Images of the garbage bags of fitness personnel and non-public protective appliances handled on the front lines of the COVID-19 pandemic painted a striking and striking picture of the need for masks, robes and other medical devices as cases increased in the first few weeks. months of the virus outbreak in the United States.
Months later, the shortage of PPE may not be in the headlines as it was in the spring, when hospital administrators and governors were chasing devices around the world.
But the need is still there, according to Dr. Megan Ranney.
Ranney is co-founder of Get Us PPE, a national base effort presented through a coalition of doctors at the beginning of the pandemic, which is now the country’s largest non-profit organization striving to provide non-public protective appliances for those in need.
“It’s a problem,” said Ranney, who is also an emergency physician and director of the Brown Lifespan Center for Digital Health, Boston. com. “We are seeing an increase in the call for PPE donations nationwide in Get Us PPE. Many of my colleagues across the country still lack PPE. I have friends in several emergency departments, it’s not my grace, but in some emergency facilities they have to wear the same N95 mask for an entire month.
The organization also sees a significant need for PPE in non-hospital settings: in nursing homes, reopened clinics, and for home helpers. While schools have reopened, Ranney said there is a construction site in search of equipment for teachers and school nurses.
“Unfortunately, production hasn’t increased much, there’s still a shortage,” he said.
According to Get Us PPE, the device application in Massachusetts peaked in April, with the application at its lowest point in August.
But the numbers are up again.
– Megan Ranney MD MPH ? (@meganranney) October 27, 2020
In September, the organization experienced an increase of about 50% in the number of PPE programs compared to last month. By the three-quarters of October, the organization had won more PPE programs than the entire month of September.
The desire for surgical masks in particular increased “dramatically” in Massachusetts between September and October, said Amanda Peery, spokeswoman for Get Us PPE in Boston. com.
In September, surgical masks accounted for about 17, consistent with the percentage of total equipment applications. Prior to the end of October, requests for surgical masks accounted for more than 75, according to the percentage of epitum sets requested in the state.
“The demands have declined particularly [in Massachusetts] since April, however, one of the main reasons for this is that the need for PPE is so wonderful that we have only responded to 10% of our database requests and the still outstanding 90%, Peery said.
Ranney stated that the challenge component lies in the fact that PPE’s costs are “in the clouds. “
“The way to buy it is still very complicated and, honestly, it’s still not enough,” he said.
“Hospitals and clinics will have enough PPE for a while, and then they will be over. This is the same challenge we continue to have with testing, where there will be no more quick trials. “
Richer health care systems may not be scarce, but rural hospitals, small clinics, nursing homes, and networking sites are “fighting,” the emergency physician said.
– #GetUsPPE (@getusppe) 13 October 2020
“Surely there is still a shortage of frontline workers,” Ranney said. “And we can see it in the Get Us PPE database. As the number of instances in a region increases, we will see the increase in the call for donations. “in a domain because other people want to use it more. So I anticipate that we will revel in even more shortages as autumn comes. »
Ranney and Peery that demand and demanding situations of protective devices are not limited to health care facilities, underlining the greatest desire shown in schools.
Patty Comeau, a nurse at Methuen Public Schools and a member of the Coalition for Safe Reopening of Schools, told Boston. com that getting N95 gloves and masks is tricky for her district and others across the state. it is essential not only for school nurses, but also for staff and teachers, such as those who paint with students with special needs, those who paint near students and come into direct contact with physical fluids due to food or diaper change. She.
Comeau said his district had gadgets in order, but it hasn’t arrived yet. Meanwhile, he “shared” what they had, he said.
Other districts facing shortages are partnering with network entities, such as police or firefighters, for percentage of equipment, especially if what they want is exhausted, the school nurse said.
“We all want to keep schools open, but the component of keeping schools open is to keep them safe,” Comeau said. “And to keep them safe, we want to make sure that other people have the device they want, so that they are when dealing with other people with COVID. You want the PPE to do so. “
Lauren O’Malley-Singh, a nurse at Boston Public Schools School, told Boston. com that she was very involved about the point and availability of PPE in the district.
