It was meant to be a state-wide “day of action” by a nurses union to bring attention to the 165 nurses they say have died of Covid-19 in the U.S., but for Salinas nurses, the wider action on Aug. 5 came at a time of local anger after eight perinatal nurses at Salinas Valley Memorial hospital recently tested positive for the virus.
More than 100 nurses lined Romie Lane in front of SVMH dressed in red T-shirts, wearing red face coverings and carrying hand-lettered signs, buoyed by the loud, honking horns of supportive passersby. The nurses stood on pink chalk x’s on the sidewalk to maintain social distancing. They were joined by nurses from Watsonville and Hollister with the California Nurses Association-National Nurses United, which organized the statewide action. Another 30 nurses lined the corner of Constitution Boulevard and Laurel Drive in front of Natividad.
One of the main sources of the anger is what SVMH nurses say was a lack of protection for the nurses in the labor and delivery unit. One nurse at the demonstration, Lee Mangone, who has worked in the unit for seven years with a total of 18 years of labor and delivery experience, says in March when the pandemic hit they were not allowed to wear masks while mothers were in labor because they were told it might scare them.
Eventually they were allowed to wear surgical masks, but the nurses asked specifically for more protective N95 masks. According to nurses, administrators said no, surgical masks would be sufficient.
A hospital statement provided to the Weekly says the national guidelines when the initial request was made by nurses was for surgical masks, not N95 masks.
"We have always met or exceeded CDC guidelines regarding masking," according to the hospital's statement.
The masks were made available to nurses when aerosol-generating procedures were done, according to both the hospital and nurses.
Shortly after the eight nurses tested positive—the result of what they believe came from treating a patient who later turned out to be positive, although the hospital says the number of infected nurses is lower—the nurses say they were given N95 masks. The hospital statement disputes this, stating that the nurses had N95 masks already when the infections occurred.
The nurses’ ire was further raised when administrators blamed nurses for not social distancing in the break room, according to one nurse who asked to not be named. Administrators also suggested a nurse developed Covid-19 after being exposed outside of the workplace.
A “Covid-19: PPE and Best Practices” fact sheet distributed to the media ahead of the nurses’ action alludes to the possibility that employees will be infected outside of the hospital.
“Despite all precautions, in this environment, any large organization, including ours, can and will see Covid-19 cases in its workforce,” it reads. “While we protect our staff in the hospital to the very best of our ability, and with every resource available to us, we all have lives outside of work and engage in a community currently deemed a high-risk environment for the virus. We take any positive case seriously and will continue to adopt strategic ways to enforce workplace health and safety.”
“The nurses are pretty outraged they’re trying to put the blame back on the nurses from the perinatal unit,” says ER Nurse Vanessa Lockard, who was demonstrating outside of SVMH on Wednesday night.
After the CEOs of the four hospitals in Monterey County, including SVMH CEO Pete Delgado, held a press conference on July 29 asking for the community’s help in slowing the spread of the virus, the nurses began contacting the media. The unnamed nurse said it was frustrating that Delgado talked about keeping the community safe, but in the nurses’ view had not kept them safe at work.
The “Best Practices” sheet also states that the “overarching priority” is staff and patient safety and that the hospital was aggressive about investing in PPE early on during the pandemic. “We would never and have never wavered from that commitment,” it reads.
Yet nurses at the demonstration said they were worried that N95 masks are now being decontaminated and reused. It’s under consideration at Natividad Hospital, according to ER Nurse Jennifer Jean-Pierre. She said nurses are worried the practice is unsafe and untested.
Also of concern is a recent change in policy of releasing patients from isolation within the hospital based on a doctor’s decision, rather than a test result, among other issues.
“It’s scary because I take care of Covid patients. We jeopardize our lives to care of the patients,” hospitals need to take care of the nurses, says Jean-Pierre.
The goal of the demonstration was to raise public awareness of nurses putting their lives on the line to care for Covid-19 patients, but SVMH nurses say they want administrators to take notice.
“We hope they will listen to our requests and demands and take accountability for their actions,” says Mangone.