Issue link: https://nnumagazine.uberflip.com/i/1399555
35 35 Protecting Patients and Nurses From Infectious Diseases New California Law Requires Hospitals to Maintain a Three-Month Supply of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) This landmark legislation was hard fought and won because nurses and health care workers refused to let the hospital industry take shortcuts on PPE through protest at hundreds of actions inside and outside of the hospitals. In addition to saving the lives of patients, thousands of nurses and health care workers stood up to fight against the hospitals' attempts to force reuse of PPE and decontaminated PPE. Legislation sponsored by our union, A.B. 2537, went into effect starting April 1, 2021, requiring all employers whose employees provide direct patient care in a public or private hospital to maintain a stockpile of: » N95 filtering facepiece respirators » Powered air-purifying respirators and appropriate filters or cartridges » Elastomeric air-purifying respirators and appropriate filters or cartridges » Isolation gowns » Eye protection » Shoe coverings All single-use items in the stockpile must be unexpired, new, and not previously worn or used. We must do everything in our collective power to ensure that all hospitals in the state of California follow the law and frontline staff continue to receive optimal levels of PPE. Contact your CNA/NNU Professional Practice Committee (PPC), and nurse or labor representative to learn more.