SVMH nurses call out a “lack of safety” and the 165 U.S. nurses dead due to the pandemic.

Salinas nurses ask for a little more respect—and more protection in a pandemic.

Good Evening,

It was breezy and chilly as the sun was setting in Salinas last night but that didn’t deter more than 100 nurses from lining the streets–six feet apart, marked by pink chalk x’s on the sidewalk—in a coordinated “day of action” by the California Nurses Association-National Nurses United. 

Dressed in red T-shirts or scrubs, red face coverings and holding signs—one read “Respect & protect nurses now”—the nurses were lined along two sides of Romie Lane outside of Salinas Valley Memorial Hospital, joined by nurses from Watsonville and Hollister. Another 30 or so were at the corner of Constitution Boulevard and Laurel Drive in front of Natividad.

It was a statewide action designed to draw attention to the fact that 165 nurses have died in the U.S. since the Covid-19 pandemic began, but there was local anger the nurses were expressing last night.

The nurses I spoke to told me they are angry because they believe SVMH did not do enough to protect nurses in the perinatal unit.They say eight nurses have now tested positive for Covid-19 and one was hospitalized until yesterday morning. (The hospital disputes the number, indicating it’s lower.)

Ahead of last night’s action the hospital sent to the media a “Covid-19: PPE and Best Practices” fact sheet stating SVMH had committed to “early and aggressive investment in PPE” as well as creating protocols for keeping employees and patients safe. “We would never and have never wavered from that commitment,” it reads. A hospital statement to the Weekly today says the hospital has “always met or exceeded CDC guidelines.”

And yet, nurses say they’re worried. Just one example they offered was that there is movement toward decontaminating and reusing N95 masks at both hospitals and Natividad. Nurse Jennifer Jean-Pierre at Natividad says nurses believe the method is potentially unsafe and untested. 

As I was talking to the nurses we often had to pause because of the loud and extended honking from supportive passersby. It was clear that the public appreciates these nurses who are now putting their own lives on the line during a pandemic.

The nurses appreciated the public show of support, but their intended audience was the administrators inside the hospital. “I hope they will see we really are serious,” said ER Nurse Vanessa Lockard. “We aren’t asking for anything crazy.”

Pam Marino, Staff Writer, pam@mcweekly.com