HPAE releases “Exposed & At-Risk,” a report on how COVID-19 pandemic affected New Jersey healthcare workers

by Insidernj.com

In a new HPAE report released today, union members offer real-time first-hand accounts of caring for patients on the COVID-19 pandemic frontlines while battling employers for personal protective equipment (PPE) and other resources to do their life-saving work.

HPAE President Debbie White, RN, said the union conducted the survey because members are not getting the protection that they need on the job and healthcare facilities are not transparent about resources at hand to provide care and would not even tell heroic healthcare workers whether they’ve been exposed to the virus, whether person they are working next to has been exposed or infected. As a result, healthcare workers became infected, many got sick, including some who have been on ventilators for months, and some have died.

“The question that you have to ask is why wouldn’t you want these heroic workers who are sacrificing and risking so much to care for the rest of us, to have the very best protection possible to battle this horrendous disease?” White said.  Read more