![]() I’d rather have a patient I know is positive.” Plus, there’s too much uncertainty with this virus going around. I felt like I was in a better position to not get sick or, if I got sick, to recover faster. I’m extremely cautious my first degree was in microbiology, so I bleach everything. I live with just one other person, my boyfriend, who’s also isolating. One day last week, they were going to start drawing names again, so I told them: ‘I volunteer. Whoever got picked got up to go to the unit. The nurses wrote their names on pieces of paper and put them in the bag, and the charge nurse just drew a name. We have these patient belongings bags, they got one of those. You want to be ahead of your work, because it’s a super stressful job anyway. And you have to do it quickly because no one likes to lose time. It was 10 minutes before the shift started and the charge nurse had to choose someone to go. The medical ICU nurses, we agreed to change the process, to be fairer. They asked if there were any volunteers, and no one wanted to. There were days where no one volunteered to go, and after that argument, the charge nurses didn’t force it anymore, because it was unfair. It wasn’t fair for him to go so much when some staff nurses didn’t have to. And he didn’t want to go again to the COVID unit. ![]() She didn’t want to change things after she had already planned it out. They were both under so much stress and really angry at each other. He just started yelling at the charge nurse. Per diem people were being forced to float almost every single shift to the COVID unit. So they’re the ones who have to float on whatever units the nursing office needs them on. The nurses working as per diem, as extra help, they don’t get health benefits but they get paid a ton per shift. We didn’t have a process for how to select who goes there to work.Īssignments are normally based on rank. It’s a pandemic and no one had time to really prepare. “When the COVID-19 unit opened in early March, we opened it in one day. With few volunteers for the hazardous duty, staffing of the COVID-19 unit is left to the luck of the draw. She requested anonymity for fear of online harassment or career repercussions. The nurse spoke with ProPublica reporter Ryan Gabrielson at least twice a week throughout late March and April, describing her experience. We truly appreciate and care deeply about all of our healthcare workers and all of our patients and remain committed to doing everything possible to ensure everyone is supported and safe.” “We understand this is a very stressful time for our staff, particularly those who are on the front line caring for patients. “Protecting our healthcare workers and our patients, including our patients’ privacy, is our highest priority,” the hospital said. In a written statement, Santa Clara Valley acknowledged its health care workers have been under significant strain during the pandemic. The CDC has more information on what to do if you are sick. Note: If you develop emergency warning signs for COVID-19, such as difficulty breathing or bluish lips, get medical attention immediately. Help Us Continue Reporting on COVID-19Īre you a public health worker or front-line medical provider? Do you work for or with a government agency involved in the effort to protect the public? Have you or your family personally been affected? Show us what we should be covering or serve as an expert to make sure we’re on track. As of Wednesday, 52 employees at Santa Clara Valley had tested positive, according to the hospital. More than 1,900 people in the county have tested positive and 94 have died, according to the Johns Hopkins University COVID-19 dashboard. ![]() Santa Clara County had several of the earliest confirmed cases of COVID-19 in California, including what are now the first two known coronavirus-related deaths in the U.S. She had barely acclimated to her new job before patients began testing positive for COVID-19 in February. Last fall, she joined the staff of Santa Clara Valley, a public hospital in San Jose, California. She had graduated from nursing school in 2017 and worked for a year at an urban hospital in the Midwest. What she didn’t expect was to be shunned by fearful workers in other departments, surrounded by uncollected trash and forced to use up health benefits on a technicality. ![]() When a 27-year-old critical care nurse volunteered for Santa Clara Valley Medical Center’s COVID-19 unit last month, she knew that caring for patients with failing lungs and an untreatable disease would be frightening and heartbreaking. ![]() Illustrations by Molly Crabapple, special to ProPublica. ![]()
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