Olivia Diaz (City of Las Vegas Councilwoman) oral history interview conducted by Magdalena Martinez: transcript

An Interview with Councilwoman Olivia Diaz
Perspectives from the COVID-19 Pandemic: Leadership and Learning in Nevada
Produced by:
The University of Nevada Las Vegas
The Lincy Institute
2024
Principal Researchers:
Magdalena Martinez, Ph.D. and Kelliann Beavers, Ph.D.
The following interview was a part of the “Perspectives from the COVID-19 Pandemic:
Leadership and Learning in Nevada” research project. The recorded interview and transcript
were made possible through the generosity of The Lincy Institute at the University of Nevada,
Las Vegas. The goal of the project was to understand and document how Nevada organizations
and leaders responded to the myriad challenges that the pandemic engendered. The interviewees
thank The Lincy Institute and their supporters for the opportunity to reflect on their roles
throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. The researchers also acknowledge the following
individuals who contributed to the conceptualization, data collection, and analysis of the project:
Dr. John Hudak, Dr. Makada Henry-Nickie, Elia Del Carmen Solano-Patricio, Taylor Cummings,
Peter Grema, Kristian Thymianos, Saha Salahi, Madison Frazee, and Katie Lim.
Each interviewee had the opportunity to review their transcript. All measures have been taken to
preserve the style and language of the interviewee. This interview features Councilwoman Olivia
Diaz, Councilwoman for City of Las Vegas, and was conducted on 8/2/22 by Magdalena
Martinez. This interview covers topics including reflections on leadership, organizational
challenges, and opportunities for collaboration.
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Interview with Olivia Diaz
Date: 08-02-2022
SPEAKERS: Magdalena Martinez, Olivia Diaz
Magdalena Martinez [00:04]
So, today is Tuesday, August 2nd, 2022. I'm here with Councilwoman Olivia Diaz. And before we
get started on the questions, I just wanted to confirm that you consent to be a part of this research
study, one, and two, that you’re okay with the recording, and three, that I can attribute any quotes
from you to you.
Olivia Diaz [00:27]
Yes.
Magdalena Martinez [00:28]
Yes, if you agree with all three of them. And actually, one other thing, I will be sending you a
hard copy. One of our goals is also to archive this with UNLV Library so that there can be a
record of how the region and the state dealt with it, but I will send you a user consent form later
for archival purposes.
Olivia Diaz [00:51]
Sounds good.
Magdalena Martinez [00:53]
All right. Well, thank you so much, Olivia. I really appreciate you. And I'm wondering if we
could just start off by talking about, as a municipal elected official, how did you see your role
and the role of the city during the pandemic.
Olivia Diaz [01:07]
Well, first it was confusing because all of a sudden, out of the blue, we go into this shutdown and
the lockdown that the governor announced. And so obviously, we're a municipal government,
and we need to also make sure that we are following the orders that are coming from our state
government. And so initially, there was a lot of confusion because some folks felt that it was an
overreach, and they didn't want to comply with those mandates. But at the end of the day, we
took an oath that said we were going to follow the law of the land in the Constitution and how
things flow in government.
And so we needed to make sure that we were a part of keeping our employees here safe because
as a city government, we have a lot of employees. And then we had to also figure out what that
meant for all of the folks that work for us on a daily basis, and how to keep everyone safe. No
one had been through an exercise called the pandemic, right, in recent history and in recent
years. And so, none of us – if anything, we did have a city management team that had gone
through the previous recession, and knew how to weather economic downfalls or lack of
resources coming in.
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But from a health lens, we kind of were trying to make sure, one, we kept our families safe; we
kept our employees safe. And then we were in line following what the state was asking us to do –
because they were hearing very closely from other channels from the federal level and that we
needed to do what was right by the majority of our folks and their health and well-being. And
knowing, also, I think a key piece to this was just our – I think the biggest concern throughout
most of the pandemic was our hospital resources, the availability of beds, and how many patients
we could realistically care for at one time. And seeing what happened in New York City really
tugs at your heart; to know that people get turned away, there's no more room, and people are
dying very quickly because they don't have access to healthcare. And just learning about how
quickly people were contracting it. And some folks not faring and not being able to overcome it
was something daunting, and then not knowing when the vaccine was going to be ready for
distribution.
So there were so many things, I think, from a municipal-elected standpoint, so many unknowns
and scary thoughts. And especially, some of us who have older parents and who have significant
others with underlying health issues. And when you heard that they were the most at-risk, that
also ensured me that I needed to be prudent if I wanted to keep on checking on my parents, and
also making sure I wasn't bringing something home to my husband who has a heart condition,
right?
