Harlem Hospital Nurses Demand Better Protective Equipment

HARLEM, NY — Nurses and other healthcare workers at Harlem Hospital held a rally in front of the facility Tuesday to demand both hospital administrators end the practice of rationing personal protective equipment and that the federal government adequately supply area hospitals with vital equipment such as N95 masks and hospital gowns.

Nurses working at Harlem Hospital said Tuesday that guidelines on the use of protective equipment have become more strict as the hospital deals with an increasing number of coronavirus patients, the New York Post reported. Nurses who were previously allowed to wear one N95 mask per hospital shift are now required to use just one N95 mask for an entire week.

Harlem Hospital surgical Nurse Sara Dowd described the hospital's cirucmstances as a "tragedy,"saying that staff deserve better, PIX 11 reported.

"There’s no data that suggests that masks are effective with this duration of use," Dowd said during Tuesday's rally.

Tuesday's rally was organized by Harlem Hospital healthcare workers and supported by the New York State Nurses Association. Healthcare workers older than 60, with underlying health conditions and who are pregnant were not encouraged to attend the rally due to social distancing guidelines. Signs held by workers during the rally bore messages such as "patients over profits," and "respect public hospital nurses & our patients."

More than 66,000 New York City residents have tested positive for coronavirus as of Monday, April 6, according to city Health Department data. Of those cases, 15,333 have resulted in hospitalization and 2,738 in death, according to the data.

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