Voices of Native Nations in the Southwest during the COVID-19 Pandemic

Responding with Care and Commitment

• Episode 4

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*This episode contains sensitive material relating to the operation of a mortuary. Listener discretion is advised*

In this episode, we welcome Michael Begay, a lifelong member of the Tuba City community. A retired criminal investigator with 30 years in law enforcement, Michael now serves as a funeral director and owner of Valley Ridge Mortuary. He shares his unique perspective and experiences supporting his community before and during the COVID-19 pandemic.

This podcast shares Indigenous stories of resilience and mental wellbeing during and after COVID-19. Hear from first responders, educators, traditional knowledge holders, and recovery community members as they reflect on challenges, lessons, and culturally grounded healing. Each episode also highlights local resources for Indigenous communities in northern Arizona.

Created by NAU’s Center for Community Health and Engaged Research (CHER) with Hopi and Navajo Tribal members. Funded by Project HOPE.

We would like to acknowledge Dr. Darold Joseph for sharing his beautiful flute recordings with us. It brought a meaningful dimension to the podcast and his artistry is sincerely appreciated.

Resources: https://linktr.ee/voicesnativenations


Alexis Talayumptewa:

Hello and welcome to Voices of Native Nations in the Southwest during the COVID-19 pandemic. I'm Alexis Talayumptewa, and in this series, we're speaking with community members who stepped forward in unique and powerful ways during the pandemic. These conversations will highlight the lived experiences of first responders, educators, traditional knowledge holders, and practitioners, and members of the recovery community from Native Nations in the Southwest. Their stories offer wisdom, strength, and lessons for our communities and future generations. Today I am honored to welcome Michael Begay, a funeral director and owner of Valley Ridge Mortuary from Tuba City. Michael, thank you for joining us and sharing your story. Could you begin by telling us about your role and your connection to your community before and during the pandemic?

Michael Begay:

I'm a lifelong member of Tuba City community in Arizona. And prior to the pandemic, I worked in law enforcement as a criminal investigator for 30 years and retired. After that, I purchased and started running the Valley Ridge Mortuary as a funeral director and embalmer. So I had a couple of roles. One was being a first responder, being in law enforcement. And during the pandemic, also a first responder, but also having to uh work with those that passed and doing the final disposition for them. So that was my primary role and during the pandemic.

Alexis Talayumptewa:

Thank you. What did you learn from the COVID-19 pandemic in your role as a first responder?

Michael Begay:

I think we as a community learned quite a bit. I think it's the surprise or the um COVID-19 coming up in a way manner that it did. I think we were not all prepared for. And uh one thing I learned mostly is to use the resources that are available to get through this type of uh situation, a pandemic. And that's what I had to do is had to use all the resources I could find, either from the community level, the Navajo Nation, the county, and even the federal level. And then cooperating with other entities just to meet the needs of the community. Pandemic doesn't happen quite often and hopefully won't happen again in the near future. But again, I think we were all caught off guard as a not only a community, but as a country, and many of the government agencies were not prepared to meet the needs of the community. I think now that we experienced that, I know that a lot of the emergency management systems are now more tuned to deal with such a situation. It was really a challenging time, so I think by um the thing I learned is to be resilient. And I noticed that with a lot of uh Native communities had to step up and be more resilient to work through this crisis that we experienced. One of my um major roles, of course, were dealing with the all those that passed from the COVID. And I had to not only work through it, but also to take care of myself and my staff because our numbers doubled during that time, um 2020 to 2021. And so we had to um take care of ourselves and take care of our staff and also take care of all the families that we we dealt with during that time. Again, I believe that uh we're better prepared now for another crisis such as this, where the numbers are so high and that we have to use all our resources that we have, and then also working together with different levels of government to get through it.

Alexis Talayumptewa:

What sustained you during the pandemic in this role?

Michael Begay:

One thing I I know is just my experience in law enforcement, where I had to totally put aside a lot of my um emotions and just to stay on task. And again, we had 551 deaths during that time in 2020. Like I said, it's double the numbers that we normally see. I think through my experience in law enforcement, and I was focused on the job and just continued every day to stay focused on it. I think that's one thing I learned was that, you know, just using the adrenaline and also the focus on the needs of the community and also the needs of the families we serve, I stayed focused on that. And I know for me personally, I am a spiritual person. I'm a Christian and I had to really rely on my faith and continue to pray about what was going on, continue to help these families in a caring manner. And I know that as a native people, we are all spiritually born, I would say. So I had to rely on those practices of our culture and our community and our elders and everything that we can um hold for our personal level to take care of one another. And one thing I really had to work on is to have my staff being taken care of too. And I did have times when I had a uh what we call a critical stress debriefing. I called in a member of uh law enforcement actually that does that type of a debriefing, and I had him come in twice to meet with my staff and to help them get through the challenges of dealing with this pandemic and the numbers that we saw. So again, that's how we cooperated with one another. And again, I was so thankful that there was a person out there that's trained to do the stress debriefing. And I was able to make contact with him and bring him to Tuba City and to take care of my staff too. Again, just uh being concerned about ourselves because we're the ones that are providing a service, especially being a first responder, you have to take care of yourself in order to take care of others. So, and again, in preparation of any type of critical incident, uh, we should be thinking in those terms too, is how we come and care for ourselves in order to care for other people.

