Thieves! Stealing Supplies During COVID-19 Crisis

[adventure_rn]

Someone was arrested at our local hospital for trying to walk out with several boxes of supplies (masks, gloves) and refusing to give them back when an employee called them out.

Meanwhile, our local big box store "greeters" have been retasked with checking people's receipts to ensure they aren't stealing toilet paper, the most highly sought-after treasure (following masks, apparently).

[LibraSunCNM, BSN, MSN, CNM]

41 minutes ago, Tweety said:

Employees as thieves. Who would have thought?

I mean, I would? Employees are humans just like everyone else, and therefore prone to irrational fear, selfishness, ignorance. Should it be that way? No, of course not, but it's not in the least surprising to me.

[amoLucia]

In-house THIEVERY of certain products in HC facilities is not new. At least 15 some years ago, our backup med supply of zithromycin/Z-pak was disappearing at the place I worked. Locked up in a locked cabinet in a locked clean supply/utility/med room The ONLY persons with key access were the nurses who had the med room keys. Hmmmm!

Whole drawer supplies of zithro were being taken. I investigated. It was occurring during a particularly rough Winter cold/flu season.

I kind of liked it when I DIDN'T have the house keys to a facility's kitchen. (As NOC supervisor, some places, I did have the keys; sometimes not.) at one place it had HUGE commercial-size roasts disappearing. They couldn't accuse nursing!

[Tweety, BSN, RN]

2 hours ago, LibraSunCNM said:

I mean, I would? Employees are humans just like everyone else, and therefore prone to irrational fear, selfishness, ignorance. Should it be that way? No, of course not, but it's not in the least surprising to me.

You're right, nurses and healthcare workers are human beings. But Nurses are also consistently rated the most trusted profession and we care about our patients so it's surprising to me to get this email. These things are needed for our patients, I wouldn't dream of taking them even if I needed them. But that's just me. But I hear you in general I've lost hope for humanity already, this is just another notch in that case.

[Tweety, BSN, RN]

2 hours ago, amoLucia said:

In-house THIEVERY of certain products in HC facilities is not new. At least 15 some years ago, our backup med supply of zithromycin/Z-pak was disappearing at the place I worked. Locked up in a locked cabinet in a locked clean supply/utility/med room The ONLY persons with key access were the nurses who had the med room keys. Hmmmm!

Whole drawer supplies of zithro were being taken. I investigated. It was occurring during a particularly rough Winter cold/flu season.

I kind of liked it when I DIDN'T have the house keys to a facility's kitchen. (As NOC supervisor, some places, I did have the keys; sometimes not.) at one place it had HUGE commercial-size roasts disappearing. They couldn't accuse nursing!

It's a shame that nurses give into the myth that a Z-pak is a cure all for a virus.

[LibraSunCNM, BSN, MSN, CNM]

56 minutes ago, Tweety said:

You're right, nurses and healthcare workers are human beings. But Nurses are also consistently rated the most trusted profession and we care about our patients so it's surprising to me to get this email. These things are needed for our patients, I wouldn't dream of taking them even if I needed them. But that's just me. But I hear you in general I've lost hope for humanity already, this is just another notch in that case.

Nurses being rated "most trusted profession" has always been pretty laughable to me, having worked in healthcare for almost 12 years now. I haven't lost hope but I've also never had some deep-rooted belief that "most people are good" or anything like that. People are flawed, and different scenarios bring out different qualities in people. There are lots of good people out there doing good things right now, though.

[adventure_rn, MSN, NP]

Just saw this super fun article:

https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/christopherm51/ukraine-coronavirus-robbery-masks?origin=thum

Apparently a bunch of *** in Ukraine bought 100,000 masks so that they could sell them at jacked up prices, and they were then robbed at gunpoint. The masks thieves were caught, but honestly, I don't feel bad for the 'victims'.

The article also mentions some brothers in Tennessee who bought 17,000 bottles of hand sanitizer and were selling it for $60/bottle. Fortunately Amazon blocked them, and some emergency TN laws have forced them to give the remaining supply away.

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/matt-colvin-hand-sanitizer-resale-donation-tennesee-attorney-general-investigation/

Capitalism at it's worst.

[amoLucia]

1 hour ago, adventure_rn said:

... The article also mentions some brothers in Tennessee who bought 17,000 bottles of hand sanitizer and were selling it for $60/bottle. Fortunately Amazon blocked them, and some emergency TN laws have forced them to give the remaining supply away.

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/matt-colvin-hand-sanitizer-resale-donation-tennesee-attorney-general-investigation/

Capitalism at it's worst.

Amazon has a Covid 19 message/position statement on its site. They comment that they're actively scanning and blocking their vendor suppliers for any price gouging activities.

[Neo Soldier, BSN, RN]

On 3/15/2020 at 12:16 PM, CharleeFoxtrot said:

I won't even describe the stupid grocery hoarding I saw the other evening

This hurts. People are acting so selfish. No baby wipes, no diapers, no baby food, no toilet paper, no hand sanitizer, no paper towels, no water. It's not the apocalypse. People have so much while some have little to nothing at all. How much do you really need? I'm not even going to discuss people who are purposefully hiking up the prices of essential goods.

The virus is one thing, but people's attitudes is another. Stay safe, everyone.