Revina Talker

Growing up in the Navajo Nation, Revina Talker never saw any health care providers who were Navajo—nor any who spoke the Navajo language.

At a young age, Talker’s mother told her that she had to go to school so she could return and help her people. A graduate of the Utah Physician Assistant Program (UPAP), Talker is the clinic manager and sole provider at the Navajo Mountain Community Health Center in Tonalea, Utah. She also works in the ER of Gallup Indian Medical Center, a Level 3 hospital in Gallup,
New Mexico.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, one of the greatest challenges when treating Navajo patients has been overcoming the stigma of the disease—a stigma born of fear. In many cases, she says, it isn’t patients who come in for treatment; it’s concerned family members calling the clinic and asking if they can check in.

“It was scary for the community,” Talker said. “The tribe has really done a good job as far as explaining the COVID in Navajo, but people are hearing how bad it can be. If you get really bad, you get flown out to Flagstaff or Phoenix, you get on a respirator. So people are really afraid.”

After completing UPAP, Talker began working with Utah Navajo Health System in 2008. She was named Rural PA of the Year by the Utah Association of Physician Assistants in 2013.

Her ability to speak Navajo has always helped her better connect with patients—and it’s been particularly valuable when talking about something as scary as COVID-19. She says she can see patients become more at ease when she explains symptoms and treatments in their preferred language.

 “In their own language, there’s a certain way to say it,” she said. “Especially with the elderly, I had to go in and translate for some of our docs. Being able to talk to them in Navajo, I think helped them feel more comfortable and willing to share more and explain themselves a little bit better because there’s different ways to say, ‘I feel sick.’ You have to ask them, ‘Well, what do you mean?’”