Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
After Buying $12,000 Worth Of Protective Gear For Colleagues, Nurse Is Suspended For Distributing 'Unauthorized' PPE
ProPublica: A Nurse Bought Protective Supplies For Her Colleagues Using GoFundMe. The Hospital Suspended Her.
Olga Matievskaya and her fellow intensive care nurses at Newark Beth Israel Medical Center in New Jersey were so desperate for gowns and masks to protect themselves from the coronavirus that they turned to the online fundraising site GoFundMe to raise money. The donations flowed in — more than $12,000 — and Matievskaya used some of them to buy about 500 masks, 4,000 shoe covers and 150 jumpsuits. She and her colleagues at the hospital celebrated protecting themselves and their patients from the spread of the virus. (Allen, 4/7)
CNN: Detroit Hospital Nurses Refuse To Work Without More Help, Ordered To Leave
Emergency room nursing staff at a Detroit hospital were told to leave Sunday night after they refused to work and demanded more nurses be brought into their overrun emergency room, health care workers there told CNN. The night shift ER nurses at Sinai-Grace Hospital refused to leave the break room until hospital administrators brought in more nurses to help out, a physician at the hospital told CNN. (Murphy, Young and Carpenter, 4/7)
The New York Times: New Battle For Those On Coronavirus Front Lines: Child Custody
Last month, Dr. Bertha Mayorquin, a New Jersey physician, told her soon-to-be ex-husband that there was a change in plans. After two weeks of providing treatment by video as a precaution against the coronavirus, she would resume seeing patients in person. But when she left work on a Friday to pick up her two daughters for the weekend, her husband, Wendell Surdukowski, presented her with a court order granting him sole temporary custody of the young girls. His lawyer had convinced a judge that Dr. Mayorquin could expose the children, 11 and 8, to Covid-19. (Twohey, 4/7)
The New York Times: How The Four Seasons In N.Y.C. Became A Dorm For Hospital Workers
Just a few weeks ago, it was typical for personal assistants to make reservations for thousand-dollar rooms at the Four Seasons Hotel New York for their high-profile bosses. But in late March, a worried mother calling on behalf of her physician assistant son to get a free room became the norm. The iconic Billionaires’ Row hotel had just announced that it would house medical professionals battling the Coronavirus. “My mom, I think she must have been one of the first to reach out,” said the 31-year-old, whose hospital asked him to remain anonymous. He had been living on Long Island and commuting for two hours each way to his job in Manhattan. Now he’s a 20-minute walk to the hospital. (Krueger, 4/7)
ABC News: 1,300 NYC First Responders Back At Work After Recovering From Coronavirus Or Its Symptoms
As more than 1,300 New York City first responders return to work after recovering from the novel coronavirus or calling out sick with symptoms of the virus, they're responding to a rapid increase in 911 calls for cardiac arrest, the FDNY said on Tuesday. The city's firefighters, paramedics and emergency medical technicians (EMT) are responding to "a record numbers of calls, and they continue to meet this unprecedented challenge head on,” said Fire Commissioner Dan Nigro. "I am incredibly proud of the men and women of this department who are demonstrating every single day throughout this pandemic why they are known as the best and the bravest." (Katersky and Carrega, 4/7)
The New York Times: ‘Thanking God For My Breath’: Dispatch From New York’s Frontline
One Sunday last month Dr. Dara Kass reported to an emergency room in the Washington Heights neighborhood of Manhattan. In some ways, it was a morning just like any other. She chugged a coffee, scrubbed in, greeted her co-workers. She was sent to an area of the E.R. designated for patients with respiratory issues. And that’s when the morning took a turn — it was Dr. Kass’s first day on coronavirus duty. Instead of the normal abdominal pains and headaches, nearly every patient that Dr. Kass saw had the same telltale Covid-19 symptoms: cough, fever, shortness of breath. And tensions among the E.R. staff were running high. (Goldberg, 4/7)
ABC News: Volunteer EMT Corps: 'Nothing Compares' To What They're Seeing In New Jersey Town
In Teaneck, New Jersey, volunteer EMTs are constantly answering potential and confirmed COVID-19 calls, sometimes wearing mechanics overalls to protect themselves from being exposed. "We have never seen anything like this before ever in our history," said Jacob Finkelstein, captain of Teaneck Volunteer Ambulatory Corps. "We've been around for a long time since 1939. I've heard from members who've been here through other, similar, situations through AIDS, through SARS. Nothing compares to what we are seeing now in Teaneck." (Ramos, O'Brien, Margolin and Francis, 4/7)
PBS NewsHour: What These New York EMTs Are Seeing As They Respond To COVID-19 Cases
New York remains the epicenter of the U.S. coronavirus outbreak. Medical teams there are facing a surge of seriously ill patients, and doing so while concerned about their own level of protection from the disease. (William Brangham, 4/7)
ABC News: Anesthesiologists Hailed As Special Heroes In Fight Against Coronavirus
