Shortages Of N95 Masks, Other Gear Still A ‘Huge Problem,’ Especially For Hospitals In Minority Communities

NBC News: Few N95 Masks, Reused Gowns: Dire PPE Shortages Reveal COVID-19's Racial Divide
Amy Arlund, an intensive care unit nurse in California, starts every overnight shift hoping her supervisors will give her a fresh N95 respirator. “You are asked to reuse them for weeks on end,” Arlund, 45, told NBC News. “You have to justify to your manager repeatedly why you need a new one.” Nearly 100 days after the World Health Organization declared the coronavirus outbreak a pandemic, health care workers across the country are still facing major shortages of personal protective equipment, or PPE, including crucial equipment such as masks, gowns, gloves and N95 respirators. (Dunn and Fitzpatrick, 6/12)

Kaiser Health News: Health Workers Resort To Etsy, Learning Chinese, Shady Deals To Find Safety Gear
A nursing home worker in New Jersey rendezvoused with “the parking lot guy” to cut a deal for gowns. A director of safety-net clinics in Florida learned basic Chinese and waited outside past midnight for a truck to arrive with tens of thousands of masks. A cardiologist in South Carolina tried his luck with “shady characters” to buy ingredients to blend his own hand sanitizer. The global pandemic has ordinary health care workers going to extremes in a desperate hunt for medical supplies. (Cahan and Varney, 6/12)

The New York Times: How A Virus Triage Tent Became A Serene Oasis For Health Care Workers
On a rare quiet evening in late May, Dr. Dahlia Rizk asked her staff to join her by a campfire. They sat together for more than an hour, sharing the overwhelming horrors and occasional triumphs they’d experienced while treating the coronavirus, as the sounds of burning logs crackled in the background and a bright orange glow filled the room. “It was a moment to realize that this all happened, this is real,” said Dr. Kamana Pillay, one of those employees in the room. “And to try to get back to some level of normal as a person.” (Elliot, 6/12)

NPR: FDNY Sued By Paramedics Who Spoke To Media About COVID-19
A group of New York City emergency medical service workers who gave interviews to the news media, including NPR, are suing the city for allegedly retaliating against them after speaking about their experiences responding to the COVID-19 pandemic. In a federal lawsuit filed Wednesday with the federal court in Manhattan, four EMS workers allege the city is violating their right to speak on issues of public concern under the First Amendment, as well as their due process rights. (Wang, 6/11)

ABC News: Medical School Graduates Ready To Fight COVID-19 On The Front Lines 
As the country continues to see new cases of the novel coronavirus, recent medical school graduates are stepping up to fight the pandemic in the front lines. Graduates from the University of California at Irvine's School of Medicine shared scenes from their drive-through commencement and told ABC News what that moment meant to them. (McCarthy and Noll, 6/11)

The New York Times: She Witnessed The Pandemic’s Toll From Inside A Funeral Home
When news reports emerged about a novel coronavirus in China, 23-year-old Stephanie Garcia, a funeral director at International Funeral Service of New York in Brooklyn, didn’t know what to make of them. She felt scared and confused, unsure as to how such a distant and invisible threat might affect New York. But then the virus arrived in the U.S. and New York City quickly became its epicenter. (Petri, 6/11)

The Washington Post: The Veteran Nurse Could Have Taken Easier Jobs. She Chose To Work In A Correctional Facility That’s Now A Covid-19 Hot Spot.
Daisy Doronilla was the youngest of five sisters born in Manila. She came from humble beginnings, said her daughter, Denise Rendor. Nursing was a way to rise above her circumstances. She ended up loving it. Doronilla worked as a nurse in Abu Dhabi for a few years before coming to the United States, where she had always dreamed of living. Her first jobs were in California, at a medical center serving mostly the poor in South Los Angeles and at a juvenile detention facility. (Cha and Shammas, 6/11)

Kaiser Health News/The Guardian: Lost On The Frontline
A traveling nurse who pitched in after retirement. A phlebotomist who loved her job and was loved by her patients. A driver transporting senior care residents to medical appointments. These are the people just added to “Lost on the Frontline,” a special series from The Guardian and KHN that profiles health care workers who died of COVID-19. (6/12)

NBC News: Missing Nurse Ashley Zachman Who Disappeared After Her Shift In Santa Barbara, California On May 29 Found Safe
A nurse who went missing nearly two weeks ago after leaving her shift at Cottage Hospital in Santa, Barbara, California, has been found safe, according to the Santa Barbara Police Department. SBPD spokesperson Anthony Wagner told Dateline in an email that Ashley Zachman was located “safe and unharmed” on Wednesday, June 10. Details of Ashley’s whereabouts were not released. (Cavallier, 6/11)

Boston Globe: ‘As Healthcare Workers, This Is Our Fight, Too’: Healthcare Workers Unite To Support Black Lives Matter 
Healthcare workers across the state joined together Thursday afternoon to show support for the Black Lives Matter movement and stand up against police brutality, honoring the victims who have died at the hands of police. At noon, the healthcare workers, from over 25 facilities, united in a moment of silence lasting eight minutes and 46 seconds — the amount of time a white police officer pressed his knee to George Floyd’s neck before he died in Minneapolis over two weeks ago. (Berg, 6/11)

Detroit Free Press: Sinai-Grace Nurses: Dozens Died Because Hospital Was Short-Staffed
He couldn't breathe, so he went to the busy emergency room at Detroit's Sinai-Grace Hospital in late March. But instead of getting lifesaving treatment, the man became a victim of an overwhelmed hospital without the resources or staff to properly care for him, said Catherine Gaughan, a clinical coordinator who oversaw the emergency department the night of March 25. (Shamus, 6/11)

WBUR: Close, Sell, Consolidate? Tough Prognosis For Some Massachusetts Health Care Providers 
In fact, 23% of primary care providers surveyed in late May and early June are considering closing their practices, according to preliminary results released by the state’s Health Policy Commission (HPC). The Massachusetts Chapter of the American College of Physicians, working with researchers at the state's medical schools, gathered information from more than 400 practices representing primary care, behavioral health, specialists and other practices. Among specialists, 42% say closing is an option under review and 23% are looking at consolidation. (Bebinger, 6/11)

WBUR: As Less People Seek Care, Physician Practices Consider Closing Amid Pandemic Losses
A new survey of physician practices in Massachusetts finds a startling number of them in financial trouble due to the coronavirus crisis, in which potential patients are staying home. Findings show 42% of specialists and 23% of primary care physicians are considering closing their practices as losses pile up. (Oakes, 6/11)

Kaiser Health News/The Guardian: A Family With Five Doctors — And Two COVID Deaths
On the morning of April 1, Dr. Priya Khanna inched her way from the bedroom to the front door, using walls, doors and railings to hold herself up long enough to get to the stretcher waiting outside. She had been battling COVID-19 for five days and was struggling to breathe. Her mother, also COVID-positive, watched helplessly as EMTs in full personal protective equipment guided Priya into the ambulance. Priya waved to Justin Vandergaag, a childhood friend walking alongside her. “I’ll see you later,” he said. (Megas, 6/11)

Kaiser Health News: Using Stories To Mentally Survive As A COVID-19 Clinician
Dr. Christopher Travis, an intern in obstetrics-gynecology, has cared for patients with COVID-19 and performed surgery on women suspected of having the coronavirus. But the patient who arrived for a routine prenatal visit in two masks and gloves had a problem that wasn’t physiological. “She told me, ‘I’m terrified I’m going to get this virus that’s spreading all over the world,'” and worried it would hurt her baby, he said of the March encounter. (Stephens, 6/11)