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Episode 1: It’s Up to You — T’áá hwó’ ají t’éego
Travel to the forests outside the Grand Canyon to follow Dr. Sophina Calderón and other Navajo Nation leaders as covid-19 tests the Diné people.
Roughly 30% of the homes on the Navajo Nation rely on wood-burning stoves for heat. Many of those households haul wood from nearby forests. That’s what Calderón was doing when she realized the pandemic’s reach wouldn’t stop at the hospital — it was going to create a heating crisis too.
This episode explores root causes behind why some citizens of the Navajo Nation lack access to electricity and other infrastructure, and how so-called social determinants of health made the Diné so vulnerable to the first surges of the pandemic.
Voices from the episode:
- Dr. Sophina Calderón —
- Jill Jim, Ph.D. —
- Dr. Ernestine Chaco —
Episode 1 includes audio of birds recorded in Coconino, Arizona, courtesy of contributor Parker Davis via the Macaulay Library at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology (ML153777441).
Season 4 of “American Diagnosis” is a co-production of KHN and .
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