Corona Virus Update 5/8

I received an email today from a Hartford Healthcare Nurse Manager. She had read one of my blogs and was upset by it. She said that I was  “quick to criticize and attack the Hospital, it’s leadership and decision making, and so we think it only fair that you acknowledge that our kudos-which you pass along to staff in your blog-were actually communicated to staff in an email from their department leadership.”
She is referring to 2 thank you notes sent to emergency department staff for the work they had done in caring for patients.
Frankly, I thought I was doing exactly what management had done, sharing a thank you.
I did not expect anyone to credit me for sharing, but perhaps I was wrong.
So, let me correct this.
Management did pass along these 2 thank you notes (that came from families) to staff and that was a nice and appropriate thing to do.
As far as being “quick to criticize the Hospital,” all I can say is that if standing up for our sisters and brothers safety is seen as “criticizing” then we have a different definition of “criticizing.”
In fact, as a manger of a staff myself, I would find myself derelict if I did not do everything I could to protect my staff.
I don’t know.
Maybe that’s just me.

I also find this statement disturbing.
“In recent months, we have received a lot of criticism from AFT.”
Exactly who do they think “AFT” is?

It’s not me.
Yes, sometimes I’m a spokesperson for our members.
But our union, “AFT,” is the nurse at your bedside, the respiratory therapist giving you a breathing treatment, the person ensuring your operating room is clean, the person cooking your food.
“AFT” is the teacher and PSRP in your child’s school, it is the person processing your unemployment check, the probation officer keeping us safe, the people keeping our university system running and our state office buildings providing vital services.
Our AFT national president puts it this way, “ We’ve focused on the health and safety of all of our members, but this is an acute need for our frontline healthcare members, and it’s a need we can all come together as a community to meet.”
We are a diverse union of professionals; educators, healthcare, and public service. When one of our sisters or brothers are in need, we are all in need, and we are all there for each other.
That is who we are.
That is who AFT is.
So, when you say “we have received a lot of criticism from AFT,” THESE are the people criticizing you.
Perhaps you should listen.

We are 62 days since the first confirmed case of Covid-19
In Connecticut.
1339 are currently hospitalized, down 49 today
77 more have died, now at 2877


One of our VNA nurses, Martha Marx, will be on WNPR tomorrow (Saturday) on the show “Reveal” telling the story of what it is like to work in this environment.

Another one of our nurses, Sherri Dayton, told her story on TV news tonight.
https://www.nbcconnecticut.com/news/local/hospitals-and-frontline-workers-face-ppe-challenges/2268418/

From our AFT national president:

Our frontline workers are putting their lives on the line to protect us during this pandemic, and they’re running out of the equipment they need to do it safely. I’ve talked with many of our AFT healthcare members. This is a matter of life and death. They’re risking their lives to keep the rest of us safe, but the Trump administration won’t get them what they need, even after months of news coverage on this shortage.

This is a life-and-death struggle, and we must treat it like one. That’s why we’ve secured shipments of person protective equipment for healthcare workers.

While the president won’t get healthcare workers the PPE they need, we have. We’ve purchased 500,000 N95 masks, 50,000 face shields and 1 million surgical masks for our healthcare workers to keep them and their patients safe. 

Will you pitch in now, to help with hardships and with getting more essential PPE, if needed, so we can continue to support and protect healthcare workers?

President Trump didn’t create this pandemic, but he has continually downplayed the virus and dismissed the experts; his response to the pandemic has been chaotic and misleading, putting additional lives at risk. A national emergency requires a national response, yet the Trump administration remains unwilling and unable to provide the credible leadership needed to nationalize our supply of protective equipment. In fact, on National Nurses Day, Trump insulted a nurse he was supposed to be honoring and tried to dismiss the PPE shortage.

This crisis already has killed more than 73,000 people in the United States. Hospitals are rationing masks. Healthcare workers have taken to wearing garbage bags for protection. And all this is happening while the president downplays the crisis and brags about himself. In fact, news just came out that Trump had Jared Kushner use unqualified volunteers to try to secure PPE from other countries.

While the Trump administration fumbles through this crisis, we’ve stepped up to protect people. With the help of the United Federation of Teachers, the New York State United Teachers, the U.S. Heartland China Association and so many others, we’re going to get hundreds of thousands of masks to the healthcare facilities around the country that need it most. 

We’ve done the quality control and negotiated the shipments and distribution, but if you chip in, we can replicate this purchase and get more supplies to more people, sooner. Can you help us in this effort?

The AFT represents 200,000 nurses and healthcare workers nationally and is the fastest-growing healthcare union in the United States. We’ve focused on the health and safety of all of our members, but this is an acute need for our frontline healthcare members, and it’s a need we can all come together as a community to meet.

If you’d like to pitch in to support our efforts to help in cases of hardship and to get more protective gear to our healthcare and other frontline workers, we’d welcome it. Together we can save lives.

In unity,
Randi Weingarten
AFT President

Busy day tomorrow. It’s our annual AFT Connecticut Convention (virtual)
I want to thank all the people who have contributed to making this happen, members and staff.
You are truly the best.

Be well,
John