Those in the medical profession have been taking great precautions when it comes to keeping their families safe from COVID-19.
This includes Nurse Mike Gulick. He’s been extremely careful about not exposing his wife and two-year-old daughter to the virus. Before coming home from work every day, he’d stop at a hotel.
While at the hotel, he’d take a shower, and then wash his clothes in Lysol disinfectant. So it shouldn’t come as a surprise that he and his fellow colleagues would want their workplace to take similar care when it comes to their health.
However, at Providence Saint John’s health center in Santa Monica, where Gulick works, N95 masks are considered unnecessary. N95 masks are known for their ability to filter out 95% of all airborne particles, more so than regular masks.
Last week, one of the nurses in Gulick’s ward tested positive for the virus. It was then that the doctors who worked there started asking why the nurses weren’t wearing N95 masks. They suggested that Gulick and his team should have had better protection.
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That was the final straw for Gulick. He and a handful of nurses decided to tell their managers they wouldn’t enter another room with a COVID-19 patient again until they had N95 masks available.
Gulick said, “I went into nursing with a passion for helping those who are most vulnerable and being an advocate for those who couldn’t have a voice for themselves, but not under the conditions we’re currently under.”
After Gulick and his team made their thoughts known, they were suspended by the hospital, according to National Nurses United. The ten nurses are being paid, but they aren’t allowed to return to work until an investigation from human resources is complete.
These nurses are among hundreds of medical professionals around the country who are currently working without adequate protection.
As of Tuesday, Saint John’s said that it will provide N95 masks to all nurses who care for COVID-19 patients. A statement from the hospital said that they’d increased their supply and are disinfecting masks daily.
“It’s no secret there is a national shortage,” said the statement. Here’s hoping the nurses will soon be allowed to return to work without needing to search for “jobs near me hiring” in the near future.
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