Oakland, California – Nurses at Alta Bates Summit Medical Center in Oakland mourned the loss of a colleague who died of the coronavirus last week, when they called the hospital to do more to protect them from infection.
Janine Paiste-Ponder died on Friday. She was remembered as a compassionate, dedicated and exceptional nurse with a great sense of humor, who was always ready to help.
“She was our friend, she was our sister, she was our co-worker. And I can’t believe she’s gone,” said Paiste-Ponder’s colleague Toya Randle, a registered nurse.
Randle herself recently tested positive. She said that she and Paiste-Ponder worked together in the medical / surgical unit, where nurses were sometimes assigned to five patients at a time, some of whom had tested positive for COVID-19.
“They would then have to switch in and out of the same personal protective equipment (PPE) in one shift as they alternated between patients, not knowing if they were exposed along the way,” the California Nurses Association (CNA) said in a statement. . Press release.
Vigil stopped by Oakland nurse who died of COVID-19
Nurses at Alta Bates Summit Medical Center in Oakland mourned the loss of a colleague who died of the coronavirus last week, when they called the hospital to do more to protect them from infection.
“When Janine signed up to care for her patients at Summit, she didn’t sign up to sacrifice her life.” The CNA said and asked the hospital to equip the nurses with the personal protective equipment (PPE) necessary to keep them safe, along with easy access to the tests.
The CNA said Summit nurses reported a hospital policy of only screening symptomatic nurses, even if they have had known exposure to the virus.
Randle said she had been exposed to a patient who tested positive, but was not tested until she lost her sense of smell and taste, a common symptom among COVID-19 patients.
The positive result of his test returned last Wednesday. And then, two days later, she said that her friend and colleague died from the disease. “All the nurses have been pleading and voicing their fears of what could happen. It falls on deaf ears,” said Randle.
A Sutter Health spokesperson said, “When serving suspected or known COVID-19 positive patients, staff receive new N-95 masks along with other appropriate PPE. Our supply is adequate to meet demand at this time.” Sutter Health said its COVID-19 testing policies are in line with state and local officials.
On Tuesday, the CNA planned to hold a vigil on the campus of Alta Bates Summit Medical Center in Oakland to honor Paiste-Ponder.
“I just want Summit to know that they lost an amazing nurse,” said Randle. “She was a loving wife, a loving mother.”
KTVU’s Jana Katsuyama contributed to this report.
Janine Paiste-Ponder, a nurse at the Sutter Alta Bates Summit Medical Center in Oakland, died of COVID 19 on July 17, 2020. Her colleagues mourned her death and called for better protection from the hospital.
