Thursday, March 28, 2024

BC Nurses’ Union receives 1,700 complaints from nurses about lack of PPEs during pandemic

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Hundreds of nurses across British Columbia have filed complaints over lack of adequate personal protective equipment while battling COVID-19 on the front lines of this pandemic.

Since March 20th, the BC Nurses’ Union has received 1,700 complaints from nurses who are concerned their employers have not been able to provide PPEs crucial to keeping front line workers safe during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The complaints indicate a rise and fall over time in the amount of protective equipment, like gloves, gowns, face shields, and N95 respirator masks, that have been made available to nurses during this pandemic, according to BCNU president Christine Sorensen.

“Nurses are getting only one mask per shift. Others have been told to leave their used mask on a piece of paper towel when they go on a break,” says Sorensen in a statement.

“The fact that some hospital emergency rooms still have triage desks without Plexi-glass barriers, like the ones now present in grocery stores and food processing plants, is quite simply beyond me.”

For Sorensen, first hand accounts of unsafe work environments have led to serious concerns and raised questions on how health employers plan on navigating the challenges that will continue to arise as the COVID-19 pandemic wears on.

“Respirators, masks and other PPE are meant to be the last line of defense for care providers, after all other control measures are in place,” she added.

COVID-19 has proved particularly challenging and deadly at certain health care facilities, specifically long term care and acute care facilities that have a number of ongoing outbreaks.

As of May 4, there were 168 staff members who were diagnosed with the virus as a result of working at these outbreak sites.

In a statement responding to these complaints, a spokesperson for the Ministry of Health simply reiterated that the safety of frontline health care workers is of great importance during this pandemic.

Work continues to be under way to acquire additional supplies of personal protective equipment for workers in B.C.

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Brishti Basu
Former Senior Staff Writer and Content Manager at Victoria Buzz.

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