Magdalena Martinez [04:36]
And you talked about just the unknowns and not having enough hospital beds. Does the city have
any say over any of those types of medical infrastructures? How did you use your position to try
to help facilitate or-
Olivia Diaz [04:57]
So, in the beginning, I do remember, we tried to – our city management team was in tune with
the regional calls. So there were these regional leadership calls happening that were led by
Commissioner Kirkpatrick when she was a chairwoman of the Clark County Commission. So
she was calling all of the health professionals from UMC and the folks that cared for the unit.
She was calling, I think, our first responders that, for her, were heavily on her fire department
team. I'm trying to remember, there were at least council members from other jurisdictions –
obviously, not in violation of on open meeting law – but she would just make sure that someone
from North Las Vegas, Henderson, City of Vegas was on these calls, so we can, as a region, be
on the same page and growing in the same direction, to be just cognizant of every step of the
way, how we should be handling and managing the situation.
And so, it was on those calls that we were hearing the feedback from the hospital folks and the
capacity. I can't remember what else I wanted to bring – can you articulate your question again –
because I know that there was something else that I wanted to raise, and now I've kind of gone
awry.
Magdalena Martinez [06:26]
I asked if the municipal government had any oversight over any of the medical-
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Olivia Diaz [06:29]
Oh – so then, in these conversations with the county, and as we heard feedback from the different
realms and folks interfacing with this, obviously, the health district was another key player in
knowing what our positivity rates were in the communities. And eventually, it got to a point
where they could tell, by testing the water, where these were hotspots already. Where people had
COVID, or they could basically detect it in the water.
So then the county and the city basically said, "What can we do to offer an alternative for folks
that don't necessarily need to enter our hospital system but may need a place for respite care or
isolation that may not have one because they may be homeless." So we didn't know, for example,
for our homeless courtyard and that shelter space, what was going to happen as a result of
COVID being out there and were going to come down at higher rates than others despite the
nature of being in encampments or being in the shelter corridor space.
And so I do remember setting up Cashman Field jointly as a recuperative care center of sorts,
where the goal was to isolate folks depending on where they were with COVID at the time, and
we staffed it with people from the city and from the county to operate it 24/7 for the time that it
was. Because we just didn't know what was going to come our way, and we'd rather be
overprepared than underprepared.
So that was the one instance in which we set something up in that vein, but obviously, we were
working with the health district on figuring out a path forward, and maybe setting up something
with them that would also be another space for folks that may need it. Because we were also
thinking about scenarios and situations of family and multifamily households; people are low
income, and now they have to not be around their family, right? So how do they isolate? How do
you provide them with a space where they can be? And that also – we figured out a path forward,
through the health district, of how to maybe potentially bring a space, for seniors and for
different scenarios where people might need to be in isolation away from the family, but don't
have the means to necessarily book themselves a hotel room. So we were looking at all of these
different moving parts and pieces that could affect us keeping the spread under control as much
as we can and offering opportunities and spaces for people to be.
Magdalena Martinez [09:21]
Mm-hmm. Okay, that's very helpful. And in terms of this collaborative effort between the
municipalities in Clark County, you mentioned Commissioner Kirkpatrick, and I know the two
of you were in the state legislature together – and she served as a mentor. I recall you talking
about your first year in the legislature, and how she was a mentor to you and many other new
legislators. Tell me about how that added or didn't add to your ability to work with her and Clark
County.
Olivia Diaz [10:04]
I think that an existing relationship of having worked together in the legislature made her
comfortable including me in the conversation. She, I think, knows that I am someone who wants
to be helpful and wants to make sure that all communities are informed and aware. And
obviously, she saw me as a very important part of getting the word out in the Latino/Hispanic
community, where we were seeing high rates of COVID infection. So she wanted to make sure
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that we had folks who could speak the language and who looked like a lot of the folks that,
unfortunately, didn't have the opportunity to work from home. And in order for them to keep a
roof over their heads and food on the table, they had to continue to show up day-to-day in person
for their work. They couldn't do any of this remotely.
Magdalena Martinez [10:58]
Mm-hmm.
Olivia Diaz [11:00]
And hence, why they were the ones coming down with COVID a lot more than other
communities of different ethnic backgrounds. Because their work tends to be more of the work
that has to be carried out physically and in-person, versus over the computer, like you and I are
having this meeting.
So, I think her knowing me, knowing my work ethic, and knowing that I'm very
community-minded and driven, gave her that comfort in drawing me into the conversations, and
trying to be as helpful as we could, every step of the way. Initially, obviously, it was getting the
test sites up and going, and informing the community how to access COVID tests. How it was
super-important that, if they felt the symptoms, they did get tested. And if they tested positive, to
stay isolated. And easier said than done – but we had to go on a lot of PR campaigns to just share
this information, and how it was free and accessible to anyone. And how, really, regardless of
status, nobody was asking you for health insurance or for any kind of – we just needed to verify
that your name matches who you are, and that's about it. And sometimes, we would take
something as simple as a bill on paper that said you were somebody, but we just wanted to make
sure there were no barriers in place to test our community members.
