Nurses in Santa Monica refused to care for Covid-19 patients after they say hospital didn’t provide essential protective gear

This article is more than 5 months old

This article is more than 5 months old

Nurse Mike Gulick was meticulous about not bringing the coronavirus home to his wife and their two-year-old daughter. He’d stop at a hotel after work just to take a shower. He’d wash his clothes in Lysol disinfectant.

But at Providence Saint John’s health center in Santa Monica, California, Gulick and his colleagues worried that caring for infected patients without 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 hospital administrators said they weren’t necessary and didn’t provide them, he said.

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Then, last week, a nurse on Gulick’s ward tested positive for the coronavirus. The next day, doctors doing rounds on their ward asked the nurses why they weren’t 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 wouldn’t enter Covid-19 patient rooms without N95 masks.

“I went into nursing with a passion for helping those who are most vulnerable and being an advocate for those who couldn’t have a voice for themselves, but not under the conditions we’re currently under,” Gulick said.

The hospital suspended him and nine colleagues, according to National Nurses United, which represents them. Ten nurses are now being paid but are not allowed to return to work pending an investigation from human resources, the union said.

They are among hundreds of doctors, nurses and other healthcare workers across the country who say they’ve been asked to work without adequate protection. Some have taken part in protests or lodged formal complaints. Others are buying or even making their own supplies.

Guidelines from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention don’t require N95 masks for Covid-19 caregivers, but many hospitals are opting for the added protection because the infection is extremely contagious. The CDC said Wednesday at least 9,200 healthcare workers have been infected.

Saint John’s said that, as of Tuesday, it was providing N95 masks to all nurses caring for Covid-19 patients and those awaiting test results. Its statement said the hospital had increased its supply and was disinfecting masks daily.

“It’s no secret there is a national shortage,” said the statement. The hospital would not comment on the suspended nurses.

Angela Gatdula, a Saint John’s nurse who fell ill with coronavirus, said she asked hospital managers why doctors were wearing N95 masks but nurses weren’t. She says they told her the CDC said surgical masks were enough to keep her safe.

Then she was hit with a dry cough, severe body aches and joint pain. “When I got the phone call that I was positive, I got really scared,” she said.

She is recovering and plans to return to work next week.

“The next nurse that gets this might not be lucky. They might require hospitalization. They might die,” she said.

As Covid-19 cases soared in March, the US was hit with a critical shortage of medical supplies including N95s, which are mostly made in China. In response, the CDC lowered its standard for healthcare workers’ protective gear, recommending they use bandanas if they run out of the masks.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Nurses protest against the lack of equipment in front of the UCLA medical center in Santa Monica on 13 April. Photograph: Étienne Laurent/EPA

Some healthcare workers are taking to the streets.

On Wednesday, nurse unions in New York, Massachusetts, Michigan, Illinois, California and Pennsylvania scheduled actions at their hospitals and posted on social media using the hashtag #PPEoverProfit. PPE, or personal protective equipment, refers to items such as masks and gowns.

Nurses at Kaiser Permanente’s Fresno medical center in California demanded more protective supplies at a protest during their shift change Tuesday. The hospital, like many in the US, requires nurses to use one N95 mask per day, which has raised concerns about carrying the infection from patient to patient.

Ten nurses from the facility have tested positive, Kaiser said. Three have been admitted to the hospital, and one is in critical care, protest organizers said. Wade Nogy, a Kaiser senior vice-president, denied union claims that nurses have been unnecessarily exposed.

“Kaiser Permanente has years of experience managing highly infectious diseases, and we are safely treating patients who have been infected with this virus, while protecting other patients, members and employees,” Nogy said.

Amy Arlund, a critical care nurse at the facility, said that, before the pandemic, following infection control protocols they’re currently using would have been grounds for disciplinary action.

“And now it’s like they’ve thrown all those standards out the window as if they never existed,” Arlund said. “It’s beyond me.”