Gov. Jerry Brown to Meet with California/National Nurses Leaders Tuesday to Review Need for Higher Ebola Standards

California Gov. Jerry Brown will meet with leaders of the California Nurses Association and National Nurses United Tuesday morning in Sacramento to review ways to make California the national leader in enacting the highest Ebola safety standards and protocols to protect nurses, other frontline health care workers, patients and the public.

NNU has also been calling on President Obama and Congress to mandate all U.S. hospitals to meet the highest “uniform, national standards and protocols” in order to “safely protect patients, all healthcare workers and the public,” and asking the public to join that call by signing a NNU petition online at:

http://www.nationalnursesunited.org/page/s/national-nurses-united-urges-you-to-take-action-now

On Tuesday, after meeting with Gov. Brown, the NNU/CNA delegation will hold a press briefing outside the Governor’s office to discuss what measures can substantially upgrade safety precautions in all California hospitals and other health facilities. The briefing for press will be held at approximately 11:30 a.m. outside the Governor’s office in the State Capitol in Sacramento.

On Tuesday afternoon, NNU/CNA members will rally outside a meeting of the California Department of Industrial Relations in Oakland to demand California formally adopt the optimal  safety standards, including Hazmat suits and accelerated hands-on training programs, mirroring protocols established at the Nebraska Medical Center in Omaha, a premiere institution handling Ebola cases, or a higher standard.

Press Briefing with NNU/CNA leaders: Tuesday, October 21, 11:30 a.m., outside Governor’s Office, State Capitol, Sacramento

Nurses Rally:  1:30 p.m., Tuesday, October 21, State Building, 1313 Clay St., Oakland.  Prior to 2 p.m. Hearing, California Department of Industrial Relations, 1313 Clay St., 17^th Floor, Oakland

Nearly 3,000 RNs from 980 healthcare facilities in every U.S. state, the District of Columbia and the Virgin Islands have now responded to the NNU national survey and continue to warn of inadequate Ebola preparedness in the nation’s hospitals.

“California hospitals have been appallingly slow in moving to enact any effective protocols, much less the highest standards, in response to this virulent Ebola threat that has already infected two nurses in Dallas,” said NNU and CNA Executive Director RoseAnn DeMoro. “A continuing, cavalier, business-as usual-approach that is too often the standard mode of operation for these hospitals will put everyone at risk.”

NNU has escalated this demand since the infection of two RNs at a Dallas hospital where one patient has already died since contracting the Ebola virus.

“Not one more patient, nurse, or healthcare worker should be put at risk due to a lack of health care facility preparedness,” DeMoro said in the letter to President Obama and Congress this week. 

NNU’s survey findings illustrate the nurses’ concerns:

• 68 percent still say their hospital has not communicated to them any policy regarding potential admission of patients infected by Ebola
• 84 percent say their hospital has not provided education on Ebola with the ability for the nurses to interact and ask questions
• 44 percent say their hospital has insufficient current supplies of eye protection (face shields or side shields with goggles) for daily use on their unit; 46 percent say there are insufficient supplies of fluid resistant/impermeable gowns in their hospital – significantly, these percentages have been rising
• 41 percent say their hospital does not have plans to equip isolation rooms with plastic covered mattresses and pillows and discard all linens after use; only 8 percent said they were aware their hospital does have such a plan in place

In addition to the California events Tuesday, NNU nurses are also holding actions in other states this week calling on hospitals to step up Ebola preparedness. Events include:

• St. Louis – a delegation of RNs this morning rallied at St. Louis University Hospital and presented a demand to the hospital CEO calling for it to adopt the highest standards of Ebola preparedness
• Chicago – Tuesday, Oct. 21, 5 p.m., Cook County Building, 118 N. Clark St.
• Bangor, Me. – Tuesday, Oct. 21, 10:30 a.m., outside the Governor’s office, State Capitol.
• Fort Lauderdale, Fl. – Friday, Oct. 24, 11:30 a.m., City Center Building, 401 E. Las Olas Blvd.