A week after recovering from a fever, nurse Maria Gray was given a surgical mask and assigned to Research Medical Center’s ward of patients suspected of having the virus that causes COVID-19.
For two consecutive shifts, she asked hospital nurse managers for an N95 respirator mask that would offer more protection. On both shifts, supervisors denied her request and reassigned her to a different hospital floor.
On the third day, the travel nurse learned her contract to work at the Kansas City, Missouri hospital had been terminated. The staffing agency that employed her explained Gray had been “making demands that the facility believed were not in line with current policies,” according to an email Gray provided to USA TODAY.
As the worst viral outbreak in a century has infected a half-million and killed more than 18,000 Americans as of Saturday, nurses on the front lines of the nation's hospitals have reached a breaking point.
TVNL Comment: Dare to tell the truth..
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