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 9 C elia yap-banago just missed the 40-year- anniversary of working at her hospital. Karla Dominguez's pediatric intensive care unit patients, or her "kids" as she called them, are now without a powerful advocate. Jeff Baumbach will no longer be sharing any life lessons with his daughter, and Noel Sinkiat's retirement motorcycle trip is now cancelled. Helen Gbodi and Paul Anthony Camagay will never again care for their patients. These are the registered nurse members of National Nurses United who have lost their lives on the front lines of the COVID- 19 pandemic (read more in "In Memoriam" on page 38), and they are among the more than 138 nurses, as of this writing, we have lost across the country. While our colleagues are dying, Nurses Week recently came and went with the typical declaration by our hospital employers and industry that we are "heroes." Across the country, they showed their "appreciation" to us with a pizza party or gifts of hospital swag, as they do every year. But this year, the World Health Organi- zation's International Year of the Nurse and Midwife, we cannot emphasize enough that praise is empty—even insulting—without protections. Since January, we have been fighting for optimal personal protective equipment (PPE) to care for our patients safely during this pandemic. It's June, and we still don't have it in our hands. So we stood up at events all across the country this Nurses Week, from an online art show featuring nurses that launched the week May 6, to a protest at the White House on May 7, to a 1000-person online vigil in honor of our fallen nurses on May 12. Employers and the government can keep their donuts and their platitudes, which can't bring our colleagues back or protect us on the front lines. Before we reopen the country, here's what nurses really want: Give nurses optimal PPE. Nurses and other health care workers must have the optimal PPE we need, including powered air-purifying respirators, coveralls that incorporate head coverings and shoe cover- ings, and gloves. Otherwise, hospitals will continue to be sources for spreading infec- tion, not for healing, and nurses and health care workers will continue to get sick and die. We did not sign up to sacrifice our lives. Activate the Defense Production Act. It is clear to nurses that the industry thinks they have produced an acceptable solution to the PPE shortage by implementing widespread use of various N95 respirator "decontamination" systems. This is unac- ceptable and unsafe. For months, nurses have been calling on President Trump to activate the Defense Production Act (DPA) to order the mass production of PPE right here in the United States. Rather than using unproven decontamination meth- ods, nurses demand new, single-use N95 respirators. Pass an emergency temporary OSHA stan- dard on infectious diseases. The Occupational Safety and Health Adminis- tration (OSHA) must pass an emergency temporary standard to mandate that health care employers provide protections needed for COVID-19. We know employers are not going to do it out of the goodness of their hearts. Strengthen CDC, WHO guidelines. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the organization in charge of Amer- ica's health, and the World Health Organization (WHO), its global equivalent, based their guidelines on avail- ability of PPE, not on science. They even said it was okay for nurses to wear a bandana. By now, risk for airborne transmis- sion of the virus is documented, and nurses demand the CDC and WHO recognize this and strengthen their guidelines accordingly. We shouldn't have had to wait this long! Protect us with housing, child care, and presumptive eligibility for workers' compen- sation. Nurses have already had to move into our cars and garages to protect our families. We demand employers that haven't done so already cover costs for housing costs and child care, so we can keep our families safe. We have also been told to use our sick and vacation time to cover time off for COVID-19 infections we contracted at work. We demand that our COVID-19 infections are automatically eligible for workers' compensation. Strengthen public health infrastructure to include sufficient staffing, supplies, and space for robust surveillance, testing, case isolation, and contact tracing to ensure that the virus is effectively contained. Nurses are literally fighting for our lives during this pandemic, and we have had enough. It's time for hospitals and our society to value the care work that upholds life, rather than the profits gleaned from human suffer- ing. We can't go back to business as usual. Bonnie Castillo, RN is executive director of National Nurses United. Bonnie Castillo, RN Executive Director, National Nurses United Don't call us heroes. Call for safe COVID-19 protections. Nurses signed up to care for patients, not put themselves needlessly at risk. It's time for hospitals and our society to value the care work that upholds life, rather than the profits gleaned from human suffering. We can't go back to business as usual.

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