Kassidy Keathley answers the call of the Navajo Nation

By Janna Zepp | Photography by Canaan Brumley, Olin E. Teague Veterans’ Medical Center

The Four Corners region of the American Southwest is a long way from Temple, but not so far that Kassidy Keathley, RN, wouldn’t go to answer the call to help the Navajo Nation’s members suffering from COVID-19. Keathley works for Olin E. Teague Veterans’ Medical Center in Temple.

“I was working on the medical/surgical unit when the COVID outbreak occurred,” Keathley says. “I volunteered through a program through my hospital called the Disaster Emergency Medical Personnel System. I was sent to Shiprock, New Mexico, to work at their Indian Health Service hospital.”

The Disaster Emergency Medical Personnel System (DEMPS) is the Veterans Health Administration’s main deployment program for clinical and non-clinical staff to an emergency or disaster. The DEMPS Program may be used for an internal VA mission, as well as supporting a mission after a Presidential Disaster Declaration under the National Response Frameworks Emergency Support Function #8 (Public Health and Medical Services).

Keathley only got a couple of hours’ worth of orientation to the hospital. On the first day, she was introduced to the hospital computer system and floor. By the second day, she was caring for up to four patients. The staff was kind and welcoming, but it was a struggle to acclimate to her surroundings because the hospital had more patients than beds.

“While working there I wanted to learn as much as I could about the Navajo people so I could better care for them. The nurses who have worked there for years were more than happy to educate me on the do’s and don’ts,” Keathley says. “My assignment was only supposed to be for two weeks but the need for healthcare staff was greater than they had anticipated, and they asked us if we wanted to extend another two weeks. I agreed because I couldn’t imagine coming back home knowing that they still struggled.”

When the nurses on Keathley’s unit learned that she opted to stay, they jokingly told her that if they were given that chance they would have left, but they were glad she stayed. When asked what the hardest part of the assignment was, she said leaving was the most difficult.

“I had been there a month and made friends with a lot of the people there. Some still text me to this day just to see how I am doing,” she says. “The people I worked with told me that their COVID unit currently has zero patients.”

Keathley has worked for the VA since 2008, starting as a Licensed Vocational Nurse at what is now known as the Doris Miller Department of Veteran Affairs Medical Center in Waco on the end of life unit as a nursing assistant. She transferred to Olin E. Teague Veterans’ Medical Center in Temple in 2012 to work on the medical/surgical unit as a nursing assistant while she went to nursing school to become a Registered Nurse.

“Now I currently work as a nurse on a COVID unit that I volunteered for. Some days I am charge nurse, other days I work the floor taking care of patients, and sometimes I monitor the telemetry rhythms of all the patients,” Keathley says, adding that the virus needs to be taken seriously because of its potential to be fatal.

“I have seen first-hand how painful it is for patients to go through this, and fewer people would have to experience it if everyone does their part to lessen the spread,” she says.

Keathley grew up in Bremond and her family moved to Waco when she was in high school. She always knew she wanted to be a nurse. Her mother is a nurse and she always admired how her mother’s patients loved her and spoke highly of her.

“She always worked hard to care for others and I was so proud of her for that and knew that is what I wanted for myself,” Keathley says.