So initially, it was a lot about finding those safe spaces, places, and partners for pop-up testing.
Where can we offer them? Getting people educated about making sure they were getting tested,
so that we could be in front of it versus behind it. And so that was one of many different things
that we had to coordinate. And obviously, at the county level, they have the whole valley, right,
to take care of.
And then, at a city level, it was really, for me, pressing to then tell my city manager and my
neighborhood services team that we needed to do our best to create these pop-up opportunities
by which we created ease of access to testing. Because it was brought to our attention that people
couldn't make certain hours or – then we had to wrap our heads around what does that mean?
Where do we bring it? How do we bring it about? And obviously, we didn't hit the mark all the
time, but we did our best within what we had, and the folks that we could deploy to do a lot of
this work because a lot of it was on the shoulders of our fire department and other city
employees; that their line of work was redirected through this pandemic.
Magdalena Martinez [13:57]
And so, you started to get to some of this in terms of the timeline. So, if you can, to the best of
your recollection, walk me through some of the kind of key points in the timeline. We know the
shutdown happened in March 2020. And if you could just narrate, from again, your recollection,
what were some of the key points in that first year perhaps?
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Olivia Diaz [14:26]
I'm going to owe you the timing of it because I can probably go back and trace it through email.
But I do remember that the very first conversations were about setting up testing sites and
making sure that we knew that. Also, having conversations with the health district about contact
tracing and how to make sure we had the folks ready to deploy to do the contact tracing work. It
feels like contract tracing was always a little bit difficult because people don't necessarily always
engage with the people reaching out to do the tracing. And so I don’t know; I have mixed
feelings about it, but I think we did our due diligence, and we tried to do as much of it as
possible. But some things are out of our reach when we're calling numbers, or people aren't
reaching back out.
I think one of the challenges with just even – I remember that we had to really drill down with a
lot of community orgs and figure out best practices on how to test folks. Because first, I believe –
I can't remember if it was by appointment, and then our folks aren't that sophisticated in
navigating online systems. And so it just really made us become super-strategic and creative.
And then, when I pushed anything out into my ward, I made sure that my staff was there to
assist, and – if someone was showing up for a test, that they got the test, and the bureaucracy, the
check-in, and the registration wasn't a problem.
And so we really did have to work our way through those kinks, so to speak. And then just
having to be cognizant of the fact that not everybody receives information in the same way too.
So you can blast things on social media. You can send emails. But I think that there's – and then,
in terms of language access, there's, even more, to unpack there. So I feel that most of our folks
responded and knew because they were watching it on TV through the news source, maybe
hearing about it on the radio. But just the expectation of having them schedule their appointment,
that didn't seem to be a very good fit. I'm just speaking from Ward 3, where there's a high Latino
population. That didn't seem to be very effective.
And then I remember the very first test sites that we were setting up with the Clark County and
Southern Nevada Health District, to kind of showcase it. I remember how we had hundreds of
people turning up or getting a ticket to have access to being tested. But then us only having so
many test kits and so many tests that – also, our labs were set up to process. So, obviously, we
could only take in so many tests a day, and make sure that we were turning around the results in
a timely manner.
So then lab capacity became another issue in the beginning, when we only had UMC, or we only
had certain Southern Nevada Health District labs to run the tests and get the results. And so then,
obviously, we realized, oh, my gosh. The need is so much greater than the capacity that we
currently have. And so that was something else that had to be built on over time.
I'm trying to think of what else – after testing – it was just a lot of making sure that we were – it
was the face mask-wearing too. A lot of why it was important to wear the face mask. Why that
was such a critical piece of protection to curb the spread? So we had to do a lot of educating the
community on wearing your mask. “Wear your mask. Wear your mask.” There was a point in
time where the city had to also – this was at the very beginning part of the shutdown – well, it
was probably when we opened. Let me take that back.
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So, probably, when we reopened, we had to form teams that were checking in on businesses'
compliance on this issue. Because we weren't seeing the numbers come down at the rate that we
needed them to remain open, and this is where we had partial reopening, right? Where the
governor said, "We're going to reopen the doors, but you have to be at 25% capacity." And so we
were still concerned about the balance, making sure the hospital system wasn't going to be
overwhelmed, and people were going to get treatment. And not turned away and that the
economy would be able to slowly ramp up.
And so I know from the city, because we were in the calls with the county, we developed teams,
and we deployed folks to check in on businesses. And obviously, nightclubs were checked in on,
as supermarkets, small businesses, and mom-and-pop shops. So we deployed a lot of our city
employees that got redirected to do a new job and a new role, to be checking in on compliance,
are they asking their customers to come in masked? Are they themselves masked? Are their
employees masked when they're prepping food?
