By Brandon Pho and 
Spencer Custodian The |
An increasing number of Orange County medical workers are protesting the hospital conditions and the lack of equipment, they say, is causing outbreaks of coronavirus in hospital staff and patients.
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Medical workers at Kindred Hospital in Westminster protested the management of patients with coronavirus by the hospital administration, which they said caused an outbreak in healthcare personnel and patients. As of Wednesday, 16 employees were infected with the virus, as were 12 patients, according to workers and organizers outside the hospital.
The main of the workers’ demands is the payment of risks, the periodic tests for the personnel, the creation of a new unit within the facilities for patients with COVID-19 and more personal protective equipment.
“Really worrisome,” nurses like Paul Chang said when more hospital workers leaving their shifts came out and took posters, “We are mixing patients with COVID-19 with patients without COVID-19.”
Workers at Fountain Valley Regional Hospital also held a similar protest earlier this month, citing the same concerns.
Both protests were organized by the National Union of Health Workers, which represents nursing assistants, laboratory technicians, and specialists.
In May, hospital workers at Kindred’s other location in Brea were organizing for a similar protest against equipment shortages and infections among staff, one of whom was Roda Vicuña, 46, a nurse and mother of eight who had been on a respirator and later died.
Brenda Alexander, a respiratory therapist who worked at the Brea facility for 19 years, said workers at both locations were organizing in Westminster to prevent it from happening there as well.
“Roda should never have died,” said Alexander, watching protesters in Westminster circle around the hospital entrance. “There are employees who do not totally trust the administration and feel demoralized. There is no trust at all. There is no trust at all.
According to Emma Madrid, who worked at Kindred for 13 years, more than 40% of the Kindred Brea patient population became infected during the high point of the outbreak.
“We should not be afraid to come to work every day,” said Madrid, holding back tears for Vicuña’s death.
Kindred in a written statement said, “Your highest priority is to protect the health and safety of our patients and employees.”
JULIE LEOPO, Voice of OC
The main of the workers’ demands is the payment of risks, the periodic tests for the personnel, the creation of a new unit within the facilities for patients with COVID-19 and more personal protective equipment.
“At the time of admission, all patients who have not previously tested positive for COVID are screened for their status and care for them appropriately,” says the statement, signed by none of the hospital administrators.
“According to CDC” time and symptom “guidelines, patients who previously tested positive are not retested. In addition, all employees have been offered the option to test, and are tested. according to CDC guidelines if they face potential exposure, ”the statement read.
Administrators argued that “we have retained an abundant supply of personal protective equipment for all of our employees. In fact, each staff member who enters a patient’s room receives an N-95 mask as an additional security measure. ”
Regarding worker demands for risk pay, administrators said, “We have offered premium ‘hero pay’ incentives to employees of this hospital who care for COVID-19 patients. To date, the union has rejected our offer. “
Wednesday’s protest also prompted local Democratic elected officials to raise posters and join the singing, such as Irvine Councilwoman Melissa Fox, Westminster Councilman and County Supervisor Candidate Sergio Contreras, and Garden Grove Councilwoman and candidate to the Deidre Nguyen State Assembly.
Meanwhile, the virus has now killed 521 people out of 31,743 confirmed cases, according to the county Health Care Agency.
As of Wednesday, 699 people were hospitalized, including 233 in intensive care units.
Over 374,000 tests were conducted throughout OC, which is home to approximately 3.2 million people.
OC joins the rest of California in counting spikes in virus cases. Governor Gavin Newsom attributed the case increases to business reopens, which have been reduced due to spikes in cases.
“It is not surprising now, in some respects, as we have begun to reopen key sectors of our economy and people continue to mingle … that our numbers would begin to rise in total now, the highest in the nation.” It is not the highest per capita, ”Newsom said at a press conference on Wednesday.
The concerns of Westminster Kindred Hospital employees echo those of medical workers at Fountain Valley Regional Hospital.
NUHW representative Barbara Lewis said it is an ongoing battle to isolate COVID-19 patients and obtain adequate and more personal evidence.
“It is very chaotic there, they are having a hard time getting more registered nurses,” Lewis said, adding that the hospital offers nurses $ 500 to $ 1,000 a day to bring in nurses. “So they are trying to lure them into taking more turns.”
However, employee concerns persist, he said.
Registered nurse Melissa Moore left Fountain Valley Hospital after 12 years because conditions worsened, she said.
“If something is not done and people don’t talk about it, it will just go on and get worse and more patients will suffer,” Voice of OC said earlier this month.
Here’s the latest on virus numbers across Orange County from county data:
Brandon Pho is a writer for the Voice of OC staff and a member of the corps for Report for America, a GroundTruth initiative. Contact him at [email protected] or on Twitter @photherecord.
Spencer Custodio is a reporter for the Voice of OC staff. You can contact him at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter @SpencerCustodio
