August, 26 2009, 08:50am EDT
For Immediate Release
Contact:
Shum Preston, 510-273-2276 or Liz Jacobs, 510-273-2232
Many Hospitals Are Not Ready for H1N1: Nurse Survey Shows Deficiencies in Hospital Swine Flu Readiness
Data from 190 Healthcare Facilities in Nine States from California to Maine
NATIONWIDE
A patient health and safety survey of 190 American hospitals
from coast to coast compiled by registered nurses in eight
different states finds that a disturbing number of our nation's
healthcare facilities are not prepared for the coming H1N1/swine
flu pandemic, according to results released today by the
California Nurses Association/National Nurses Organizing
Committee.
The data reflects a survey conducted over the past four weeks
by RNs in hospitals in Arizona, California, Florida, Illinois,
Maine, Minnesota, Nevada, Pennsylvania, and Texas. And it
comes just a day after release of a report from the President's
Council of Advisors on Science and Technology predicting nearly
2 million Americans could be hospitalized due to swine flu
infections this winter, and as many as 90,000 could die, nearly
triple the deaths that occur in a normal flu season.
What the RNs reported are wide gaps in safety gear, infection
control training, and post-exposure procedures. Among key
findings:
- At more than one-fourth of the hospitals, nurses
cite inadequate isolation of swine flu patients, increasing the
risk of infection to others. - Nurses at 15 percent of hospitals do not have access
to the proper respirator masks, exposing nurses and patients to
infection; at up to 40 percent of the hospitals,
nurses are expected to re-use masks, in violation of
Centers for Disease Control
Guidelines. - At 18 percent of the hospitals, RNs report that
nurses have become infected; one Sacramento, Calif. RN has
already died.
CNA/NNOC is calling on all hospitals to adhere to the highest
standard of protection for patients and nurses to combat the
expected onslaught of new cases this fall and winter, and urging
legislators to strengthen public protections.
"These continuing problems increase the risk that many
hospitals will become vectors for infection, with inadequate
patient protections leading to a spread of the pandemic among
other patients, their friends, family, and caregivers, and the
surrounding community," warned Deborah Burger, RN, CNA/NNOC
co-president. "What we're hearing from around the country is
dangerous to patient health and safety, but with smart and
clinically appropriate leadership we can fix policies in time
for the upcoming pandemic."
On Wednesday, nurses at more than 50 of these
hospitals, mostly large hospital systems, will hold actions to
demand hospital administrators immediately implement safety
improvements for nurses and patients. Contact CNA/NNOC to
find out about what nurses are doing in your area.
CNA/NNOC leaders will also be testifying in a joint
California Senate hearing in Sacramento Thursday on preparedness
for swine flu in the state's health and education systems.
The hearing is at 9 a.m. in Room 112 at the State
Capitol.
"This report should serve as a wake-up to hospital
management, policy makers, and healthcare workers across the
country. We need to urgently increase our readiness,"
Burger said. "We do not yet have a complete picture of the
morbidity of the H1N1 pandemic. But that is no justification for
hospitals making inadequate preparations and endangering the
health and safety of patients and their community. When
September comes, we expect that infection rates of H1N1 will
spike due to the beginning of the school year, prompting
overcrowded emergency rooms, which will put our public health
readiness to the test."
"The swine flu is not the type of flu we are used to.
This pandemic will stress every aspect of our healthcare
system. Hospitals must be proactive in protecting the
public," said Houston RN Terry Hardin.
"The state of Maine has identified over 300 cases of H1N1
infection, resulting in at least 19 hospitalizations and one
death," said Cokie Giles, EMMC, president of Maine State Nurses
Association/NNOC. "A recent survey of our membership
indicates that there may be some areas of serious concern
regarding preparedness policies. We are calling on
MSNA/NNOC represented facilities to ensure that patients and
nurses are protected to the fullest extent from exposure to
H1N1."
"It is important for hospitals to meet full safety standards
for swine flu so that our patients and our nurses are
protected," said Temple University Hospital RN Patricia Eakin,
president of the Pennsylvania Association of Staff Nurses and
Allied Professionals/NNOC.
"I don't know how the local hospitals will staff up for the
pandemic. Nurses at my institution don't accrue sick time, we
use our accrued vacation time to call out sick. We also
work short [staffed] instead of having a replacement when
someone does call out. In these economic times, you tell
me who will be staffing the hospitals?" said Tampa Bay area RN
Peggy Bowen.