So there are so many different things that you have to be checking in on. And so I know that our
City Manager then, Scott Adams, made sure those teams were working and were deployed,
because the county was just adamant that they were getting reports of non-compliance, and
people just doing rote things. And that wasn't going to help us make out of this, and be able to
reopen to greater percentages, right? We wanted everybody to get from 25 to 100 really quickly,
but we all needed to be responsible for putting the pieces in the puzzle in place in order for it to
happen.
So that was another thing, is just talking about the importance of wearing face masks, where you
should wear them, and why you should wear them. And then to really drive the point home
because it takes a while until people really get comfortable in the practice and understand it. And
then there was highlighting stories, right, of unfortunate realities where, you know, the Latino
community is probably one of the minority communities that have multi-generational
households. And so, how does that impact when you have los abuelitos [the grandparents] living
with the grandbabies, and then you know, the grandbabies just making sure that we know that
they're spreaders because they don't wash their hands as frequently?
And so, just hearing sad stories of unfortunate outcomes in the community. We needed to
highlight – we tried the positive way of educating, but then we had to bring in real stark stories
and contrasts to the community as well. And there was a whole PR campaign behind that; “Esta
en tus Manos” led by Erika Avilés. So there was some money put behind also making sure the
awareness piece and component were out there.
Then, I think after doing all of that, time kind of – the timeline with the governor evolved; he
allowed for a higher percentage of occupancy in businesses– it started very low, then it started
getting better. And then we started to finally see, a year later, that the vaccines were right here
and were going to be able to be at our disposition.
Another challenge that we navigated was when schools shut down and kids had to access the
school via online. And so we know that in so many parts of our community, access to broadband
is not the same. So the city went into navigator mode, and we had our youth – YDSI – Youth
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Development and Social Initiatives team, they became navigators for the community, where I
canvassed with them sometimes, door-to-door, just because kids weren't showing up online, and
we were trying to find out why they weren't connecting to their classrooms. And we just wanted
to make sure that it wasn't because they didn't have a router, a hotspot, or something to that
effect. And so we just went and checked in on them, we got the lists from the schools about the
students that weren't in attendance or hadn't shown up.
And so we did mount this effort when school started in the fall of 2020. We went to do that, and
the folks who needed a hotspot, we provided a hotspot. But then we also found out "Well, I have
many kids here, and they all try to get online at the same time, and it seems like it's not holding
up for the demand." And so we got to learn, really quickly, about the woes of not having the best
broadband in the community. And then sometimes it's unaffordable; if it's $100 a month for our
low-income families, that sometimes is not going to happen, and they're not going to have access
to the online classes. And so we had to learn about all the intricacies of that.
Then we had to go through food security battles. Because obviously, people who now were laid
off, weren't at work and got less hours, the impact on their economy in the home was
devastating. Then they had to save their resources to keep as many bills paid, and food security
became real. And we started to partner with the Culinary Academy. They got a grant for
providing food to the community, and we started doing food pop-up events. And I can't tell you
how long the lines were, and we sometimes popped up with 500 meals, and the 500 boxes would
fly. And then sometimes we would steer maybe to get 700-1,000 out. And there was a point in
time that whatever meals we were securing were the meals that were being distributed, and the
county and the city partnered to get the word out, and we were getting people from county and
city coming in their vehicles for these drive-through services. And then we had to get really
creative and do all of our events drive-through. So that Halloween, I remember, we did a
"Trunk-or-Treat," and it was drive-through style because we felt like kids needed some sense of
normalcy in their lives and some kind of joy. Something to look up to, at least. They were just
coming through our parking lot at Baker Park for a Trunk-or-Treat, and we were all dressed up in
costumes and so were they. But just trying to do the best to make sure that we weren't putting
anyone at risk. Because at that point, we didn't have access to vaccines, and I'm talking about
October of 2020.
So I'm kind of going all over the place, but you can probably – I'll follow up with a timeline –
because it's not really clear – now, thinking about it, almost two years after, it's kind of incredible
how quickly we've come to be in a better place. But then at the same time, it's like wow, we went
through a lot. Wow, we were going through it. And I don’t know if you have any questions, and
then I'll think of what else to comment on. Because there were just so many different parts and
pieces we were playing a critical role in.
Magdalena Martinez [26:37]
That is really, really helpful, Olivia. I mean what you shared with me is really helpful. And
please don't feel like you have to go through a more extensive timeline. I'm really just interested
in hearing from your recollection of what stands out, right, to get an understanding of what your
experience was as an elected official. So that's really helpful, and I appreciate you touching on
just a broad array of different pieces: everything from education to food security, to collaborating
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with Clark County nonprofits, the mask mandates, and public service announcements. It's a lot, a
lot happened in a very short amount of time. And this collective trauma that many people have
coined going through it – how you were trying, as an elected official, to try to bring some
normalcy – for example, through trick-or-treating, right? Drive-through trick-or-treating. So
that's really helpful.
