yah' eh-teh or hello in Navajo. I am slowly picking up words in Navajo and it is nothing like Spanish. Also different is the Navajo concept of hair. Most Navajo, men and women wear their hair long. The is due to a belief that hair emanates from the brain and is an extension of the brain and thought. To cut the hair means to lose an important part of the brain and ones self. Navajo take great pride in their hair, probably more than any other part of the body. This is why it was such a great indignity and shame when white men would take the hair of Navajo in a raid or when young Navajo boys had their hair cut in missionary and "Indian" schools'

As a Pediatrician this has created problems for me as it is difficult to tell what the sex of a child is by either the name or the physical appearance as some many children could go either way at first glance. I will often say to a child among siblings, "What do you think of your sisters?" and get a reply back, "I have no sister....Those are all my brothers." "Oops" , I say.

Well there is no doubt when looking at me and the amount of hair I have that I don't many brains left so the Navajo take all my comments with a grain of salt.

Navajo Changes

In the past 20 years the Navajo have gone through many changes. One of the biggest is in the area of housing. In 1990 on 20% of Navajo were living in a home with running water, electricity, and heat. Today the number is 80%. . In 1990 90% of Navajo live in the land of the Navajo Nation while today it is 75%. The birth rate is still much higher than the Anglo population with most women having 3.5 children. (I don't know how you can have a half a child) The numbers of people fluent in Navajo is dropping also although the majority still speak it.

The demographics of the Navajo have made the life of the Pediatrician quite busy. We have seven Pediatricians to take care of an under 18 population of about 20,000. With many people using wood stoves or charcoal stove to heat their homes there are a lot of problems with asthma. I have been in some of the homes and the interior is smokier than a New York night club. With 20% living without running water there are a lot of problems with diarrhea and food born illness. There are also a lot of smelly babies.

Now is the season of Bronchiolitis caused by the Respiratory Syncitial Virus. This disease makes up 80% of our inpatient admissions this time of year and most are under a year of age. I am in charge of the inpatient Pediatric ward this week and I feel like we have a revolving door in the unit with babies being admitted as soon as I can discharge them. With electronic medical records and ordering systems I have become good friends with Mr. Microsoft and his little windows. I wish I could spend more time with my patients and families and less time with my mouse and keyboard.

The First Laugh

There are many ceremonies in the Navajo tradition. The Navajo celebrate the first laugh of a baby with a A'wee Chi'deedloh (The Baby Laughs) ceremony. This is a great event to be shared with relatives and friends and is somewhat like a baby shower but with very important differences.

When the baby laughs it symbolizes the passing of the baby from the heavenly world to the world of man. The heavenly beings had to coax the baby into taking a human form and the lack of speaking at birth shows the reluctance to leave the heavenly family. Laughing means that the baby will soon be speaking, and laughing is the first evidence of joining the human family. The Navajo do not have baby showers before a baby is born. In fact , to speak of the baby before birth is considered to bring bad luck.

Sometimes a sheep will be slaughtered for the ceremony and people all bring food to be blessed.
Each person will take the food in front of the baby and the baby will give the persons sweets and some salt ( with the help of a parent). This is believed to teach the baby to be generous and kind, very important traits for a Navajo. After the passing of the food everyone sits, eats, and chats.

A legend holds that the baby will take on the personality of the one who coaxes the first laugh. As this is something I do as Pediatrician almost daily, I have quite a bit of success with coaxing the first laugh. Unfortunately for the Navajo in Chinle they are going to be left with a generation of children with a love for the Red Sox and a very bad sense of humor.

Medecine Men and Romper Room

Medicine Men figure prominently in Navajo society. They are part healer, historian, priest, and seer. It will take many entries of the blog to even begin to do them justice. In 2002 the tribe started a training program for new Medicine Men as the numbers have dwindled. In the Chinle Hospital there is always a medicine man or woman (we have a woman now) who perform healing ceremonies. Beside healing they officiate over the four (once again four) sacred rites. They are: The Mountaintop Way, The Grandfather's Ceremony, The Enemy Way, and The Lightening or Big Wind Way. Each ceremony has a specialized function to address imbalances in life and nature. All ceremonies are addressed at healing. The ceremonies can last days and involve many people. As I am here and participate in them I will write more. The Enemy Way which is for warriors has been used frequently in the past ten years as so many Navajo had come back from the Persian Gulf with wounds both spiritually and physically.

The Medicine Man I met today looked at me and instantly knew my life was not in balance. He could tell that my loved ones were far, far, away. Moreover, he could see what I had done wrong recently as well as what I was doing right. It was like watching Romper Room when the teacher lady gets up wither her magic mirror and looks out to the audience and says " I see Marc in New York enjoying his birthday, I see Kevin with his grandmother, and I see Ronnie in trouble once again.... (yup, that was me). Just as I believed the Romper Room lady I believe the Medicine Man has special powers to see and heal. As I have grown as a physician I know that science only goes so far in healing and that most healing comes from, through, and for the soul and spirit. The physician or medicine man who ignores that will never be a healer but just a technician. Thank you Romper Room lady for showing me where I went wrong and how to behave and thank you Medicine Man for reminding me of the soul of the healer.

