Nurses from Henry Mayo Newhall Hospital came together outside Heritage Park in Valencia to call for increased safety measures, Saturday.

Henry Mayo Newhall Hospital registered nurses addressed patient safety issues including the reuse of personal protective equipment (PPE) which can lead to the exposure and transmission of dangerous pathogens, including COVID-19, and the recent layoffs of experienced nurses from the emergency department despite current staffing shortages which can negatively impact care, according to the California Nurses Association (CNA). 

“We are fighting for our rights,” said an RN with Henry Mayo Newhall Hospital. “We have been exposed to COVID, we don’t have the proper PPE, and now we are understaffed with too many patients because of recent layoffs.”

Henry Mayo has addressed the ongoing PPE shortage issue, stating “we have carefully managed our PPE inventory levels throughout the COVID-19 pandemic to ensure we always have adequate supplies of PPE for our staff, and our PPE protocols meet all state and federal safety requirements,” said Patrick Moody, spokesperson for the hospital.

Nurses are currently being instructed by hospital management to wear the same personal protection during an entire shift. PPE is designed for single use only and if a nurse had reused PPE prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, that nurse would likely have faced disciplinary action and possible termination, according to the union.

David Melnarik / KHTS News

“The hospital’s decision to ration PPE and implement unsafe PPE protocols not only leaves the nurses open to exposure and infection of disease, it also increases the risk that patients will be exposed and possibly infected,” said the CNA in a statement. 

In addition, nurses at Henry Mayo are calling on the hospital to reinstate recently laid off nurses due to the critical need in the emergency department, according to the union. 

“They laid off 35 nurses, 59 ancillary staff, and closed a whole unit,” the RN said. “There’s so much going on and now they have been asking some of us to come back because there are unsafe ratios in the ER.”

Henry Mayo has received a $6.6 million dollar stimulus check, many of the nurses at the protest today asking where that money went. 

David Melnarik / KHTS News

“The nurses at Henry Mayo Newhall Hospital are members of this community, and they are committed to providing the best care possible for all their family members, friends, and neighbors who seek care at the hospital. But the nurses are not able to do that without the proper protection and the support of the experienced nurses with whom they have worked alongside for years,” the CNA said. 

“As for staffing levels, we staff all our units to ensure we safely meet the needs of our patients, and we adjust staffing levels when necessary,” Moody said.

The nurses gained attention from many community members during their protest, many honking as they passed by. 

“We are a community hospital. The community needs to know what is going on,” the nurse said.

Ed note: David Melnarik contributed to this report. 

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