Boston Public Schools suspended all face-to-face learning for academics on October 22 after the city’s coronavirus positive test rate, the number of others who tested positive for the virus in the total number of tests performed, increased to 5. 7%. had opened study rooms for academics of precedence for in-person learning twice a week in early October.
O’Malley-Singh, who works at the Another Course to College district, a top pilot school in Hyde Park, said the Boston. com district school nurses had won their individual bid of five single-use N95 masks. until the time the district returned. to completely distance learning.
“We won them in a brown lunch bag and they gave us 4 more lunch bags,” he said. “And they told us we had to rotate them and put them in the lunch bag when it’s not them. “
O’Malley-Singh, who also works daily in a hospital, said offering and storing masks is not a practice.
“As a physical care provider in this building, the only physical care provider, I have never worked in worse situations in terms of PPE,” she said. “Five N95 respirators in Hyde Park is certainly foolish to think that this is an amount of PPE to supply me, not to mention teachers who are surely all unprotected, which is my biggest concern. Since I’m an essential employee, I chose this career knowing I could be on a stage like this. We are trained to deal with pandemics”.
The rest of the staff and academics are not, he said, adding that he preferably thinks that each and every instructor and student in the district has an N95 mask when they are in school buildings.
“They didn’t register for unsafe career situations and were not exposed either,” he said.
According to BPS officials, Boston public schools have faced demanding situations with other districts in the purchase of equipment. The district worked with the city and raised awareness among several providers to deliver PPE and relief materials to schools.
With respect to the N95 mask, the district has won the recommendation of hospital partners on the care and maintenance of respirators and is the recommendation of the CDC and NIOSH for the reuse of the mask, according to BPS officials. The N95 mask will not be sterilized or cleaned, however, school nurses will get replacement respirators before the materials run out. In addition to the mask, school nurses received face shields to care for students with COVID-19 symptoms.
According to BPS officials, the district is confident in the amount of PPE inventory it has lately and continues to plan for the replenishment and replenishment of relief supplies.
O’Malley-Singh stated that the other challenge he faced in terms of protective apparatus similar to a source of mask moment. The State Department of Primary and Secondary Education rules state that school nurses promptly apply a surgical mask to the nose and mouth of any student or individual with COVID-19 symptoms in the school building.
“I read those policies and also the materials I won, and the mask I gained for academics and symptomatic staff was not a surgical mask,” O’Malley-Singh said. “They were a face mask. “
Face masks are paper and can be blue and similar to surgical masks doctors wear in hospitals, he said. Person.
“The N95s are my first preference; my preference would be an FDA-approved surgical mask,” he said. “However, none of us have won this. “
The Hyde Park nurse said she kept hearing that the right mask was being sent or placed in schools.
“I don’t think we have them, because they sell honestly all over the country,” he said.
– Lauren O’Malley-Singh (@dearestlauren) October 13, 2020
The Boston Teachers Union and district educators have raised considerations about the protection of school buildings since the start of the pandemic, with respect to air quality and ventilation, and considerations about air transmission of the virus.
Among his considerations about the source and availability of PPE in the District, as well as his considerations on the district’s technique for classroom ventilation, O’Malley-Singh said he does not believe Boston schools are safe environments for teachers, academics, or staff.
“As a nurse in a complex practice, it’s absolutely amazing that this is accepted,” she said. “No hospital nurse, no netpaintings fitness nurse would feel running in the construction where I paint. “
As in the spring, Ranney said that anything Americans can do to donate PPE to those in need would be “highly appreciated. “
With Get Us PPE, companies and Americans interested in donating materials can view a database of places requesting assistance by region, prestige, and PPE requested. The arrangement also accepts monetary contributions to finance the purchase of PPE and the coordination of donations.
“As we see the number of COVID-19 cases expand and those hospitalizations increase, the need for a given PPE will only increase,” Ranney warned. “And if we can’t answer, we’ll see more sick care staff. “
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