And I think you started to get at some of this, but from your perspective, which groups do you
think were the hardest hit?
Olivia Diaz [27:45]
Definitely, our working class and a lot of our Latino families didn't have the luxury of staying
home. And if they didn't go to work, there wasn't anything waiting for them. There weren't any
unemployment benefits. There weren't any kind of resources steered their way. And so obviously,
the undocumented community was one of the hardest hit in our valley; ravaged by COVID but
also by the decline in work, and the inability to maybe have access to the stability they had
before the pandemic.
And so, I really feel that they are, and then with that comes our working class. Because even if
you’re a resident or a citizen, and you’re working-class, the expectation was that you showed up
to your job on a day-to-day basis. And I heard so many times, especially at the very beginning of
the pandemic, months in, that a lot of people were threatened by their bosses. That if they didn't
show up to work, they would be fired. And so, for folks who are already hard-pressed, have no
savings; are living paycheck to paycheck, you don't have the luxury of saying, "Well, let me keep
myself and my family safe." What you’re going to say is "I want to keep food in their bellies and
a roof over their heads. I'm just going to have to weather the storm." And I feel that they are the
ones that really were the ones facing all of these.
And then if you really think about some of the populations that I just mentioned, many of them
may not have access to healthcare, and that's even harder. Because then they're afraid – they're
going to the ER when they can't breathe, and sometimes that's beyond that point of care that they
will have a positive outcome, right, because it's gone. So they could have treated and prevented
so much, maybe.
And then also, I think the treatment for COVID also went through an evolution. And I don't think
the doctors really knew how to treat it in the beginning as well as we know now – what our best
practice is, what should be done? And I just feel like a lot of people knowing that their elderly
were going to the hospital, they just freaked and panicked and said, "They're not going to come
out alive." I can't tell you how many times I heard that from community members saying, "I don't
want to take my family member, my loved one, to the hospital because I know that I won't see
them back out alive."
And so there was this fear that going into the hospital meant you were going to die from it. And
so that was more collective trauma and more to then, also – the sentiment was out there, and that
was even harder, in trying to just try to do the best by public health across the board. Because
you had all of these myths going out there that, oh, if people died from COVID, then the hospital
would receive monies because it was being categorized as a COVID death, and they were
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receiving money from the federal government. I mean these are all things that I've heard
articulated along the way, and cause the communities some pause for concern, and not wanting
to go until it was too late for many of them, unfortunately.
And then, some of them did make it, but then it's like, why do we have to learn the hard way?
Why do we have to learn from somebody else's negative experience; when we can wash our
hands; we can stay masked up if we're sick and not go to work. Let's just not spread it.
And then everybody's body handled it very differently, too, right? And so some people said,
"Well, I felt just very few flu symptoms," and people were taken out for a couple of weeks, lying
in bed, being so weakened by it.
Magdalena Martinez [31:36]
Mm-hmm.
Olivia Diaz [31:37]
So it was just all over the board, and it kind of boggles me now that I think about all of the
testimonies and stories that got shared along the way. But I would say, Latinos, and then, after
Latinos, it was the African-American community. Because I feel that there is this distrust of
government, and I think that folks don't feel that we government officials have been as
transparent and helpful to working the working-class community as minority communities. And I
think that there wasn't that confidence in what we were trying to relay to them or share with them
in the moment of dire need. There isn't that trust factor. And so it's unfortunate because then we
know that we have, as two minority communities, we have a lot of underlying health conditions
like diabetes, heart, high blood pressure, and the list goes on and on, right?
And so right there, we already know that we're most at risk, too, because of those other health
risk factors that go right there with those. I would say those were the two most impacted. And
then, after them, it would be the AAPI, and then after them, it would be, I think, the Caucasian
and white community, based on my recollection of the updates that we received from the
Southern Nevada Health District.
Magdalena Martinez [33:08]
Mm-hmm.
Olivia Diaz [33:09]
Because not only were we being briefed on positivity rates, but we were also being briefed on
mortality. And it seemed that in terms of the ones that were dying the most, I think the higher
percentage if I remember correctly, was African Americans and Latinos. We weren't at the top.
We were maybe second or third place. So it might have been elderly Caucasians, African
Americans, and Latinos. But I mean all of that data's there at the health district. But I just
remember, wow, we are contracting it at high rates, but yet, somehow, we're not dying. And it
may be because we were a younger population that was contracting it, and that's probably what
saved some of our folks.
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Magdalena Martinez [33:52]
Yeah, that makes sense. You started to get at some of this, Olivia, in terms of the different levels
of government. And now, thinking about it a little bit more, from the federal, state, to local, what
do you wish the different levels of government would have or could do differently during
COVID?
