Santa Monica, CA – Providence Saint John’s Nurses along with community supporters will hold a solidarity caravan at noon, April 21^st to demand the return of the 10 RNs who were suspended for requesting personal protective equipment (PPE) – N95 respirator masks – when treating patients with COVID-19, announced California Nurses Association/National Nurses United, the nation’s largest and fastest-growing nurses’ union representing more than 150,000 registered nurses across the country.

Two of the suspended nurses, Michael Gulick and Allison Mayol, and their coworker Angela Gatdula, RN, who contracted COVID-19 and has recovered, will be available to talk to media. This will be the first time some of Gatdula’s coworkers have seen her since her quarantine has ended. 

The nurses are also demanding:

• Transparency from their employer about the hospital’s inventory of PPE
• Establishment of a committee of RNs appointed by nurses to be on the hospital’s COVID-19 pandemic task force
• Hotel vouchers for nurses who don’t want to risk infecting family members
• That the hospital stop denying RNs worker compensation claims for COVID-19
• That the president fully enact the Defense Production Act to mandate industries to produce PPE here in the U.S.

A caravan of vehicles with visible signs will circle around the hospital to protest the retaliatory actions taken by the hospital against the 10 suspended RNs for requesting N95 respirator masks to care for COVID-19 patients, and call on broader demands to be implemented to better protect staff.

WHO: Suspended nurses Michael Gulick and Allison Mayol will be available to speak to media, along with coworker Angela Gatdula, RN who contracted COVID-19 and has recovered. 

WHAT: RNs and community supporters to protest the retaliatory actions against the RNs and call on demands that the hospital should implement by holding a caravan of vehicles circling the hospital.

WHERE: Providence Saint John’s Santa Monica, CA 90404

Press parking located on Arizona in between 22nd and 23rd street

WHEN: 12:00 noon PT, Tuesday, April 21^st

If you are interested in sending a camera crew or in learning more about the situation at Providence Saint John’s registered nurses will be available to speak to the press or for follow-up interviews. Contact press@nationalnursesunited.org to coordinate.