Illinois hospitals, says Chicago RN Brenda Langford, "are not
prepared to deal with this pandemic. We have provided our
copies of our surveys to management and they have not moved to
change our practice to be in compliance with the recommendation
set for by the CDC. If the Cook County Health and Hospital
System won't make these needed changes and the Cook County
Department of Public Health won't support our efforts to protect
the nurses and the public, it is left up to the NNOC to make
sure these needed protections are implemented."
Findings of the survey include:
- Half the hospitals have seen infected patients. At 18
percent, RNs have been infected, nurses say. - Nurses at 15 percent of hospitals report that they do not
have access or only some have access to the appropriate N95
respirator masks, and at 19 percent of the hospitals all or some
masks were not "fitted," to ensure their effectiveness against
the virus - More than one in five, 22 percent of the facilities, do not
have enough masks, say nurses. - At almost 40 percent of those which do have sufficient
masks, all or some of the masks are expected to be reused, say
nurses. That puts nurses and patients at risk of infection and
violates CDC guidelines which say all healthcare personnel who
enter rooms of patients in isolation for H1N1 should wear a
fit-tested disposable N95 mask, and that the masks should not be
reused. - Nurses at 26 percent of hospitals report that infected
patients are not being properly isolated, in appropriately
ventilated rooms, raising the possibility of the infection
spreading to others in the facility. At nearly a third of the
facilities, proper infection controls are not being
followed. - Nurses at fewer than half of facilities (49 percent) report
that they have been adequately trained on H1N1 issues, including
identification of infected patients, and procedures for caring
for these patients. - Nurses at only 35 percent of facilities report that they are
guaranteed adequate sick leave if they become ill while caring
for a patient, penalizing them for appropriately staying home
while infectious.
These numbers are borne out by the controversies that have
been reported at hospitals across the country. Examples
include:
- At the University of California Davis Medical Center (near
Sacramento), a patient who subsequently died from H1N1 was
transferred to an intensive care unit as the patient's condition
deteriorated. But rather than be kept in strict isolation with
proper ventilation, the door to the patient's room was kept open
the entire time, placing other high-risk patients, visitors, and
caregivers at risk. - Nurses at Temple University Hospital, a major acute-care
hospital in Philadelphia, are concerned that the level of
preparedness is not sufficient. The hospital has yet to make
clear to nurses its plans and procedures for dealing with H1N1
which is expected to worsen with the start of the school year.
The nurses are already seeing an influx of more patients due to
the closure of one of Temple's nearby facilities, Northeastern
Hospital, and are concerned that without better preparation and
sufficient staff, the anticipated influx of patients due to the
pandemic would be especially dangerous. - At Sutter Solano Medical Center in Vallejo, Calif., there
were not enough masks to deal with three infected patients in
the ICU. Within short order, approximately 10 nurses were
affected. The state office of occupational health and
safety is investigating. - Nurses report that a Kaiser Hospital South Sacramento has
informed patients and visitors that N95 respirator masks are not
necessary and that simple "surgical" masks will suffice, which
directly contravenes standards issued by every government
agency. - Nurses at Los Alamitos Medical Center near Los Angeles
report that Tenet has eliminated sick benefits that would ensure
nurses could afford to take time away from work if they develop
symptoms.
In conjunction with the report, CNA/NNOC is releasing a list
of demands - "The Nurses' Swine Flu Safety
Agenda" - to adequately prepare for this
pandemic.
- Minimize infection of hospital patients and workers by
strict adherence to the highest standard of infection control
procedures, including identification and isolation with
appropriate ventilation of infected patients - All hospital workers and visitors must be provided with
appropriate protection gear at the highest government standards,
including N95 respirator masks or better for all who enter the
isolation room of a confirmed or suspected H1N1 patient. - Guarantee all patients and workers full transparency after
any exposures to H1N1, in as timely a manner as possible - Healthcare workers and facility visitors must receive full
information and guidelines on risk exposure and facility
infection control recommendations - Any RN who is unable to work due to contracting a
communicable or infectious disease identified or treated in his
or her hospital/clinic shall be guaranteed sick leave, not face
disciplinary action, and shall be presumptively eligible for
workers' compensation benefits - Implement a moratorium on any closures of emergency rooms,
layoffs of direct healthcare personnel, and reductions of
hospital beds. - Federal guidelines for protection must be developed that are
consistent across agencies - Disposable respirator masks must not be re-used. In the
event of a demonstrated national mask shortage, facilities
should adhere to government recommendations on mask
conservation.
