National Nurses United

NNU, NYSNA, PASNAP, and MNA, representing 230,000 nurses, issue joint statement to warn against early reopening JUNE 2 More than 100,000 deaths in the United States MAY 27 All 50 states have partially reopened MAY 20 NNU releases second RN survey results, showing employer, government disregard for nurse and patient safety MAY 20 On April 20, nurses and community members held a solidarity car caravan, with vehicles sporting signs of support, which circled the hospital and demanded the return of the suspended RNs. "I felt overwhelmed with so much love and support from the local community," said Gulick. "I was shocked by how many people showed up for the car caravan." Nearly two weeks after Gulick's suspension began, all the nurses were reinstated. "I felt so empowered during the entire process because I was taking action for the safety of ourselves and the safety of our nursing profession," said Gulick. "The union stood by us from day one and made me feel so safe and secure." HCA Healthcare in march, nurses at 19 HCA hospitals represented by CNA/NNOC across six states were deeply concerned about HCA's lack of prepared - ness for COVID-19. "It was really chaotic," recalled Adriana Cuazo, an RN in the motor system ICU/COVID unit at Osceola Regional Medical Center in Kissimmee, Fla. "Everything was different every single day. The rules about PPE were changing every day." Nicole Koester, a labor and delivery RN at MountainView Hospital in Las Vegas, recalled that management did not want nurses wearing an N95 respirator, telling RNs that they did not want patients to be afraid. "N95s used to be readily available but the hospital collected all the PPE and you had to be approved to get it," recalled Koester, who said nurses also wanted universal masking. On Mar. 30, the nurses took action when 20 RNs in the L&D unit arrived at the 9 a.m. rounding. "We showed up with surgical masks on and told the managers that by not wearing a mask, we are putting ourselves, our families, and patients at risk," said Koester. "We wanted to wear a mask and we wanted to have N95s. Women are screaming when delivering. They are aerosolizing." The managers said they would look into it and later that day, the director of women's services sent an email to the L&D unit, telling them that they would get access to N95s. The next day, all HCA employees received an email from HCA CEO Sam Hazen that all HCA facilities would implement universal masking. "Since that time, the unit felt really empowered to do the best for themselves and their patients," said Koester. In Florida, Cuazo was upset that Osceola Regional told nurses that they would get surgical masks and that N95s were only for confirmed positive patients or aerosolizing procedures. Her brother is a cancer survivor who lived with her. But because she felt supported by the union, she was ready to fight back. "We started doing petitions and filing complaints to OSHA," said Cuazo. "We wrote to the CEO, filed ADOs [assignment despite objection forms], and incident reports. We held a protest outside on April 1 demanding PPE." Nurses in all CNA/NNOC-represented HCA facilities took action in early April to protest the lack of preparedness and to demand PPE, garnering a plethora of news stories. RNs at 15 hospitals from California to Florida took action outside and at other facilities while sporting stickers saying, "Protect Nurses to Protect Patients." Thousands of RNs across the HCA system put pressure on the hospital chain to agree to implement several demands, including increased access to PPE, universal masking, continued payment for quarantined nurses, and hotel accommodations for RNs caring for suspected or positive COVID patients. They organized and escalated their demands at the unit and facility level, with ED nurses at Blake Medical Center in Bradenton, Fla. pushing back when management tried to increase patient ratios to 1:5; they returned it to 1:4. RNs at MountainView Hospital fought against rationing disposable gowns to ensure that they would be used as intended and thrown away after each patient encounter. The day after the Osceola Regional nurses' protest, COVID unit nurses there won access to N5500 32 N A T I O N A L N U R S E 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 A P R I L | M AY | J U N E 2 0 2 0

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