Behind The Scenes: Sickened Health Care Workers Discuss Worries About Jobs, Their Families
The New York Times reports on sacrifices made on the front lines by health care workers whose fears about dying and infecting their families are compounded by stressful work responsibilities. Other news on health care workers reports on one family member's way of showing thanks; profiles of those who have died; the war-zone like feeling; potential layoffs for nurses; economic challenges for pediatricians; and a fired doctor sues a hospital.
When Marcela Vasquez, a phlebotomist at Long Island Community Hospital, gasped for air in a quiet room at home, she wondered: If I die, who will take care of my children? As the fevers and body aches wracked her body, Ms. Vasquez鈥檚 13-year-old daughter, Alyssa Barnes, feared the same. 鈥淚 really need her,鈥 Alyssa said of her mother, 38, who tested positive for the coronavirus in late March. 鈥淛ust losing her, it would change my entire life.鈥 (Ortiz, 5/27)
Hassan N鈥橠am, former middleweight boxing champion of the world, wanted to repay the French hospital that cared for his father-in-law through his bout with COVID-19. Perhaps with Champagne? Or chocolate? No, N鈥橠am thought: 鈥淭hese are things that won鈥檛 last. I wanted to leave something quite memorable.鈥 (Pugmire, 5/29)
Kaiser Health News:
Lost On The Frontline
A nurse who planned to donate blood and plasma once he recovered. A hospital security guard who could be counted on for anything. A travelling nurse who asked his mom to send tamales. These are some of the people just added to 鈥淟ost on the Frontline,鈥 a special series from The Guardian and KHN that profiles health care workers who die of COVID-19. (5/29)
Although new daily coronavirus cases are declining, doctors, nurses, respiratory therapists, and other health care workers are struggling with exhaustion from long hours and a crushing emotional toll from the drawn-out crisis. They鈥檙e seeing more severe illness with fewer treatment options, and more death. Often working with far-from-ideal protective gear, they鈥檙e fearful of getting sick or infecting their families. (Martin, 5/28)
Nurses at MountainView Hospital in Las Vegas held a protest Thursday morning over what they say are planned layoffs and pay cuts by the hospital鈥檚 owner, HCA Healthcare.鈥 HCA is trying to make cuts in both staff and some other things such as pay raises due to the pandemic,鈥 said Nicole Koester, a nurse at MountainView and chief nurse representative for the union National Nurses United. (Puit, 5/28)
With young patients and their parents worried about contracting COVID-19 and staying home, revenues are drying up. That has made the Pahlavan sisters increasingly anxious about how they鈥檒l pay their 40 employees as they burn through cash reserves and an emergency small business loan from the federal Paycheck Protection Program. (Wu, 5/29)
An emergency medicine physician who says he was wrongfully terminated for publicly criticizing his Washington state hospital's coronavirus response is now suing his former employer. Dr. Ming Lin on Thursday sued PeaceHealth, a Vancouver, Wash.-based health system that owns the Bellingham, Wash. hospital where he had worked since 2003, and TeamHealth, the Knoxville, Tenn.-based physician staffing company that contracted him to work there. Richard DeCarlo, PeaceHealth's chief operating officer, is also listed as a defendant. (Bannow, 5/28)
