Honoring Fallen Nurses In The Fight Against COVID-19: Three Florida Nurses, Dozens More Have Died

From the Florida Phoenix:

By Issac Morgan
July 23, 2020

The death toll from the coronavirus among registered nurses in the United States continues to climb, with more than 160 deaths, according to the National Nurses United.

NNU, a large nationwide union representing RNs, reported 167 deaths among nurses, as of Thursday. Three Florida nurses who succumbed to COVID-19 are among the nurses listed and honored on NNU’s website.

Those fallen nurses in Florida are Earl Bailey, in Ft. Lauderdale; Araceli Buendia Ilagan in Miami; and Danielle DiCenso in Hialeah. Here is the website honoring all the nurses.

The website states:

“The registered nurses who lost their lives to COVID-19 were forced to take critical risks without adequate protection during a crisis fueled by corporate greed and government failure.

Nurses across the country report that they are not receiving the proper staffing, personal protective equipment (PPE), education, and communication from their employers, or isolation rooms they need to safely care for COVID-19 patients.”

The union is using media reports, social media, and obituaries to create the list of deaths, according to Chuleenan Svetvilas, NNU communications specialist, said in an email to the Florida Phoenix.

“But the number is most certainly an undercount because the organization believes many deaths are not reported publicly,” Svetvilas said.

Meanwhile, there have been more protests at Florida hospitals where nurses are demanding action to better protect them and add more staff to care for COVID-19 patients.

Here is a previous Phoenix report on the ongoing issues surrounding Florida nurses.

According to a NNU press release, nurses at Fawcett Memorial held a protest at 8 a.m. on Thursday outside of the facility, addressing issues such as RNs leaving their jobs at the hospital due to poor working conditions and failure “to provide the staffing levels nurses need.”

And this past weekend, four nurses working in the intensive care unit resigned, NNU said.

Fawcett Memorial has yet to respond to a request for comment from the Phoenix regarding the allegations.

“Because of the administration’s inaction and dismissal of the warnings by its frontline caregivers, we are losing experienced RNs. That is a tragedy for our patients and our community,” Cynthia Butler, a registered nurse at Fawcett Memorial, said in a written statement.

The Florida Phoenix earlier wrote about nurses battling the virus on the front lines in hospitals and other facilities.

This story was originally published by the Florida Phoenix. For more stories from the Florida Phoenix, visit FloridaPhoenix.com.