Alexis Talayumptewa:

What were your sources of strength or hope during that time?

Michael Begay:

Again, like I said, my uh spiritual side. And then I am thankful for my family too. Like my wife, she's actually my business manager. So we were in this together. And also um, I have other people that, again, in law enforcement and also in the emergency services um departments that I could rely on, and we could um talk and share each other's views of things and to and you know just to help one another to get through this. And one thing I'm thankful for is the resources in the the county, county government was able to help because at one point I was in need of a larger storage facility, and and so I was able to um make some connections and some contacts with the county office and emergency services. And through um Lena Fowler, one of our county supervisors, she was able to connect me to a person up in Page area that was able to give me a larger uh refrigeration unit, which um was delivered and we had to set it up. And again, it's being able to help one another with our resources that we have with our governments and also with our community. And there's another thing that we experienced was the shortage of um PPEs, uh personal protective equipment. You know, I even had to seek masks, and there was none available with any of the local emergency services departments. So I had to search online and I did find a vendor, but ironically, it was in China, and that's where I got my PPEs. Again, there's just a lot of needs that we had, and I had to be creative and trying to meet the needs of our our business and also our community.

Alexis Talayumptewa:

Can you share a moment or a memory from that time that stands out to you?

Michael Begay:

There were many moments that I experienced. And like I said earlier, you know, I was running adrenaline and also just staying focused on the task that were needed at the time. And and I did that for several weeks, you know, just staying on task and making sure we get all our services completed. And again, just trying to stay ahead of everything that was happening. But and for about probably a month or so, I didn't really take time to really look at everything. But in there was one day when I went into our storage unit, it was a 56-foot tractor trailer unit, refrigeration unit, and we made it to where it was the storage facility. I put three-tier racks to fill it with. And so one day I went in then to get a body out. And uh when I stood at the door, I just saw, you know, all these body bags and filled up in the unit. And this is the point when I really, really hit me hard. And the reason why is because there's three people in there that I knew personally, and so I guess that's the point when it really hit me. And again, up to that point, I was just staying on task and trying to get the job done when that moment happened. Actually broke down. And so that's one moment I can talk about that was really tough to deal with. And there are, like I said, many other moments that happened. Um, I made the decision early that I would not embalm bodies because it expose not only myself but our staff to the virus. And because once you move a body around, there's gonna be um the air being expelled by the lungs and the stomach area, so that's normal. So I didn't want to expose myself being the only licensed embalmer and funeral director. So I made a decision early on not to embalm COVID bodies, and so and so that was a challenge because families, you know, of course, want a full service, they want embalming, they want viewing, and and I couldn't offer that. It was hard to prepare bodies where they had to stay in the body bag and just lay the clothes on top and close the casket and and go do the service. So those are moments too when it was kind of tough for not only myself but my staff because they had to also, you know, meet with families and talk to them and have uh sympathy for them and empathy, but also having to tell them that they wouldn't be able to see their loved ones. And so the way we did services really changed. We didn't do a lot of church services, of course, because the churches were closed. So we had to do gravesite services and we couldn't gather too many people in any enclosed area. But at gravesites, of course, um we had to maintain distance. So there was just a whole different way of how we operate and doing funeral services. And there's other things, but uh there some of it might be a bit graphic because um COVID bodies were very um not normal in many ways, and so of course I had to see that. And uh and again, just knowing I couldn't do anything for for these people that I would normally do, such as embalming and even dressing and uh makeup and doing a viewing, and so all of those things were were not available at the time. I think another moment just the day I found out that there was actually a vaccine that was coming out, and um, we were fortunate enough to be one of the first to get the vaccine because we were in the front lines. And I know there's a lot of debate about vaccines, but honestly, you know, after the first round, I I saw our numbers start decreasing. We didn't see as many COVID cases. So I know the vaccine helped to lessen the impact of uh the virus, and I personally see that happening. And so on a personal level, I would encourage people to continue the vaccine, especially those that are have um pre-existing conditions where their medical health is not up to being able to overcome these types of viruses. I know like diabetes and heart disease and even uh some cancers that reduce the immune system. Those are the ones that we lost during COVID were those who had those pre-existing conditions. And again, if the vaccine helped in that, and I know a lot of people survived because of it. And I know right now there's a new strain coming out, and I know there's another vaccine available. So I would encourage those that have those types of conditions for your immune system is that we can consider the vaccine and will lessen the impact of the virus. It won't always prevent it, but it will lessen the impact. And um, one other thing I just thought of is that during all that time through COVID, I never got COVID. I've been tested many times and I never got the virus. And it wasn't until um, I think it's been over a year and a half ago when I finally contracted the virus. And so I consider myself fortunate that I didn't catch it. But then on the other hand, I know it helps with your immune system, the antibodies that produces. So that's another thing I think about too, is that I never contracted the virus during that time.

