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Nurses Suspended For Refusing To Provide COVID-19 Care Without N95 Mask
AP 04/16/2020Nurse Mike Gulick was meticulous about not bringing the coronavirus home to his wife and their 2-year-old daughter. Hed stop at a hotel after work just to take a shower. Hed wash his clothes in Lysol disinfectant. They did a tremendous amount of handwashing.
But at Providence Saint Johns Health Center in Santa Monica, California, Gulick and his colleagues worried that caring for infected patients without first being able to don an N95 respirator mask was risky. The N95 mask filters out 95% of all airborne particles, including ones too tiny to be blocked by regular masks. But administrators at his hospital said they werent necessary and didnt provide them, he said. <>
Then, last week, a nurse on Gulicks ward tested positive for the coronavirus, which causes the disease COVID-19. The next day doctors doing rounds on their ward asked the nurses why they werent wearing N95 masks, Gulick said, and told them they should have better protection.
For Gulick, that was it. He and a handful of nurses told their managers they wouldnt enter COVID-19 patient rooms without N95 masks. The hospital suspended them, according to the National Nurses Union, which represents them. Ten nurses are now being paid but not allowed to return to work pending an investigation from human resources, the union said. <>
But at Providence Saint Johns Health Center in Santa Monica, California, Gulick and his colleagues worried that caring for infected patients without first being able to don an N95 respirator mask was risky. The N95 mask filters out 95% of all airborne particles, including ones too tiny to be blocked by regular masks. But administrators at his hospital said they werent necessary and didnt provide them, he said. <>
Then, last week, a nurse on Gulicks ward tested positive for the coronavirus, which causes the disease COVID-19. The next day doctors doing rounds on their ward asked the nurses why they werent wearing N95 masks, Gulick said, and told them they should have better protection.
For Gulick, that was it. He and a handful of nurses told their managers they wouldnt enter COVID-19 patient rooms without N95 masks. The hospital suspended them, according to the National Nurses Union, which represents them. Ten nurses are now being paid but not allowed to return to work pending an investigation from human resources, the union said. <>
Unbelievable, unacceptable.
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Nurses Suspended For Refusing To Provide COVID-19 Care Without N95 Mask (Original Post)
quaint
Apr 2020
OP
It would be cheaper to buy masks than to pay their salaries without benefiting from their services!
flor-de-jasmim
Apr 2020
#2
still_one
(92,061 posts)1. I hope they sue
flor-de-jasmim
(2,125 posts)2. It would be cheaper to buy masks than to pay their salaries without benefiting from their services!
What point was the HEALTH center trying to make? That one, and so many others.
3Hotdogs
(12,330 posts)3. Public Radio had a former head of O.S.H.A. who wondered why the agency wasn't protecting workers
from the C-19 hazard by requiring employers to provide ppe.
Employers are required to provide safety boots, ear plugs, conspicuosity (that's an actual word they use) vests, respirators for air quality and so forth.
Why not for health care workers?
quaint
(2,551 posts)4. Not enforcing.
Occupational Safety and Health Administration
Temporary Enforcement Guidance - Healthcare Respiratory Protection Annual Fit-Testing
for N95 Filtering Facepieces During the COVID-19 Outbreak
Temporary Enforcement Guidance - Healthcare Respiratory Protection Annual Fit-Testing
for N95 Filtering Facepieces During the COVID-19 Outbreak
3Hotdogs
(12,330 posts)5. Necessary effort is the escape clause.
Does O.S.H.A. have protection for whistle blowers or workers who refuse to work in unsafe conditions?
quaint
(2,551 posts)6. Dunno, couldn't find
...and if so, probably an unreliable protection.