Olivia Diaz [34:14]
I don’t know. I'm in this role, and I'm trying to do my best to be accessible – to have a connection
to the community, for the community to really call my office and ask questions about anything. It
could be from COVID, to "Where do I get my Social Security card?" to – I mean we're really
here to help them navigate. But I feel like that connection isn't established, as much as I'm trying.
Magdalena Martinez [34:43]
Mm-hmm.
Olivia Diaz [34:45]
I'm not blaming all electeds because I think that some of us are really trying, but somehow,
there's no reciprocity. Like I'm extending my hand, and I'm not able to get very many other hands
to join in and trust us.
And so I keep thinking about how we should be working better with the community. And I think
I don’t know. I think about okay, when I grew up, we didn't have all of these widgets, gadgets,
and social media platforms. And I feel like increasingly, a lot of people are tuning into certain
channels, right? When we were growing up, we had public television broadcasts. And my
parents couldn't afford cable, so watched what was on public television. And you had these PSAs
come, and then you would kind of identify with the folks that were coming on because you, in a
way, didn't have a choice to tune out the commercial; because you wanted to continue watching
whatever program you were about to watch.
I feel like now, everybody's kind of in the on-demand, I'll consume whatever I want to consume.
And then there are all these conspiracy theories that are put out there, that I don't know if we're
going an efficient job debunking. Because then we try to debunk them, but then somehow, our
persona and personalities being in the political spheres kind of come through. And so then there
are other stories that derail the ability to trust us as voices for the community.
So I just feel like we're navigating very difficult times with a lot of noise, and it's really hard to
reach people in a more clear and effective way. Because I remember growing up, you knew your
mayor because you saw her on TV. You knew your electeds because, you know, who didn't know
Harry Reid?
Magdalena Martinez [36:56]
Mm-hmm.
Olivia Diaz [36:59]
And I feel like increasingly, it's just becoming harder and harder to make those connections. We
are trying our best when we hold community events. But then sometimes we hold them, and not
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everybody comes to the door, too. And so, I guess it's increasingly harder for people to really
know you as a person and to trust you, and we all get painted as politicians with one stroke; that
we're all corrupt, we're all about ourselves, and that there isn't this care for the community. I
could tell you that Commissioner Kirkpatrick spent many a day just going call after call, after
call, trying to figure out what the best foot forward was. And I don’t know how many people
really can appreciate all the time, effort, and sleepless nights that some of our elected officials
went through throughout this whole thing.
Magdalena Martinez [37:55]
So I think what I hear you saying is, in terms of – the question was, what could have, or what can
the different levels of government do, or done during COVID? It sounds like what you’re saying
is that these external factors have really shaped the relationship that local electeds and even state
electeds have with their constituents because it sounds like so many communities are siloed in
different ways.
Olivia Diaz [38:27]
Yes.
Magdalena Martinez [38:28]
And they're listening to the message that resonates with them to further support their own way of
looking at the world, right?
Olivia Diaz [38:37]
Yes.
Magdalena Martinez [38:40]
And so this idea of how you build trust seems like it's a recurring idea, you know, and that's
really interesting-
Olivia Diaz [38:58]
It's a work in progress. I can tell you; I've been elected three years to the city council position,
but I can't tell you with certainty that I've gained the trust of my constituents. I did my best to
always be visible and helpful, and share information to the best of my ability through the whole
pandemic. And I hope that some folks trust me, but then sometimes you have to make a decision
that then leaves them with – they're not 100% happy with your decision. So then that can affect
that relationship. So I try to make a lot of deposits, obviously, and try to come off as someone
who's trying to think about things with a level head, a level perspective, and put the best foot
forward. But then sometimes there's something that I may do that maybe, they see me as
unfriendly, or they know someone who is not fond of me. And so then the information that
comes from me can be tainted by just the fact that they're coming across other information. So I
think the way you laid it out is very apropos.
Magdalena Martinez [40:13]
Mm-hmm. So thinking about what you've shared with me, what is it that you think we can learn
from the COVID crisis or could be used as lessons for future crises? What are some of the
lessons learned?
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Olivia Diaz [40:29]
Lessons learned – there's so much. I think we're still in learning mode. Because even though
COVID may not be as lethal or – you know, this very into that strategy right now in the
community. We know we have a high positivity rate, but we don't have the hospitalization rates
that we did in the beginning. It's because the variants are changing, but we also have the
vaccination, right? And so those of us who've been vaccinated and boosted – that was another
part of the equation was when that became available. How to make it available to everyone
equally across the board and remove barriers. Again, just like the testing sites were an
experiment, so was vaccinating. But I just think that – I know that we tried to do our best to
ensure that we had stakeholders and community members talking to the folks. So I’m trying to
figure out if I feel like we missed the mark, and I know that even our health district has put in
some resources to continue to do advocacy.