Alexis Talayumptewa:

Thank you for sharing that. That means a lot. I think you kind of answered this a little bit, but how did your experience during the pandemic impact you personally, professionally, or within your community?

Michael Begay:

Like I mentioned before, I don't think we were prepared for such a pandemic on all levels with our tribal governments, um, you know, with our county governments, state level, federal level, we weren't ready. And you can see that with what went on as far as um the needs that were out there, especially PPEs and storage facilities. And I knew a lot of first responders who contracted the virus while doing their work as law enforcement and EMS and even hospital staff. So I think what um impacted me is on a personal level again, um, just seeing them the many loss, people that lost their lives, you know. I I don't take that for granted. I guess in a way it changed my way of doing my job. And so I take real seriously, you know, how I help families. Uh one thing I know that I do as a business owner is not to overcharge people. Secondly, we do have a burial assistance program in Navajo Nation, and which is a challenge because we have to do all the paperwork for Navajo Nation. And sometimes it gets difficult with some families who are not very cooperative with the process. And secondly, Navajo Nation is always late and paying us, sometimes even months late. And so that's a challenge where I have to continue with taking care of our business and our expenses and using my own personal credit cards to keep up. And but again, one thing I look at is that I see the need for families. They need this burial assistance, so I will continue to do it regardless of the complications associated with it. But I will um offer it and help the families in obtaining the burial assistance. And so again, I on a personal level, I continue to have that goal of helping families out. And on a professional level, I did again, um, the pandemic taught me that I do need to again use the resources we have and to make sure, you know, not only myself but my staff are being taken care of. And then in the community, I I do try to help as much as I can as far as helping the community with like I do donate the the schools and the chapter and things they ask me for. If I can do it, I'll help in the community to let them know that I'm just not there as a business owner, but I'm also part of the community to help the young people. That's what I like to do is help teenagers, high schools, and the younger kids, you know, from what I can do within the community.

Alexis Talayumptewa:

What do you hope others, especially younger generations, take away from your experience?

Michael Begay:

Again, um just kind of quoting a couple of scriptures that I hold on to. One is it says that to love God with all your mind, heart, and strength. And secondly, is to to love your neighbors, you love yourself. So I would say to help others. And again, that's part of our native tradition is to help others. And it's part of our spiritual growth to help others. So I know our younger generation there um have different views of the world and different views of life, and but that's one thing I would like to share with them is to remember to not only serve others, but to serve God and to always remember whatever position you have or whatever position you seek, and remember that it is our creator that's gonna put you where you need to be because he needs you to help. And that's the way I look at my position. Even my wife and I, we both never thought we would actually own a mortuary and actually running a mortuary, especially with being native ourselves. You know, that's something that's not a normal job, but you know, again, but it's our calling, it's my calling to do this work. And so with the young people out there, just remember that wherever you find yourself and seeking a job, employment, education, whatever it is, remember you have a higher calling. Our God, our creator, will put you where he needs you. So don't get discouraged if you don't have a plush job or if you're struggling to make ends meet, you know, just have faith and stay positive because you will find your place in this world.

Alexis Talayumptewa:

What message would you share with someone preparing to serve their community in times of crisis?

Michael Begay:

Well, number one is take care of yourself, you know, whatever you need to do to get through any type of crisis, whether it's on a national level or global level, community level, even your personal level, you know, take care of yourself first because you can't take care of others if you can't take care of yourself first. So and prepare yourselves. And I have education not only in law enforcement, but also in my work as a funeral director. I went to school in in Houston, Texas, and I and I prepared myself through education and and then getting the experience I need to work as a first responder. So those are things you can do to get yourself ready for working in public service and with the community. And and again, I have a lot of experience in law enforcement. Basically, for me, my way I dealt with it is to treat people as equals, you know, regardless if they're struggling themselves with alcohol or drugs. Treated them as human beings, taught them them at their level. And because in law enforcement you're trying to seek information, and you don't want to do that by having a negative effect on the person you're getting information from. So again, just treat people as you would want to be treated. And that's what community service is about. Again, just take care of yourself first in every way, spiritually, physically, emotionally. And I know if you do that, you'll be successful in being a public servant.

Alexis Talayumptewa:

Thank you, Michael Bagay, for your time and reflections. Your story contributes to a broader understanding of how Native communities responded with resilience, care, and cultural strength during a time of great uncertainty. This is Voices of Native Nations in the Southwest during the COVID-19 pandemic, and we're honored to share these conversations with you. You can listen to more episodes on BuzzPro.

Melinda Smith:

Thank you for joining us for Voices of Native Nations in the Southwest during the COVID-19 pandemic podcast series. This podcast was developed by the Center for Community Health and Engaged Research at Northern Arizona University with support from Project Hope, a global health and humanitarian organization transforming the health and well being of communities around the world. For more information and links to resources related to this series, please check the podcast description. Thanks again for listening, and we hope you'll continue to learn from and share these powerful stories.