National Nurses United, with close to 185,000 members in every state, is the largest union and professional association of registered nurses in US history.
(240) 235-2000LATEST NEWS
Critics Blast 'Reckless and Impossible' Bid to Start Operating Mountain Valley Pipeline
"The time to build more dirty and dangerous pipelines is over," said one environmental campaigner.
Apr 23, 2024
Environmental defenders on Tuesday ripped the company behind the Mountain Valley Pipeline for asking the federal government—on Earth Day—for permission to start sending methane gas through the 303-mile conduit despite a worsening climate emergency caused largely by burning fossil fuels.
Mountain Valley Pipeline LLC sent a letter Monday to Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) Acting Secretary Debbie-Anne Reese seeking final permission to begin operation on the MVP next month, even while acknowledging that much of the Virginia portion of the pipeline route remains unfinished and developers have yet to fully comply with safety requirements.
"In a manner typical of its ongoing disrespect for the environment, Mountain Valley Pipeline marked Earth Day by asking FERC for authorization to place its dangerous, unnecessary pipeline into service in late May," said Jessica Sims, the Virginia field coordinator for Appalachian Voices.
"MVP brazenly asks for this authorization while simultaneously notifying FERC that the company has completed less than two-thirds of the project to final restoration and with the mere promise that it will notify the commission when it fully complies with the requirements of a consent decree it entered into with the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration last fall," she continued.
"Requesting an in-service decision by May 23 leaves the company very little time to implement the safety measures required by its agreement with PHMSA," Sims added. "There is no rush, other than to satisfy MVP's capacity customers' contracts—a situation of the company's own making. We remain deeply concerned about the construction methods and the safety of communities along the route of MVP."
Russell Chisholm, co-director of the Protect Our Water, Heritage, Rights (POWHR) Coalition—which called MVP's request "reckless and impossible"—said in a statement that "we are watching our worst nightmare unfold in real-time: The reckless MVP is barreling towards completion."
"During construction, MVP has contaminated our water sources, destroyed our streams, and split the earth beneath our homes. Now they want to run methane gas through their degraded pipes and shoddy work," Chisholm added. "The MVP is a glaring human rights violation that is indicative of the widespread failures of our government to act on the climate crisis in service of the fossil fuel industry."
POWHR and activists representing frontline communities affected by the pipeline are set to take part in a May 8 demonstration outside project financier Bank of America's headquarters in Charlotte, North Carolina.
Appalachian Voices noted that MVP's request comes days before pipeline developer Equitrans Midstream is set to release its 2024 first-quarter earnings information on April 30.
MVP is set to traverse much of Virginia and West Virginia, with the Southgate extension running into North Carolina. Outgoing U.S. Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) and other pipeline proponents fought to include expedited construction of the project in the debt ceiling deal negotiated between President Joe Biden and congressional Republicans last year.
On Monday, climate and environmental defenders also petitioned the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, challenging FERC's approval of the MVP's planned Southgate extension, contending that the project is so different from original plans that the government's previous assent is now irrelevant.
"Federal, state, and local elected officials have spoken out against this unneeded proposal to ship more methane gas into North Carolina," said Sierra Club senior field organizer Caroline Hansley. "The time to build more dirty and dangerous pipelines is over. After MVP Southgate requested a time extension for a project that it no longer plans to construct, it should be sent back to the drawing board for this newly proposed project."
David Sligh, conservation director at Wild Virginia, said: "Approving the Southgate project is irresponsible. This project will pose the same kinds of threats of damage to the environment and the people along its path as we have seen caused by the Mountain Valley Pipeline during the last six years."
"FERC has again failed to protect the public interest, instead favoring a profit-making corporation," Sligh added.
Others renewed warnings about the dangers MVP poses to wildlife.
"The endangered bats, fish, mussels, and plants in this boondoggle's path of destruction deserve to be protected from killing and habitat destruction by a project that never received proper approvals in the first place," Center for Biological Diversity attorney Perrin de Jong said. "Our organization will continue fighting this terrible idea to the bitter end."
