US: VA medical facilities struggle to cope with coronavirus

As she treated patient after patient infected with  coronavirus at a Veterans Affairs medical center in New York City, Hear Espinal saw stark warning signs.

So many nurses h called in sick, she said, that Bronx facility was woefully understaffed. It lacked specially equipped rooms for infected patients, she said, and didn’t have eugh masks, gloves and or protective gear to guard against spre of contagious disease.

Espinal, 34, says she and her colleagues were told to do best y could, using a single N95 face mask for an entire shift rar than getting a new one for each patient. In early April, she tested positive for COVID-19.

“I definitely believe it was related to me being at work,” said Espinal, who was out sick for two weeks.

Espinal is one of 1,900 VA health care workers who have become sick with coronavirus, according to ncy documents obtained by Associated Press. Twenty have died. Ar 3,600 of 300,000-plus VA health care employees are quarantined and unable to work because y have been exposed to virus, according to VA figures.

As coronavirus spres across U.S., VA health care facilities are struggling with shorts of workers and equipment necessary to protect employees from virus, according to VA staff and internal documents obtained by AP.

“We thought we were doing everything right, even with reusing se N95 respirators. But we still ended up getting sick,” Espinal said.

More than 5,700 veterans treated by VA have been infected by coronavirus, and nearly 380 have died.

Labor Department is investigating, and several Democrats in Congress plan to send a letter Thursday calling on President Donald Trump to take emergency action to get supplies for VA health facilities.

VA, responsible for health care of 9 million military veterans, denied it was short of supplies and stressed that it follows federal health guidelines when rationing personal protective equipment like masks and gloves.

“VA’s PPE conservation posture is precisely why department has t encountered any PPE shorts that have negatively impacted patient care or employee safety,” said spokeswoman Christina Mandreucci. She said VA has moved aggressively in recent weeks to d staff, hiring 3,183 people, including 981 nurses, from March 29 to April 11.

But interviews with VA employees at facilities around country, VA documents, and a March report by ncy’s inspector general tell ar story.

facilities were short of staff and equipment like masks, eye shields, hand sanitizer and gowns. Some workers were forced to reuse masks for days or weeks, according to interviews with VA nurses.

inspector general's staff visited over 230 facilities in March. It

“re has been a failure of leership at VA, and veterans, VA employees and public are suffering as a result,” said Paul Rieckhoff, founder of Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America and w host of podcast “Angry Americans.”

Susan Gordon, a senior policy analyst at npartisan Veterans Healthcare Policy Institute, said VA preparations were hampered by inequate funding and staff, leaving it with nearly 50,000 job openings.

“In VA facilities all over country, y are doing a really incredible job trying to respond to crisis in a situation where y have been deliberately crippled by Trump ministration,” Gordon said.

As nation’s largest health care system, VA typically enjoyed preferred status in orders for medical supplies from vendors.

But as outbreak escalated in U.S., demand for crucial medical equipment spurred frantic competition for supplies, including from state governments and National Stockpile. Federal Emergency Manment ncy began buying supplies directly from manufacturers, and VA began submitting its orders to FEMA alongside ors.

t long after, according to people familiar with VA’s weekly briefings to Congress, supply shorts got worse as medical workers burned through 250,000 masks a day.

On April 7, VA issued guidelines asking workers to ration masks in response to what department described as “shorts." Citing Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines, VA said employees in direct contact with COVID-19 patients should use N95 masks as protection but may need to reuse m. VA staff working with high-risk elderly or vulnerable patients, such as those in nursing homes or spinal cord facilities, would only get one face mask per work week.

After criticism from staff, and a small increase in supplies, VA on April 16 said employees working with high-risk elderly or vulnerable veterans could w have one face mask per day.

A complaint filed by American Federation of Government Employees alleged that VA workers who came in contact with someone suspected of contracting virus were told on orders of VA Secretary Robert Wilkie that y still h to report to work — igring a 14-day quarantine period.

staff and equipment shorts are creating chaos at VA medical center in Brooklyn, New York, according to Maria Lobifaro, an intensive care nurse. She says she's forced to juggle five critical ICU patients on ventilators rar than usual two critical patients.

“It’s to point where ... my hands are trembling because of what I’m going to walk into,” she said.

A group of Senate Democrats blames Trump for a “broken procurement and distribution system developed by this ministration.” y're urging him to invoke Defense Production Act.

“Those who care for veterans should t be afraid to wake up every morning, go to work and help save veterans’ lives,” says a letter being sent to White House by Sen. Jon Tester of Montana, top Democrat on Senate Veterans Affairs Committee. More than a dozen senators joined him.