HCA workers tell investors of inadequate PPE

HCA HEALTHCARE EMPLOYEES are trying to pressure the hospital giant to release more COVID-19-related information by contacting its investors.

In a letter being sent directly to investors in the company, the employees say they have encountered a lack of personal protective equipment and other workplace safety concerns during the pandemic, and ask investors to meet with workers and seek answers from the hospital chain.

“Even though we as workers are at the core of the company’s ability to operationalize their business, we believe we are not valued by company leadership,” workers wrote in a letter signed by six employees from different states. “Six months into the COVID-19 crisis, HCA is still not consistently providing life-saving PPE, and in some cases is instead forcing caregivers to utilize less reliable masks or to risk cross-contamination by re-using single-use PPE.”

HCA said it believed the letter “was orchestrated by the SEIU as part of their continued effort to attack hospitals across the country” and was meant “to spread misinformation in an attempt to gain publicity.”

“No outside group takes the health and safety of our workers more seriously than we do, and since day one, our top priority has been to protect them—to keep them safe and keep them employed—so they can best care for our patients,” HCA said.

“Any suggestion otherwise ignores the extensive work, planning and training we have done to ensure the delivery of high quality care during this pandemic,” HCA said.

The federal government says 192,299 healthcare providers have tested positive for COVID-19, and 771 have died, but Kaiser Health News and the Guardian have recorded at least 1,336 U.S. healthcare workers who have died from COVID-19. Workers say at least four of those deaths were HCA employees. HCA employs 280,000 people.

“The challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic are unprecedented and sadly, this virus has affected the lives of so many across the world, including our own colleagues and their families,” HCA wrote.

HCA said it screens and tests employees, requires universal masking, performs contact tracing and has a PPE steward at each hospital to ensure proper use and fit of equipment.