So I guess one thing that I would try to advance us in the Southern Nevada region is to maybe be
more proactive with primary care. Because if we establish that relationship with – you’re
checking in on a monthly, bimonthly, or quarterly basis with your primary care provider, then
maybe your doctor is a trusted voice, and we could be reaching our residents in a better way.
Because I know, so many times, people are like, "Well, what do you know? You’re not a doctor."
And then there were surveys that were conducted in which, probably, people my age and
younger said, "Well, I want to hear it from the horse's mouth, and the doctors, the scientists, and
the people who are really experts at COVID," right?
And so sometimes, it doesn't come off as genuine from us, even though we're equally as
concerned for everyone. But I would try to see if we could make some inroads in making sure
people start accessing primary care, we already know that our system is challenged in being able
to support all of the people who have insurance. And that there are so many other people who
don't have access; so how can we get more FQHCs to provide more services at a rate that is
affordable to other families that may not have access to traditional insurance?
I'm trying to think. I just really feel like, for example, in the Latino communities, we don't go to
the doctor until sometimes it's way past due or overdue, and we're feeling horrible, and we're
about to die, and that's not the point – we need to start going to the doctor. So I feel like it's
something that probably had an impact on the way the pandemic played in people's lives and the
fate that they had. So I would want to see us really making sure that public health and
preventative care is a priority, and maybe try to articulate that.
Magdalena Martinez [44:03]
Mm-hmm.
Olivia Diaz [44:07]
What else? I also feel that from the minority community's perspective, as information came out,
it wasn't readily accessible in Spanish, per se, and other languages. And so how can we do our
due diligence; so when the governor was going to make an announcement, how can we be aware
that there are Spanish media channels, and there are English channels? And if there are
Tagalog-speaking channels, how can we give them the information that we're about to release in
multilingual ways and fashions? So that then, there's not all this time invested in multiple people
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trying to translate these press releases and these best practices? And I feel like we still need to
get with the times in terms of providing the information in multiple languages in real- time.
We're doing it in English mostly, but how do you make sure it's being spread far and wide at the
time it's being released?
And I know that we lean on a lot of our Spanish-speaking media to do it, but it would be nice for
them to be able to internalize the information as it's being conveyed, and then have it right there
for them to refer to. But I think the responsibility was put on many different community
stakeholders' shoulders to do.
And I think that we also have to be very thoughtful, especially having gone through the testing
and then setting up appointments with vaccinations, about the differences in populations. And so
it's not just about the immigrant community not knowing how to use a computer or going online
to set up an appointment. But what about our seniors? I have parents who are not as versed. And
so I think we constantly have to be questioning the systems we put in place. Increasingly, we're
leaning so much on digital to do everything that it's not necessarily compatible with everyone.
Yes, can all of us who have been through school do it? Yes. But there are other populations that
it's not their strong suit, and they kind of get left behind because you know, we have to figure out
who can help them bridge that digital divide.
And so I feel like we have to be thoughtful about not leaving anyone behind, and you have to
really have to have thought all of these different things, you know, about okay – what if
somebody doesn't know how to read and write? How are we going to help that individual? They
don't know how to access a computer. They don't know how to set up an appointment. So we
should have different ways and avenues for folks to receive the services regardless of them being
able to do it on their own. So that we should have a call line and all of that set up and established
well in advance.
And I know one of the highlights was that we set up a line here in the city. And we had operators
giving information, to the best of our knowledge, 24/7. And so I feel like those kinds of
channels, where people have the ability to do 2-1-1 in Español and get legitimate information
from folks about where to go to get tested. I think the dissemination of information was
something where we were constantly saying, how do we get it to trickle all the way to all levels,
and make sure that everybody receives it?
So I think it's just about bolstering our base across the board. We know that we've leaned on a lot
of faith-based leaders and the schools, and I think we have to be a more coordinated community
group and coalition way in advance, and not try to get everybody to harmonize or be in
synchrony in a time of demand. I think the onus is on us to be talking to each other way in
advance, and not just when times are rough and tight.
Magdalena Martinez [48:23]
Mm-hmm. So could you say a little bit more about the innovative ways that the City dealt with
the challenges of the pandemic? You talked about setting up this line – were there other things
that stand out for you?
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Olivia Diaz [48:39]
Yeah. So by the time we got down to – there were people who were underemployed and not
getting the hours, and we knew they were in arrears with their rent. And by the time we got the
monies to provide – CHAP funding or to make them current with their rent, we recognized that a
lot of these processes required folks to upload documents and do it digitally.
Magdalena Martinez [49:06]
Mm-hmm.
Olivia Diaz [49:08]
So we recognized that this isn't going to work for the community that needed the funds the most.
