National Nurses United

W hen management told nurses to wear simple surgical masks instead of personal protective equipment (PPE) that provided airborne protections, nurses pushed back. When employers told nurses to reuse N95s, nurses pushed back. When hospitals refused to allow or disciplined nurses bringing their own personal protective equipment to work, nurses pushed back. Since March, RNs from National Nurses United, California Nurses Association, Minnesota Nurses Association, and National Nurses Organizing Committee have held hundreds of actions across the country to fight for optimal PPE and advocate for patients, the community, and themselves. Their actions forced employers to make changes and captured local, national, and international media attention. Here are a few of the highlights. Sutter Health at the start of the pandemic in California, Sutter Roseville Medical Center was not prepared. The last time the hospital had done any full-garb pandemic preparation was a one-time practice for the intensive care unit and emergency departments a year after ebola, recalled Rene Altafer, an RN in the trauma-neuro ICU at Sutter Roseville. Five years had passed and "the ED didn't know how to isolate visitors," said Altafer. The professional practice committee (PPC) had been engaged in an ongoing process with management since 2018, the year of a particularly bad flu season, to get the hospital to increase the PPE supply. "If we can't handle a heavy flu season, we can't handle a pandemic," said Altafer, who is also chair of the PPC. "This is something we bring up every single time we bring up flu season." And even though it was flu season and community spread of COVID-19 had begun, management told employees that they could not wear a mask because that would create fear among the public. But the nurses at Sutter Roseville and other Sutter facilities fought back and won universal masking for all nurses. Sutter nurses at facilities represented by California Nurses Association were also pushing for access to PPE, including powered air-purifying respirators (PAPRs) and N95 respirators, which were now locked up in managers' offices. When the Centers for Disease Control weakened its guidance from aerosol to droplet precautions on March 10, Sutter adopted that irresponsible change a few days later. But nurses fought back against using surgical masks when caring for suspected or positive COVID patients, holding actions at many facilities to let the public know that this was unsafe. CNA also filed Cal/OSHA complaints against Sutter facilities for violating California's aerosol transmissible diseases (ATD) standard, which requires airborne and contact precautions. On March 25, the nurses won the right to use N95 respirators when caring for suspected or positive COVID patients, getting Sutter's agreement in writing. Sutter nurses continued to push back on other issues, and as a result of many actions inside and outside of CNA-represented facilities, they won the right to not work in an area outside of their competency, no discipline for wearing their own PPE or for making an inadvertent clinical error when working outside their clinical area, and a commitment to maintaining California's ratios, unless a surge makes it impossible to do so, among other wins. They also fought for and won another big victory: presumptive eligibility for workers' compensation if a Sutter nurse tests positive 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 29 APRIL 28 MAY 1 MAY 7 MAY 7-8 37 states partially reopened NNU nurses hold more than 160 actions across the country on International Workers' Day demanding PPE NNU nurses hold protest in front of White House, placing one pair of shoes for every nurse who died CA Lobby Day—CNA nurses meet virtually with state legislators on bills that protect RNs and public health OPPOSITE: Nurses at Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center, Los Angeles ABOVE: PPE protest at John H. Stroger Hospital, Chicago

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