Workers at Fountain Valley Regional Hospital on Thursday July 2 protested what they called minimum practices at the medical center to contain the spread of the coronavirus, claiming that the hospital administration is not doing enough to protect patients and staff.
At least 40 union workers demonstrated outside the 400-bed facility near Mile Square Park on Thursday, July 2, calling for more comprehensive testing for patients and better prevention of the mix of potentially infected patients and staff.
Workers said current measures and a lack of information about the spread of the virus on the premises are putting desperately needed patients and staff at risk.
Staff widely believe that a nurse at the hospital died of COVID-19 in June, union officials and workers said. A hospital spokeswoman said she was unable to confirm due to health care privacy laws.
Orange County hospital beds are filling up amid a resurgence of coronavirus that led the county to a state watch list on Monday. As of Wednesday, the number of people with COVID-19 in county hospitals reached 556, nearly doubling since June 1.
Fountain Valley Regional Hospital management, in a statement, said the current practices are consistent with state and federal public health guidelines.
“All patients admitted to the hospital are screened for fever and other signs and symptoms of COVID-19. The tests are performed based on symptoms and the doctor’s order, ”said the statement provided by hospital spokeswoman Jessica Chen.
All staff are screened and temperature checked when they come to work every day, hospital officials said, and they are provided with face shields, masks and other personal protective equipment to block exposure while working with COVID-19 patients. .
But Joshua Jesus, a radiology technician who met with his coworkers on Thursday, said there are big holes in the administration’s prevention strategy, especially when it comes to locating contacts and alerting staff to possible exposure. which has led to more people being quarantined.
“People have to work overtime, now they work extra shifts,” said Jesus, who has worked for the hospital for seven years. “That shows that contact tracking doesn’t work.
“We don’t feel protected, we feel like we’re not going to know anything about what management discovers.”
In addition to better locating contacts within Fountain Valley Regional Hospital, the workers want all newly admitted patients to be screened for COVID-19, to treat all patients as if they may be infected, and to quarantine staff who He could have been exposed, said Matt Artz, a spokesman for the National Union of Health Workers.
The union represents hospital nursing assistants, radiology technicians, and diet workers, among others.
Artz said practices that improve public health guidelines, such as assuming that any patient could have COVID-19, are already in place at other hospitals.
“You will have your own room until you know for sure if it is COVID positive,” he said. “That is not the case at this hospital.”
Workers have raised concerns with hospital administration and human resources personnel during the pandemic, Artz said, but policies have not changed.
Jesus said other Orange County hospitals are doing a better job of evaluating employees and patients, and guarantee payment for staff who need to stay home due to exposure to coronavirus at work.
On Monday, Barbara Lewis, director of the hospital division for the workers union, wrote to Ken McFarland, the hospital’s executive director, urging her to implement a series of new infection and source control practices, including quarantining, test and provide paid leave to all employees who may have been exposed to the coronavirus.
McFarland had not yet responded, Artz said Thursday.