Keep ReadingShow Less
'Seismic Win for Workers': FTC Bans Noncompete Clauses
Advocates praised the FTC "for taking a strong stance against this egregious use of corporate power, thereby empowering workers to switch jobs and launch new ventures, and unlocking billions of dollars in worker earnings."
Apr 23, 2024
U.S. workers' rights advocates and groups celebrated on Tuesday after the Federal Trade Commission voted 3-2 along party lines to approve a ban on most noncompete clauses, which Democratic FTC Chair Lina Khansaid "keep wages low, suppress new ideas, and rob the American economy of dynamism."
"The FTC's final rule to ban noncompetes will ensure Americans have the freedom to pursue a new job, start a new business, or bring a new idea to market," Khan added, pointing to the commission's estimates that the policy could mean another $524 for the average worker, over 8,500 new startups, and 17,000 to 29,000 more patents each year.
As Economic Policy Institute (EPI) president Heidi Shierholz explained, "Noncompete agreements are employment provisions that ban workers at one company from working for, or starting, a competing business within a certain period of time after leaving a job."
"These agreements are ubiquitous," she noted, applauding the ban. "EPI research finds that more than 1 out of every 4 private-sector workers—including low-wage workers—are required to enter noncompete agreements as a condition of employment."
The U.S. Chamber of Commerce has suggested it plans to file a lawsuit that, as The American Prospectdetailed, "could more broadly threaten the rulemaking authority the FTC cited when proposing to ban noncompetes."
Already, the tax services and software provider Ryan has filed a legal challenge in federal court in Texas, arguing that the FTC is unconstitutionally structured.
Still, the Democratic commissioners' vote was still heralded as a "seismic win for workers." Echoing Khan's critiques of such noncompetes, Public Citizen executive vice president Lisa Gilbert declared that such clauses "inflict devastating harms on tens of millions of workers across the economy."
"The pervasive use of noncompete clauses limits worker mobility, drives down wages, keeps Americans from pursuing entrepreneurial dreams and creating new businesses, causes more concentrated markets, and keeps workers stuck in unsafe or hostile workplaces," she said. "Noncompete clauses are both an unfair method of competition and aggressively harmful to regular people. The FTC was right to tackle this issue and to finalize this strong rule."
Morgan Harper, director of policy and advocacy at the American Economic Liberties Project, praised the FTC for "listening to the comments of thousands of entrepreneurs and workers of all income levels across industries" and finalizing a rule that "is a clear-cut win."
Demand Progress' Emily Peterson-Cassin similarly commended the commission "for taking a strong stance against this egregious use of corporate power, thereby empowering workers to switch jobs and launch new ventures, and unlocking billions of dollars in worker earnings."
While such agreements are common across various industries, Teófilo Reyes, chief of staff at the Restaurant Opportunities Centers United, said that "many restaurant workers have been stuck at their job, earning as low as $2.13 per hour, because of the noncompete clause that they agreed to have in their contract."
"They didn't know that it would affect their wages and livelihood," Reyes stressed. "Most workers cannot negotiate their way out of a noncompete clause because noncompetes are buried in the fine print of employment contracts. A full third of noncompete clauses are presented after a worker has accepted a job."
Student Borrower Protection Center (SBPC) executive director Mike Pierce pointed out that the FTC on Tuesday "recognized the harmful role debt plays in the workplace, including the growing use of training repayment agreement provisions, or TRAPs, and took action to outlaw TRAPs and all other employer-driven debt that serve the same functions as noncompete agreements."
Sandeep Vaheesan, legal director at Open Markets Institute, highlighted that the addition came after his group, SBPC, and others submitted comments on the "significant gap" in the commission's initial January 2023 proposal, and also welcomed that "the final rule prohibits both conventional noncompete clauses and newfangled versions like TRAPs."
Jonathan Harris, a Loyola Marymount University law professor and SBPC senior fellow, said that "by also banning functional noncompetes, the rule stays one step ahead of employers who use 'stay-or-pay' contracts as workarounds to existing restrictions on traditional noncompetes. The FTC has decided to try to avoid a game of whack-a-mole with employers and their creative attorneys, which worker advocates will applaud."
Among those applauding was Jean Ross, president of National Nurses United, who said that "the new FTC rule will limit the ability of employers to use debt to lock nurses into unsafe jobs and will protect their role as patient advocates."
