Related
Nurses from Watsonville Community Hospital in Santa Cruz County held a vigil this week in front of the hospital to protest what they said is a lack of personal protective equipment (PPE) in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic.
Quiche Rubalcava has been an ER nurse at the hospital for 16 years. He told KCBS Radio that nurses there have been calling on the hospital to change its decision to weaken PPE standards and cancel staff rather than prepare for a surge of COVID-19 patients.
“We should be following the Cal/OSHA (California Division of Occupational Safety and Health) guidelines, which state the minimum requirements should be a N95 mask and that’s not the case currently,” Rubalcava said. “They’re providing us with surgical masks, which does not meet the minimum standard.”
He said the hospital also has issues with staffing.
“We have been on the record with the employer for over a month about their lack of adequate preparation plans for this pandemic, and we have concerns about the staffing to meet the challenge,” Rubalcava said.
Dan Brothman, Chairman of the Board for the hospital, said it has plenty of PPE, and that the spat is essentially about union negotiations.