Alberta Frontline Workers' Petition for Access to N95 MasksA health care aide working in a long-term care home in Edmonton has started a petition calling on the Alberta government to mandate the use of N95 masks where health care workers deem them appropriate based on a point of care assessment.
A joint communication issued by Alberta Health Services (AHS), Alberta Union of Provincial Employees, Covenant Health, Health Sciences Association of Alberta, and United Nurses of Alberta in March 2020 is intended to provide clarity on the approach to the provision of personal protective equipment (PPE) in Alberta. The communication states: "A point-of-care risk assessment (PCRA) must be performed before every patient interaction. The PCRA should include the frequency and probability of routine or emergent AGMP [aerosol-generating medical procedures] being required. If a health care worker determines on reasonable grounds that specific PPE is required, they shall have access to the appropriate PPE based on their PCRA, and this will not be unreasonably denied by their employer, or they shall be deployed to another area. AHS has determined that requests from long-term care workers for N95 respirators are "not reasonable." It has not budged from this position despite the terrible number of preventable deaths of seniors, the death of workers across the country who gave their lives to care for the residents and patients, and the rapid spread which has taken place in one facility after another. AHS even removed N95 masks from sites where the operator had provided them. What is unreasonable is this refusal to protect residents and staff in long-term care and seniors' homes. The long-term care worker, who contracted COVID-19, has started a petition calling on the Kenney government to provide access to N95 masks for all health care workers dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic. The PetitionThe petition reads: Allow Health Care Workers Dealing with COVID-19 Outbreaks in Alberta access to N95s Working in Long Term Care as a Health Care Aide in Alberta I am on the frontlines of the COVID-19 Pandemic. I actually caught COVID-19 during an outbreak at work. More and more health care workers are testing positive while following the proper protocols for PPE for droplet precautions, which are gowns, surgical masks, face shield or goggles and gloves. This has proved not to be enough to protect us. We are supposed to be allowed to do a Point of Risk Assessment and if we feel the need for N95 masks they should be provided. AHS is denying frontline workers their right to protect themselves by claiming that surgical masks are enough. It has become clear that since we cannot maintain distance from our residents, and we are following the guidelines AHS put out and we still catch COVID-19, that the precautions need to change. We need the highest level of protection. The highest level of respiratory protection is supposed to be used when the long term effects of exposure are unknown. There is still so much we do not know about how COVID-19 works. Other areas are starting to change their views on how COVID-19 is transmitted. Ontario has just amended their ministerial order to allow the worker to decide if they need N95s to deal with a COVID positive resident. The CDC in the U.S. now says that there is evidence of airborne transmission. In order for us to protect/care for your loved ones we need to be protected. Let us protect ourselves. Share
the petition with your friends and co-workers! To sign the petition, click
here. (Photo: NNU)
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One long-term
care worker explains: "With the numbers of health care workers
contracting COVID-19 on the job rising, maybe we need to consider that
surgical masks are NOT enough when dealing with COVID-19 patients and
residents. Perhaps when distance cannot be maintained we need to go
with a higher level of protection."