William Smith and his brother both served in Vietnam, his brother a few years
before him.
Smith's brother died of Agent Orange exposure, lying in a hospital bed,
fighting to breathe until the end.
The coronavirus pandemic has left Smith reliving his brother's last
moments.
"When I look at this COVID-19 going on, I see my brother lying in that
bed in the hospital," he said. "They weren't able to get him healthy
enough to transfer to Seattle, so I just watched him pass away with a tube in
his throat just gasping for every breath."
For Smith, 67, chief of the Valdez Native Tribe, his brother's fate stands
as a stark reminder of the risk to veterans that the coronavirus poses,
especially in the remote areas of the nation's largest state, where many are
increasingly isolated and cut off from help. Smith is vice chairman of the Alaska
Native Health Board and serves as vice-chairman and Alaska-area representative
for the National Indian Health Board.
Native American and Native Alaskan veterans struggling to access adequate
health care is not a new problem. It's a continuous battle, Smith said, and the
Department of Veterans Affairs resources they do have were facing a backlog
long before COVID-19 struck -- in rural and urban areas.
Native veterans are more likely to live far from VA facilities, tend to
have lower personal incomes, higher unemployment and lack health insurance
compared to their fellow veterans, according to the National Congress of
American Indians. When they do receive care, they often face major cultural and
language barriers. Native veterans also struggle to form tribal veterans
service organizations, which could help navigate the sprawling bureaucracy of
the VA and its claims system.
All this could place them at greater risk during the pandemic -- and not
just from the virus.
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