PPE shortage could be exposing hospital staff, says Sinclair

WESTERN BUREAU:

Pointing to limited resources, the head of the West Regional Health Authority (WRHA) says that insufficient supplies of protective gear for staff could be behind the rising number of healthcare workers at hospitals contracting COVID-19.

WRHA Director St Andrade Sinclair was responding to reports that more than 20 healthcare workers – including doctors, nurses, and porters – at the Cornwall Regional Hospital in St James are now home recuperating from COVID-19.

“In the A&E (Accident and Emergency Department), you know you’re not gowned. You’re masked, and you’re expected to be treating anybody that presents themselves, so it is kind of hard to get away from being exposed unless you’re going to have [on your personal protective equipment, or PPE] 100 per cent of the time,” Sinclair said.

“It’s just that everything has limited resources, and the demand is overwhelmingly great,” he added.

According to Sinclair, the health authority cannot afford to have all its staff in PPE gear at all times but added that he would explore the possibility further.

“You’re not going to get away from that now because of community spread, and you don’t know who is positive or not, and maybe you’re not properly attired before coming on the site and you’re exposed immediately,” he said.

“That is what we’re going to have to do to move toward because we don’t know who has the disease or who doesn’t,” he said.

He argued that while healthcare workers are overwhelmed by the increased workload brought on by the COVID-19 spike, his staff understand the task and the scope of work required, and they will not easily become demoralised.

“All healthcare workers are trained for this, whether disaster, earthquake, flood. This is what we’re trained for,” said Sinclair. “In normal times, when you have a standing hospital, it is all things being constant, but this is what we’re trained for.”

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