Angela Huffman, president of Farm Action, also cheered the effort to stop corporations from holding employees "hostage," saying that "this rule is a critical step for protecting our nation's workers and making labor markets fairer and more competitive."
Keep ReadingShow Less
'Discriminatory' North Carolina Law Criminalizing Felon Voting Struck Down
One plaintiffs' attorney said the ruling "makes our democracy better and ensures that North Carolina is not able to unjustly criminalize innocent individuals with felony convictions who are valued members of our society."
Apr 23, 2024
Democracy defenders on Tuesday hailed a ruling from a U.S. federal judge striking down a 19th-century North Carolina law criminalizing people who vote while on parole, probation, or post-release supervision due to a felony conviction.
In Monday's decision, U.S. District Judge Loretta C. Biggs—an appointee of former Democratic President Barack Obama—sided with the North Carolina A. Philip Randolph Institute and Action NC, who argued that the 1877 law discriminated against Black people.
"The challenged statute was enacted with discriminatory intent, has not been cleansed of its discriminatory taint, and continues to disproportionately impact Black voters," Biggs wrote in her 25-page ruling.
Therefore, according to the judge, the 1877 law violates the U.S. Constitution's equal protection clause.
"We are ecstatic that the court found in our favor and struck down this racially discriminatory law that has been arbitrarily enforced over time," Action NC executive director Pat McCoy said in a statement. "We will now be able to help more people become civically engaged without fear of prosecution for innocent mistakes. Democracy truly won today!"
Voting rights tracker Democracy Docket noted that Monday's ruling "does not have any bearing on North Carolina's strict felony disenfranchisement law, which denies the right to vote for those with felony convictions who remain on probation, parole, or a suspended sentence—often leaving individuals without voting rights for many years after release from incarceration."
However, Mitchell Brown, an attorney for one of the plaintiffs, said that "Judge Biggs' decision will help ensure that voters who mistakenly think they are eligible to cast a ballot will not be criminalized for simply trying to reengage in the political process and perform their civic duty."
"It also makes our democracy better and ensures that North Carolina is not able to unjustly criminalize innocent individuals with felony convictions who are valued members of our society, specifically Black voters who were the target of this law," Brown added.
North Carolina officials have not said whether they will appeal Biggs' ruling. The state Department of Justice said it was reviewing the decision.
According to Forward Justice—a nonpartisan law, policy, and strategy center dedicated to advancing racial, social, and economic justice in the U.S. South, "Although Black people constitute 21% of the voting-age population in North Carolina, they represent 42% of the people disenfranchised while on probation, parole, or post-release supervision."
The group notes that in 44 North Carolina counties, "the disenfranchisement rate for Black people is more than three times the rate of the white population."
"Judge Biggs' decision will help ensure that voters who mistakenly think they are eligible to cast a ballot will not be criminalized for simply trying to re-engage in the political process and perform their civic duty."
In what one civil rights leader called "the largest expansion of voting rights in this state since the 1965 Voting Rights Act," a three-judge state court panel voted 2-1 in 2021 to restore voting rights to approximately 55,000 formerly incarcerated felons. The decision made North Carolina the only Southern state to automatically restore former felons' voting rights.
Republican state legislators appealed that ruling to the North Carolina Court of Appeals, which in 2022 granted their request for a stay—but only temporarily, as the court allowed a previous injunction against any felony disenfranchisement based on fees or fines to stand.
However, last April the North Carolina Supreme Court reversed the three-judge panel decision, stripping voting rights from thousands of North Carolinians previously convicted of felonies. Dissenting Justice Anita Earls opined that "the majority's decision in this case will one day be repudiated on two grounds."
"First, because it seeks to justify the denial of a basic human right to citizens and thereby perpetuates a vestige of slavery, and second, because the majority violates a basic tenant of appellate review by ignoring the facts as found by the trial court and substituting its own," she wrote.
As similar battles play out in other states, Democratic U.S. lawmakers led by Rep. Ayanna Pressley of Massachusetts and Sen. Peter Welch of Vermont in December introduced legislation to end former felon disenfranchisement in federal elections and guarantee incarcerated people the right to vote.
Currently, only Maine, Vermont, and the District of Columbia allow all incarcerated people to vote behind bars.
Keep ReadingShow Less
Most Popular