Hospital reinstates suspended nurses who demanded masks

[Omaha Steve]

Source: AP

By MARTHA MENDOZA

At least 10 nurses are heading back to the COVID-19 ward this week after being suspended for demanding protective respirator masks, the National Nurses United union said Tuesday.

Their Southern California hospital has reinstated them and is now supplying the N95 masks to nurses working with infected patients.

Last week, the Associated Press reported that nurses at Providence Saint John’s Health Center in Santa Monica were on administrative leave after telling their managers they wouldn’t enter COVID-19 patient rooms without the masks.

The N95 mask filters out 95% of all airborne particles, including ones too tiny to be blocked by regular masks. But hospital administrators said they weren’t necessary and didn’t provide them, the nurses said.



In this image provided by Lizabeth Baker Wade, nurses at Providence Saint John's Health Center in Santa Monica, Calif., on April 10, 2020, raise their fists in solidarity after telling managers they can't care for COVID-19 patients without N95 respirator masks to protect themselves. The hospital has suspended ten nurses from the ward, but has started providing nurses caring for COVID-19 patients with N95 masks. (Lizabeth Baker Wade via AP)


Read more: https://apnews.com/064720ae6d94c2b9d3271551f35e6cfb

[MyOwnPeace]

1. The irony..........

... a hospital being run by people who don't care about life.....

[cojoel]

9. There was a time...

when St. John's Hospital in Santa Monica was run by nuns. They didn't have that problem back then. Now it is run by a corporation...

[AllaN01Bear]

10. thats what you get for putting bean counters in charge

[marble falls]

12. But .. but .. but .. they're making a profit! Don't you get it? You can't spend people!

<sarcasm emoji here>

[3Hotdogs]

2. Now, sue for backpay.

[Hoyt]

6. The one good thing is that they were put on PAID administrative leave.

https://www.ksat.com/news/national/2020/04/18/10-coronavirus-unit-nurses-are-suspended-potentially-for-weeks-for-refusing-to-work-without-n95-masks/

https://time.com/5822237/nurses-suspended-n95-masks-covid19/

[mpcamb]

3. Did they fire any administrators? Some higher up should be out on the street.

No progress otherwise.

[ProfessorGAC]

7. That's Where I Went

If you recall, these nurses were put on PAID suspension.
So, the managers who made this call were paying people to stay home in the middle of a pandemic.
Talk about a case of just biting ones tongue as the best course of action.
They cost the hospital way more in labor than the cost of those masks, and it's a PR disaster. If these nurses were getting paid anyway, they had to backfill with OT. How many masks would that have bought?
And, they still work there?

[lagomorph777]

8. Exactly. Fire those responsible. Set the example.

[McCamy Taylor]

4. My hospital gives COVID nurses high tech space helmets

that filter everything.

[Grokenstein]

5. Administrator: "Who the hell needs you?? You're just a nurse!"

"We're the important ones, you're just front-line know-nothing grunts! ...Please come back, we need you?"

...I know, I know, administrators serve their own role and not all of them are assholes.

But one of Saint John's IS, and needs to be "placed on leave."

[marble falls]

11. Maybe unions will return. If we don't stand up, we won't get counted.

[flying_wahini]

14. Unions for nurses?

I had to sign a ‘right to work contract’ when I went to work for a chain hospital in 1978. (Texas)
The Unions for health care workers were non existent for decades, and STILL are.

[marble falls]

16. Maybe unions will come back. "Right to work" is one of the most mis-named things in the world ...

There are and were union nurses.

https://www.nationalnursesunited.org/about

https://mnnurses.org/

https://www.nysna.org/

https://www.nursingworld.org/ana/

[Wounded Bear]

13. I call that good news!

[Aristus]

15. "Hey, you know what? It turns out we really need you! Our bad! Come on back!"

Assholes...

They'd better give them all a huge raise...