The new dialysis center in Payente hired her and she had been working there three weeks when we talked. The private firm that owns the dialysis centers is eager to hire Navajo workers, but the Payente center and the fifteen others elsewhere on the reservation all have trouble getting and keeping workers. She says finding workers on the reservation with previous experience is nearly impossible. Because there are quite a few that it doesn't work. And then I have to start all over again.
Cultural taboos are a factor.
Navajos want nothing to do with human blood. Navajos avoid contact with people they fear are dying. For the sake of a good job, many Navajos do put the cultural sanctions aside and accept employment, but Flyer says they can't put aside the other facts of reservation life that make holding down a demanding job difficult. None of my staff have telephones, but they all have access to a telephone. I can't do that.