The Hogan

Hogans are popular here......not the "Hulk Hogan" of wrestling nor even the Colonel Hogan of "Hogan's Heroes" but the hogan one lives in . The hogan is almost synonymous with the Navajo.
They dot the landscape and are as much a part the Navajo as the tent is to the Bedouin. However, the hogan is much more than a home.

The story of the hogan goes back to the creation of the world and mankind. The first creatures created a hogan when Coyote built one with help from the Beaver. The Beaver gave Coyote the idea for using interlocking logs as well as mud to cover the spaces and provide a roof. Thus, the hogan looks somewhat like a beaver lodge. Most hogan now have six or eight sides although the "male hogan" has five sides and have a roof of mud, shingle, or tar paper. The door always faces east to capture the morning sun and avoid the hot part of the day.

The hogan has great religious significance that is not to be underestimated. The "male hogan", which is for the male religious rites does not usually serve as a dwelling but rather a place of religious ceremonies. The practitioners of the native religion have a ceremony for each stage of life as well as healing ceremonies there. The "female hogan" serves as dwelling but is also considered sacred and must be care for appropriately.

There are still Navajo who live in hogans, especially in the summer if one is shepherd or cattle rancher. Some hogans have electricity. Even if a family does not live in a hogan many will have a hogan on their property and a source of both Navajo pride and for religious ceremonies. It is only after trust has been built that a Navajo will invite one into ones hogan. I admit there is much I do not know about hogans and I hope to learn in the coming months.

Dine' College

Dine' College is a two year Navajo College(est. 1968) located about 30 miles from Chinle in the tiny town of Tsaile. It is the first Native American owned and operated institution of higher learning. It is open to everyone although most students are Navajo. They have great cross country, basketball, and wrestling teams. The college tries to prepare Navajo for a four year college as well train people as x-ray, dental, and nursing technicians.

It is the only college where one can come an study the Navajo Language as both a beginner and as a fluent speaker. It is a bilingual and offers some courses only in Navajo. They also have a great archiology department that specializes in the Pre-Columbian ruins and culture in the area. The people here take great pride in the institution and the buildings are wonderfully designed.

The non Navajo who study there are often linguists who want to learn one of the few living Athabascan languages or missionarys who are sent by their churches to preach to the Navajo. The Navajo have their own native religious organization with its own set of leaders and practitioners. In the hospital where I work we have a number of native preachers who minister to the sick as well as Christian ministers.

Conventional education has only recently been recognized as have great importance to the tribe. Until the late 60's most Navajo did not graduate from high school and employment was mostly in ranching and farming. They have great facilities now in the public school system and the teachers, most of whom live on the school campuses, are highly motivated. Native and non native teacher work side by side and the teaching career is held in high regard.

The Rez Dogs

Dogs have a special significance to the Navajo. The dog holds a place something like the sacred cows of the Hindus. Dog were here before the white man, the horse, cattle, sheep, and even the Navajo. The are looked upon as the guardian of the home and flock. Dogs are felt to be able to warn of evil spirits and scare them away. They have four legs and four is a special number to the Navajo.

This reverence for dogs has created problems. Dogs cannot be bought nor sold. They can be given but unlike other animals are not viewed as property. Unfortunately dogs cannot go to the local grocery and buy their favorite Alpo but are dependent on man. Unfortunately there are a lot of men who have their own problems and because of that there are lots and lots of stray dogs. Feral dogs or dogs without homes like to hang out near the center of town and are often hit by cars. There is always a pack that hangs out a the campground that serves Canyon De Chelly National Monument. They have become excellent beggars and know how to warm the hearts of campers.

Every few years there is movement a foot to capture and neuter the dogs. This works for a while until the next generation of dogs is let loose and start the populate the town and surroundings. There is healthy population of Mountain Lions though and they help to keep the numbers down in the more rural locations. Like old people, old dogs here are revered and should be as they must be quite wise to survive all the challenges that life bring.

Code Talkers

Code Talkers are a group of 400 Navajo Marines who served in the Pacific in World War II. There are four who are still alive. At the start of the war the Marines had a great need to transmit messages by Radio without going through encryption. A son of missionaries to the Navajo suggested using native Navajo speakers to transmit messages among the Marines. At that time only about 15 non Navajo could speak the language and none from outside the US. Navajo at that time was not written down so the Japanese would have no reference to even attempt to decipher the language. First the concept was tested in 1943 and when it was found to reduce transmission for 30 minutes to 2 minutes it was decided to call for volunteers. Navajo are not just traditional but they are very patriotic. Service in the military then as now is considered a great honor and aspired to. So began the "code talkers" and they went on serve very important functions in the battles of the Mariana's, Iwo Jima, and Okinawa. The Japanese never were able to figure out what was going on and never broke the code. So important was the role of these soldiers that their role was not know until 1968 when the story was declassified.

