National Nurses United

Those terrible conditions led Lobifaro and other RNs to hold an April 6 action outside the Brooklyn VA calling for proper PPE and adequate staffing. "We are at war, and our enemy is COVID-19," said Lobifaro during the demonstration. "I am not scared to go to war. I am ready, my spirit is strong, but I can't go to war without my version of gear. I need proper protective covering, proper masks. I also need to look around and see other soldiers, other nurses standing shoulder to shoulder with me." In total, VHA RNs staged shift change actions in Augusta and Atlanta, Georgia; San Diego, California; and the Brooklyn and the Bronx VA hospitals. The nurses' concerns were highlighted in close to 100 articles, radio pieces, and broadcast news stories as their public protest shined the media spotlight on the VHA. By late April, under intense scrutiny, Secretary Wilkie was forced to admit to the Wall Street Journal, "[W]e don't have the supplies that we would have in an optimal situation, we have the supplies that we need as the [Centers for Disease Control and Prevention] prescribes." But nurses across the country were painfully aware that the CDC had dangerously relaxed its standards. As Reveal documented in a May article, the CDC loosened it standards not in response to any new scientific research, but rather in response to "an army of health care organizations and public officials in Washington state." The CDC went so far as to suggest that if healthcare workers could find nothing else, a bandana would suffice when treating patients. Lobifaro voiced the sentiments of many RNs when she said it felt as if the CDC had abandoned them and were treating frontline workers as if they were expendable. "I will go in to care for a COVID patient with a bandana when the head of the CDC comes in with me," she said, following a harrowing shift where she watched patients die. On the other side of NYC, McGann spent 14 days wracked with fever, an excruciating headache, chills, body aches, and a persistent and painful cough. On the tenth day, McGann had what she called a "mental moment." "I struggled with: Am I going to make it through this?" she recalled. Alone in her home, she Facetimed her mother in Florida. "I cried, I yelled, I played religious music. I prayed, my mother prayed." When she finally regained her strength, McGann faced the next challenge, returning to work to the same VA where she had become infected. While at home, McGann had heard from her coworkers that many of the patients were dying despite all efforts to save them. "These patients are coming in hopeful, even as they are being intubated, they are hopeful. Yet some days later, those same hopeful eyes, become glazed over and they are not leaving alive," said McGann. McGann wondered how she would feel looking at those patients, thinking, "Could that patient have been me?" Also looming was the real danger: Could she become infected again? No one knows if those who have been ill with COVID-19 can become reinfected. She worried if there would be sufficient supplies of PPE to protect her as she cared for her patients. McGann's first night back was not easy; she found herself out of breath many times, even though she was assigned a relatively light load. Her fellow nurses were taking care of three ICU patients, in a unit without any ancillary help. The shift was hectic, and one nurse suffered a needle stick in the rush. But McGann was thankful—the shift change demonstrations had produced results. Nurses were brought from other VA facilities to help in the COVID hotspots. For the first time in years, the VA hired hundreds of new nurses. The VA agreed to provide all RNs and health care workers who worked with COVID-positive patients N95 respirators. McGann and Lobifaro both agree that the PPE issues and staffing in their facilities are not resolved, but say they are greatly improved. They credit the collective action of the nurses who fought back against the unsafe practices and who took to the streets to advocate for their patients. As the influx of patients slows in New York, McGann wonders what will happen when the state reopens. Will they have what they need to care for another mass influx of patients? Will they have what they need to protect themselves and the veterans who seek treatment? Will they be able to save their patients? Sitting in her car, still wearing her scrubs after an overnight shift, McGann struggled with her fears about one longtime patient, now in the ICU with COVID-19. "Speaking with his sister last night on the phone, it was difficult to maintain a conversation without crying and I could tell she was trying to hold it together on the other side. That was something I didn't anticipate, and if that patient passes, that will be really hard for all of us on the unit," McGann said. "We work in the ICU. Death is what we see, but the fact that there is no magic COVID-curing medication, and that so many people are dying, and they can't have family or friends with them…" McGann's voice trailed off, and she took a few seconds to regain her composure. "That is a solemn moment, putting the patient in a [body] bag and taking them down to the morgue. That is a solemn moment." Rachel Berger is a communications specialist with National Nurses United. A P R I L | M AY | J U N E 2 0 2 0 W W W . N A T I O N A L N U R S E S U N I T E D . O R G N A T I O N A L N U R S E 25 10 RNs at Providence Saint John's Health Center suspended for refusing to go into COVID or PUI room without an N95 respirator APRIL 9–14 NNU holds virtual candlelight vigil, NNU Executive Director Bonnie Castillo, RN reads names of fallen nurses APRIL 14 Buffalo VA nurses

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