‘WE’RE ONA SUICIDE MISSION’
Bx. hosp staff fights thru fears, tears to save lives even as colleague dies
Sean Petty, a pediatric nurse at Jacobi Medical Center in the Bronx, wears his desperate need for a proper mask on his face. Petty is among countless nurses and doctors at city hospitals forced to fight coronavirus pandemic without adequate personal protective equipment.
Nurses and doctors at Jacobi Medical Center are on a “suicide mission” — exposed, along with their patients, to coronavirus because of inadequate protective equipment, a veteran nurse at the Bronx hospital told the Daily News.
“We just had a nurse who passed away over the weekend from this,” said Kelley Cabrera, who’s worked at Jacobi for five years. “We are starting to see our own fall sick. Who’s going to replace us?”
Cabrera spoke through tears as she told The News that a physician colleague at Jacobi admitted himself to the city-run hospital Tuesday with symptoms of COVID-19, including difficulty breathing.
“He waited at home. He did what we’re telling people to do. He didn’t come in until he needed care,” she said. “He can’t breathe. It’s hard enough watching patients go through it. It is so hard watching one of your own go through this.”
Cabrera reports to Jacobi for grueling 12-hour shifts three or four days a week, working from 7 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. — and often longer— to care for the massive influx of COVID-19 patients.
The situation has become so dire that a fellow nurse, Freda Ocran, died from the disease. For those left behind on the front lines of Jacobi’s filled-tocapacity intensive care unit and emergency room, each day pushes them to their breaking points, Cabrera says.
“We’re on a suicide mission,” Cabrera said, adding, “[President] Trump has blood on his hands. I can’t be more blunt than that.”
Despite press coverage about shortages of personal protective equipment, Cabrera laments the message still doesn’t seem to be getting through to the federal government.
Some doctors are buying their own gear, and nurses are relying on equipment donated from community groups, she said. But much of it still leaves health care workers and patients vulnerable to infection, she said.
According to Cabrera, nurses are expected to use one set of paper scrubs each day and stretch masks for five days. Yellow gowns, which are typically shed between patient contact, are also being worn longer than they would be under normal circumstances.
“All of these things contribute to cross-contamination,” she said. “A year ago this would have been fireable. I’m talking about my hospital’s policy, which follows CDC guidelines.”
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s guidelines were changed to reflect shortages of proper
masks and personal protective equipment.
“They went from recommending that COVID-19 be understood as a pathogen needing airborne and contact precautions, to one that was only needed to be on droplet precautions,” said Sean Petty, who’s worked as an RN at Jacobi for more than 12 years.
“That led to switching the equipment from needing an N95 mask every time you go care for a patient, to only needing a surgical mask or procedural mask to take care of patients.”
Nurses are demanding the CDC change the policy back.
Throughout the city’s hospitals, nurses are being told to use N95 masks until they’re soiled, and some have been ordered not to use protective gear unless they’re sick.
Nurses experiencing symptoms are even being instructed to report to work despite the risk of infecting patients, said Carl Ginsburg, a spokesman for the New York State Nurses Association.
Pat Kane, the union’s executive director, said in spite of these hardships, nurses continue to risk their own health, and the safety of their loved ones, by showing up and treating patients.
“Our nurses are reporting to work every day knowing that their lives are at risk because federal agencies gave the green light to substandard protection. Some nurses — we don’t know how many — will be infected by COVID-19,” she said.
The other two nurses who died from coronavirus besides Ocran are Kious Kelly of Mount Sinai West and Theresa Lococo of Kings County Hospital.
The city’s Health + Hospitals agency said reports of shortages are “false.”
“NYC Health + Hospitals facilities are on the front lines, and our dedicated employees are working day and night to ensure that all our patients receive the care they need,” the agency said in a statement. “Reports of lack of personal protective equipment and ventilators in our system are false.
We currently have the supplies needed for all of our staff, but are fully cognizant that there is a nationwide shortage of supplies. … Every health care worker in our system who needs PPE is able to receive what they need.”
After Ocran’s death, two more sickened nurses at Jacobi required ventilators.
“We don’t want her sacrifice to be in vain,” Petty said. “We don’t want any more Fredas. We already [have] two additional co-workers that are intubated right now on ventilators. We’re hoping they recover, but we know before this is done, we could be facing a really profound loss of health care worker lives.”