Letters to the Editor

Letter: We’re failing health care workers

My husband has a brown paper bag in our car. Contained within it is the single N95 protective respirator he was issued by his hospital. Each night, when he is done caring for patients, he is expected to place his mask back into the bag, take it home and use it again the next day. Indefinitely.

A mask, covered in viral contagion from as many patients as he’s cared for that day, placed in a bag, over and over again, then placed back on his face.

He goes to work on a unit where there are 46 beds, 16 nurses and two face shields available for the entire staff. With abysmal protection available and the CDC continuously loosening guidelines on what constitutes appropriate protective equipment in light of the shortage, it’s not a matter of if he will be exposed, but when.

As a state and as a nation, we are failing our hospital staff. Our nurses, doctors, respiratory therapists and assistants are as finite a resource as the ventilators we are so feverishly searching out and yet we leave them vulnerable, on the front lines. I’ve heard it compared to sending troops to battle with plastic swords but even then, troops expect that their lives might be sacrificed for the country. Hospital staff didn’t sign up to sacrifice their lives but yet here they are, reporting to work every day, knowing that may very well be the case.

A nursing union was able to locate 39 million masks from a supplier and they are now working to connect hospitals in California and New York with that supplier. Why are we being told that the masks aren’t out there by our government and hospitals, but it took a union only 48 hours to locate a desperately needed stockpile?

As a wife, as a nurse, as the granddaughter of a vulnerable elderly couple who will very likely rely on health care services before this is over; I implore you, please, ask yourselves if absolutely everything in your power is being done to prepare our hospitals and staff for the crisis ahead.

— Marshal Packa

ADVERTISEMENT

Wasilla

Have something on your mind? Send to letters@adn.com or click here to submit via any web browser. Letters under 200 words have the best chance of being published. Writers should disclose any personal or professional connections with the subjects of their letters. Letters are edited for accuracy, clarity and length.

ADVERTISEMENT