In the nationwide battle against COVID-19 and the novel coronavirus, one local man volunteered his time and skill set to travel across the country to assist the Navajo Nation, which has been hit particularly hard by the virus.
Tom Merkle, a combat veteran and Quincy firefighter/emergency medical technician, once again answered the call to duty when he received a notification from Team Rubicon USA that they were searching for medically-trained personnel to deploy to Kayenta, Arizona.
So, on June 21, Merkle departed Michigan to be a part of something bigger and quickly found himself working in an ambulance on the Navajo Nation in a medical support mission.
“It was definitely a good experience being there,” Merkle said upon his return to Michigan at the end of June.