Health care workers across the U.S. have risen to the occasion in combating the coronavirus pandemic. Skilled practitioners place themselves in harm's way to save lives -- but some medical professions face more dangers than others. Anesthesiologists, in particular, have a vast skill set that makes them extremely valuable to care teams that manage critically ill COVID-19 patients, explains Dr. Yemi Odugbesan, physician anesthesiologist and adjunct professor of anesthesiology at Rocky Vista University College of Osteopathic Medicine. (Baldwin, 4/8)
WBUR: 'How Long Do I Plan To Stay? As Long As It's Necessary': This Home Health Care Worker Is Quarantining With Her Client
Frontline health care workers in Massachusetts hospitals are preparing for a projected surge in COVID-19 cases over the coming weeks. At the same time, home health care workers are fighting the coronavirus on a different front, trying to keep their clients out of emergency rooms by bringing treatment and support into the homes of the elderly and disabled. (Dooling, 4/7)
Boston Globe: As Cases And Deaths Rise, Baker Announces Funds For Health Care Providers
Governor Charlie Baker on Tuesday announced a plan to pump $800 million into Massachusetts health care providers, as many struggle financially amid a coronavirus crisis that has now killed more than 350 residents and threatens to strain the system’s limits with a crush of new patients. The announcement came as the state reported 96 new deaths in Massachusetts due to the outbreak, bringing the total to 356. (Logan, McDonald and Andersen, 4/7)
State House News Service: Mass. Urged To Unlock Pool Of Foreign Health Care Workers To Fight Pandemic
Lawmakers are calling on Gov. Charlie Baker to let health care professionals trained in other countries join the state's COVID-19 fight, and a recent Board of Registration in Medicine move will allow some international medical graduates who've also trained in the U.S. to receive temporary licenses here. As Massachusetts prepares for a surge in coronavirus cases and the corresponding demand for medical care and supplies, the state has taken a series of steps aimed at augmenting the available health care workforce. (Lannan, 4/7)
Boston Globe: Coronavirus Continues To Sideline Dozens Of Boston’s First Responders
The coronavirus pandemic continues to sideline dozens of Boston’s first responders, with members of the city’s police, fire, and EMS departments out because of the disease, or potential exposure to it, according to authorities. As of Tuesday, 45 Boston firefighters were self-isolating because of a potential exposure to a COVID-19 case, said Brian Alkins, a department spokesman. To date, that department, which has 1,400 members, has had 15 firefighters test positive for the novel coronavirus. (McDonald, 4/7)
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Physician Practice Warns That It May Permanently Close Because Of The COVID-19 Pandemic
Advanced Pain Management, a large physician practice, said that it may have to lay off 50 employees permanently at its clinics in Greenfield next month because of the postponement of elective procedures during the COVID-19 pandemic. The physician practice also may be forced to close its clinics permanently unless it can obtain financing and address other matters, according to a letter notifying the Department of Workforce Development of the pending layoffs. (Boulton, 4/7)
CNN: This Librarian Is Using 3D Printing To Fight Coronavirus
A doctor in New York asked for help to alleviate the shortage of personal protective equipment for health care workers on the front lines of the coronavirus fight. A librarian stepped in to help. Now Madiha Choksi, a research technologist at the Columbia University Libraries, is a key member of a group of partners and volunteers that have made over 7,500 protective face shields to distribute to New York City-area hospitals. (Crespo, 4/7)
New Orleans Times-Picayune: Stolen N95 Masks Returned To New Orleans Convention Center Coronavirus Hospital
Eighty N95 respirator masks meant to protect staffers at a makeshift hospital for recovering coronavirus patients in New Orleans’ Ernest N. Morial Convention Center have been returned to the facility after authorities said a high-ranking official there allegedly stole them last week. (Vargas, 4/7)
Boston Globe: Chinese Community Collects Masks For Boston Area Healthcare Workers
More than 400 members of Boston’s Chinese community are working together to collect masks for healthcare workers fighting on the frontlines of the COVID-19 pandemic. The grassroots effort began when Shuang Li heard a friend complaining about not having enough masks at the hospital where they work , according to a statement released by the group of volunteers. (Stanton, 4/7)
Kaiser Health News: ‘An Arm And A Leg’: Superheroes Of ‘Stuff’ Help Health Workers In NYC
“An Arm and a Leg” is back — sooner than we expected — with stories about how COVID-19 intersects with the cost of health care and how we can all respond. We’re calling it SEASON-19. We start in New York City — which many health experts say is a couple of weeks ahead of the rest of the country in fighting the pandemic — with a story about people coming together and making do in a crisis. (Weissmann, 4/8)
