Sask. nurses’ union demands respirators
Anger as front-line staff learn assessment centres will not have top-level equipment
The union representing Saskatchewan’s registered nurses is outraged after learning on Thursday that front-line staff at COVID-19 assessment centres will not be provided the highest-level of protective respirators, according to its president.
Tracy Zambory, president of the Saskatchewan Union of Nurses (SUN), was on a conference call Thursday with officials from the Ministry of Health and the Saskatchewan Health Authority to discuss response to COVID-19, which was identified in a Saskatchewan patient for the first time on Wednesday.
According to her account of the meeting, three assessment centres may open Friday in Saskatoon, Regina and Prince Albert, although the plan is “not completely concrete.”
She believes that is too few, and expressed shock that nurses are being asked to work at them with eye protection and face masks — instead of N95 respirators.
“We are gravely concerned and disappointed with what we heard,” said Zambory. “We learned that the highest level of personal protective equipment will not be made available to registered nurses and other health care workers.”
The Saskatchewan Health Authority (SHA) responded in a statement that it has placed an order to ensure it has a sixmonth supply of key items, including gowns, gloves, procedural masks and N95 respirators. “Given the global demand on supplies, an equitable allocation strategy has been adopted by suppliers and manufacturers globally to ensure supplies are available where and when needed,” it said. “The timeline on delivery of the bulk order of supplies has not been determined.”
The statement did not directly confirm or deny Zambory’s account of the conference call or speak to the number of assessment centres that may open.
N95 respirators are protective devices that fit closely to the face and filter out about 95 per cent of small airborne particles. In the wake of N95 shortages, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control have stated that face masks can be “an acceptable alternative.”
It noted in a March update that most transmission seems to occur though droplets and that the role of small respiratory particles is currently “uncertain.”
But Zambory doesn’t want her members to take chances with their lives. In her view, “a surgical mask will not do a thing to protect them.”
“The fact of the matter is, when you look across the world, it is doctors and nurses who are dying,” she said.
She said the highest protection should be the standard. Nurses will tolerate nothing less.
“We need to get it together, because if we do not make the N95 the base of what we do for protecting health care workers in this province, we are putting patients at risk,” she said.
Despite their concerns, she believes her members are still willing to care for patients. “They have the right to refuse work, but registered nurses normally don’t do that.”
Zambory also has broader concerns about the state of the health system and its ability to respond to a major outbreak of COVID-19. She called the province’s response slow and disorganized. “I’m very, very concerned for the lives of our patients in this province,” she said.
The SHA statement disputed Zambory’s gloomy view of provincial planning efforts. It said the SHA and the Ministry of Health have been working closely on pandemic planning for several weeks, and opened an emergency operations centre in Saskatoon last week to coordinate the response.
“The use of personal protective equipment is part of this work and ensuring staff — including nurses — are safe in the workplace throughout the event is key,” it said.
Zambory argued that Saskatchewan will need more than three assessment sites if COVID -19 cases mount.
She warned that rural residents seeking tests could either head to regional hospitals or flock to the cities, where they could more easily infect others.