And we then set out to partner with nonprofit agencies, so that they could interface with the
community, help them upload, and get them all of the documents they needed in order to
facilitate them receiving the monies that would keep them in their residences because they were
in arrears several months.
So one of the partners for the city was Immigrant Home Foundation. I need to remember the
other two – we had one in Ward 3, which was Immigrant Home Foundation, and I've got to look
up who our other two – I can't remember if it was – there was one in Ward 5 and there was one in
Ward 1. I can't remember if it was like the YMCA or the Boys and Girls Club. I don’t know. But
there were another two nonprofits that provided us with the same ability to have a place to then
recommend the people go to receive this one-on-one assistance. And I then started to articulate it
a lot at the health district, on my housing authority boards, and to say there may be people in our
community that can't do certain things for themselves, so we need to make sure that we set them
up to be able to be successful. And even if that means we step in and we facilitate.
Magdalena Martinez [50:32]
And along those lines, can you think of any policies at the state, federal, or local level? I think
you mentioned some of these – the ones for rent assistance – that had an impact on people,
whether positively or negatively.
Olivia Diaz [50:54]
So repeat the question again just so I know what you’re asking.
Magdalena Martinez [50:58]
So any specific policies at the state, federal, or local level that were implemented that you
noticed impacted people, whether it was positive-
Olivia Diaz [51:05]
Absolutely. So rental assistance was key in keeping a lot of people in their homes. I think the
stimulus money helped a lot of people, and it would have been nice for everyone with an ITIN to
have received money too because they're filing their income taxes, but I don't think everyone got
the stimulus money. Obviously, all of the funds that we got – the ARPA dollars – are supporting
us now in making sure that we learn from the hard times, and offer opportunities to reinvest, and
to make different entities whole again. So Clark County got ARPA dollars. We got ARPA dollars
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based on population. I think ARPA has been really helpful in helping some nonprofits that may
need it, and some businesses that may need it moving forward.
I'm trying to think what else came through. And obviously, all of the resources that came to
support our health district in terms of being able to set up the testing capacity, and also the
vaccination efforts, and just making sure that we knew we were a tourist destination, and we
needed to gain the confidence of tourists for them to come back. And we knew that some of
these jobs may not come back live if we don't see tourism coming back.
Magdalena Martinez [52:38]
Mm-hmm.
Olivia Diaz [52:39]
And so there were so many things in that realm that needed to happen as well. And I know that
the legislature having the special session – you’re probably more knowledgeable because I'm not
in the space anymore. And so there were certain things that happened during the session that they
hoped would help weather the storm as well, and be extra accountability for keeping employees
safe, and always doing the navigating between those sides. Because yes, we need tourists, but we
also want to keep our workers safe at the same time. So there was a lot of that work that
happened in the 2021 Legislative Session.
Magdalena Martinez [53:15]
Okay, very helpful. Last question. Are you hopeful? And if so, what are you hopeful for?
Olivia Diaz [53:24]
I do remain hopeful that we all learn from best practices and avoid highly-contagious viruses and
diseases. Right now, we're dealing obviously with the monkeypox, and I feel like, oh, no! Here
we go! (laughs) But I hope that there's more knowledge and awareness, and to trust science.
Because at the end of the day, I would talk to Dr. Luis Medina at UMC, who ran the COVID
unit, and he would say, "Councilwoman, if the vaccine was available for me to purchase at this
point in time for my entire family, as an infectious disease doctor, I would purchase these
vaccines and make sure that my family was safe from the spread, from getting COVID, or
contracting it.
And so it was a lot of these conversations talking to our health experts at the health district. It's
just that we need to trust science. We need to also trust our government. I know that we're not
infallible and that we make many mistakes. But at the end of the day, we're nothing without our
people, and we do care. Some of us are up here because we really care about our communities.
We're invested in seeing that our communities are held harmless. And then we're trying to make
sure that we're getting the word out to everyone. And I know that some people are kind of "up to
here" and ad nauseam about hearing about it. And at a certain point, it's "Oh, here we go –
COVID again." Well, the numbers weren't dropping, and the spread was still happening.
And for some of us, the choices we were making were still kind of holding us in that pattern.
And so I just hope that people know and see that there are many public servants that really are
that at the core. We're public servants, and we're trying to do the best by everyone, in the time
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that – we don't know if the sky's really going to fall, and we don't know what resources are going
to be provided along the way. But we are advocating at the levels that we are in and
communicating, and I think, you know, I'm very thankful for Commissioner Kirkpatrick for
making sure that at the federal, state, and local levels, we were trying to be as educated,
informed, and thoughtful in how we could all contribute in putting the best foot forward and
putting manpower behind doing what we could, each in our region, right?
Magdalena Martinez [56:01]
Mm-hmm, very helpful. Thank you. I will stop the recording right now.
End of audio: 56:04
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