Meanwhile, nurses say they are “stretching themselves as thin as possible,” as Rodarmel put it. This week, nurses at her hospital and Menorah Medical Center in Overland Park, Kansas, 20 minutes away, staged protests over what they say is understaffing and a lack of personal protective equipment. According to National Nurses United, Menorah and Research Medical cut their staffing budgets during the height of the pandemic, forcing nurses to take on more and more patients. Nurses at the Research Medical Center have taken 800 additional shifts to help fill staffing holes, while nearly 250 others have left due to burnout or unsafe working conditions, according to Rodarmel.
Her scratchy, exhausted voice cracking, Rodarmel said that after nearly 30 years of working at her hospital, she struggled to “raise the excitement and joy that was once intended [her] nursing career,” she put on her uniform and walked through those doors because she doesn't know what she'll be asked to do and if she'll be safe. A nurse at her hospital, after caring for a patient without proper protective equipment, died in April from COVID-19, Rodarmel said.
“This should never have happened,” said the head nurse.
Along with Rodarmel, other health care workers told BuzzFeed News they are also returning to reusing masks, laying out a single-use cover for 24 hours or even days before they can get a new one.
It's like going back to a war you've already fought — and it's worse the second time, Tate, a nurse at another Missouri hospital, told BuzzFeed News. Eight months after the pandemic was declared, her hospital staff are still confiscating personal protective equipment, she said. The gloves are locked and stock is monitored. He said he takes a surgical mask for a 12- to 14-hour shift — and after using it three times, it's sent off to be cleaned and then returned for reuse. At the end of each shift, she bleaches her protective face shield so she can wear it again the next day. It is unconscionable, he said, to imagine it will continue at this rate.
“It never ends,” he said. “Our task force, which is all of our hospitals working together, said that if we continue at this rate of 100-plus COVID admissions per day, our health systems will collapse in the first week of December.”
And given how devastating Halloween-related community gatherings have been in terms of transmission, health professionals said they are preparing for the weeks after Thanksgiving.
In Newton County, Missouri, which does not require residents to wear a mask, officials announced Tuesday that they will use federal CARES Act money to pay for a mobile morgue because “area facilities are full.” The purchase was partly in response to an urgent letter from a coalition of health officials, who warned leaders in Newton County, surrounding cities like Jasper and elsewhere in southwest Missouri that medical centers are about to reach a tipping point. Health officials also pleaded for more masks.
“More ventilators are being used in our hospitals than ever before. … ER wait times are getting longer and the availability of hospital beds in our community and others is decreasing,” they wrote. “We are in a public health crisis.”
In response, many cities said they are counting on residents to do their part to keep the community safe, according to KOAM News Now, a local network. mentionted. On Thursday night, Larry Bergner, administrator of the Newton County Health Department, told BuzzFeed News that he would not issue a mask mandate. He still doesn't think it's necessary. ●