More code talkers came from Chinle than any other part of the Navajo Nation. The one local man who served and is still alive is revered as well he should be by both young and old. He wears his medals proudly and is the equivilant of Tom Brady and Saregent York rolled into one.
There are many memorials to the code talkers and even a small museum dedicated to them in the Navajo capital of Window Rock. The movie "Wind Talkers" was made about them 10 years ago but is only loosely based on them as most Hollywood productions are about anything true.
The main character is a white anglo, Nicholas Cage, and Navajos have only minor supporting roles. However, the movie did bring attention to a long hidden group of very brave Americans.

Navajo and death

The Navajo have belief and customs different form many western cultures. There is no concept of afterlife. Death is not something good or positive even for those suffering. It is taboo to talk about dead relatives. In fact , in taking medical histories it is not good to ask about parents who may have died or what they died from. The most common response to " What did your father die from?" is ......"he left.". As a result you hear a lot about people leaving here and I don't mean for a vacation in Hawaii.

Burial traditionally is four days after death with four attendants. Four is very important for Navajo as they are said to have lived in four worlds. Moccasins are placed on opposite feet and after burial one cannot retrace the steps one took to get to the burial site. In fact, there is someone who erases the steps in the sand so death will none follow.

Certain animals predict death. The coyote moving across your path is a sign of upcoming death. People will stop their car on a highway if a coyote crosses the road and find another route. The owel is also a sign of death and the call of the owel is especially ominous. One of my co-workers who is an avid bird watcher had to take down a picture of an owel in his office here. It is like hanging the cross of Jesus in the front of a mosque or synagogue.

Navajo and Jewish people

At the risk of stereotypes the Navajo and Jewish People have some common traits. They both tend to be short, like basketball, be tribal, and have great respect for elders.

The elders command great respect here and are honored with deference in stores, homes, and all public places. An elder is anyone who has achieved 60 years although there is some leeway. An elder will always get picked up by someone if they are walking a road or highway and so never haver to worry about having a car. Just go down to the nearest paved road and within five minutes someone will come along to give them a ride. Elders are also entrusted with child are frequently and very often when I see children in the clinic it is the grandparents who bring them. It is the elders who teach the children the Navajo history and traditions. There is a quiet dignity that I see in the older Navajos that others in Anglo society lack. I get to see elders on my runs as walking and listening to the winds is a pastime of many. They often look up and nod and make me wonder what they think of this nut running in high winds on the dusty mesa of the Navajo nation.

Today two parents started talking in Navajo and their child started laughing. "What are you saying?" I inquired.

" Our daughter thinks you are a grandpa. It is a sign of respect." They replied. I told my nurse about this who thought it was a great story. Now people in the clinic call me the grandpa doctor. I did not think I looked that old, respect or no respect.

The winds have died down after yesterdays 60 mile per hours gusts and dust storms. It is very quiet outside. I hope this weekend to go running up one of the forested mesas just for variety. I miss the trees.

The Dine'

The Dine' or Navaho are relative late comers to the four corners region of the USA. The Hopi with whom they share the region (Not the best of friends) arrived here about 500 to 1000 year before the Navajo. However, the Navajo are the largest tribe in the United States with about 250,000 members. I have come for at least two months to serve as a physician to those native Americans who live near Chinle, Arizona. Chinle is a crossroads community with a population of about 5,000 and serves as a center for about 15,000 more in the surrounding 50 miles. The hospital where I work has about 80 beds and is quite busy 24/7.

Chinle has one grocery (Bashas) , three fast food joints, three gas stations, and a large high school. There are no trees but lots of tumbleweed . It is the headquarters for Canyon De Chelly, a national momument outside of town with many ancient cliff dwellings. Chinle is a trip and half. There are many feral horses that roam the highway and streets oblivious to traffic and people. There are also a number of wild dogs but they so far have been friendly. Chinle is 100 miles from Gallup New Mexico. Gallup is where people from here go for big shopping trips as they have (Hold on to your hats) a Wallymart. Needless to say they have problems attracting physicians and nurses as there is not much to do outside of work. The surrounding area is spectacular and if you drive a bit as I did last weekend you arrive in Momument Valley in two hours.

The big news in town is that they will be filming "The Lone Ranger" here next month. Johnny Depp(Katie eat your heart out) will play Tonto. Maybe they will need a Doc on scene! More about this later when the movie company gets here. I sure Johnny brings something to eat because Navajo fry bread gets old after a while.

The Navavjo have been great to work with. I am honored to be able to serve them.