Health workers protest for more masks, gowns
Nurses on the front lines of the Bay Area’s coronavirus response on Thursday called on the state to provide more personal protective equipment, warning that a shortage of masks and gowns could have devastating consequences for medical personnel and their patients.
The registered nurses from UCSF and Seton Medical Center in Daly City — members of the California Nurses Association/National Nurses United — protested outside their hospitals to highlight a shortage of N95 respirators and other protective gear critical for health care workers treating patients infected with the virus.
Both hospitals received additional medical supplies Thursday expected to last several weeks.
The pandemic has decimated protective equipment supplies at hospitals across the country, and the situation got bad enough at Highland Hospital in Oakland this week that nurses created their own protective equipment by cutting holes in trash bags and placing them over their uniforms.
“Hospitals are not meeting their legal and moral obligation to make and provide safe workplaces for us,” said Cathy Kennedy, secretary of the California Nurses Association, during an address to nurses Thursday on Facebook.
“We have hospital administrators saying, ‘You can reuse your mask. Disinfect it, put them in a brown paper bag, hang them over an IV pole or better yet use the same mask for the entire shift.’ This is absolutely ridiculous. As nurses we know better.”
Nurses at Seton Medical Center in Daly City joined protests during their shift change at noon Thursday. State officials designated the 177bed hospital — which was on the verge of closing before the outbreak — to treat COVID19 patients.
The hospital on Thursday received 15,680 N95 masks and 1,200 goggles, which will be used by nurses treating COVID19 patients. The supply should last for 35 days in a moderate surge scenario, according to hospital president Anthony Armada and the National Union of Healthcare Workers, which represents more than 600 Seton employees. If cases spike, they will last for 26 days.
Nurses are told to use the same mask for their shift, Armada said.
“Workers at Seton are ready to meet the immense challenge of being on the front lines of the COVID19 pandemic,” said Sal Rosselli, president of the workers’ union.
“More supplies are still necessary to implement the best safety protocols at Seton, but this shipment is a testament to what can be accomplished when caregivers and government officials work together for the public good.”
Debra Amour, a registered nurse at Seton who is a California Nurses Association member, credited Gov. Gavin Newsom for his quick response to the pandemic but said more equipment needs to be sent to the Bay Area, where there are 2,886 coronavirus cases as of Thursday evening.
“We’re being skipped over,” she said. “In Northern California we are the center, we’re the ones most in need. “We’ve got to get this right.” Newsom’s office did not respond to a request for comment Thursday.
Seton said it is separating patients with COVID19 diagnoses and symptoms from other patients in its emergency room, intensive care units and medical and surgical floors.
“We understand that access to PPE has been an issue for medical facilities nationwide — we are partnering with our physicians, nursing and clinical leadership to administer our
PPE policy according to evidencebased and CDC and CDPH guidelines to ensure we are protecting our employees and physicians,” Seton said in a statement.
“We continue to work with our vendors, the County and the State to ensure adequate supply.”
About a dozen nurses protested outside the UCSF Mission Bay medical center at 6 a.m. Thursday wearing bandannas and holding red posters that said, “Protect nurses, patients, public health.”
UCSF said it has sufficient supplies — including N95 masks, surgical masks and gloves — to last about five weeks and expects additional supplies to arrive in the coming weeks. The supplies will be shared across hospitals.
“UCSF Health has extensive protocols and procedures in place for protecting our care providers, staff and other patients, based on the latest science and recommendations from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the state and county departments of public health,” the hospital said in a statement Thursday.
An Atlas Air flight landed at San Francisco International Airport Thursday carrying 65 tons of medical supplies that will be delivered to the UCSF hospital system, airport officials tweeted. San Francisco Chronicle staff writer Mallory Moench contributed to this
report.