What has the ANA done for you during Covid 19?

Nurses COVID

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Specializes in oncology.

Okay. I admit it. I have been in and out of the ANA during my years of working. I joined when I was a new nurse, failed to renew, renewed when I saw the certification program and got the certification, failed to renew because of the expense of re certifying, joined again when I wanted to actively participate in promoting the profession, had an association position (in my city group) and was appointed to serve on a couple of committees when INA wanted someone from their organization on a local board.

Okay, well I wanted to give back and wanted recognition for my specialization (some would say medical-surgical nursing is not a specialization). But I even paid to attend a state convention. After sitting in a conference room for over 15 minutes waiting to hear a speaker well past the start time and sought out conference management I was told "Oh I guess he didn't show up". Every thing was expensive and nothing seemed to be a great benefit (I called for the special "car insurance price benefit" and found out Geico wanted to charge me even more than I was currently paying.

Okay, rolling around to 2020 and Covid 19. What has the ANA and state organizations done to highlight the need for PPE and voice the danger all nurses are exposed to? Where are the commercials that other campaigns use (I may be wrong on commercials because I do not have cable anymore but do not see any mention of nursing's struggle on You Tube.)

Okay, I want to support my professional organization but I want it to deal with more than offering CEU courses (except for the Covid one) that still charge despite the dues you pay.

Please fill me in with what the ANA has done for you!

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ANA has done nothing for me personal in regard to Covid. Aside from their webinars I really don't get much else. I don't even know why I am a member anymore.

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Specializes in Vents, Telemetry, Home Care, Home infusion.

Glad you asked!

ANA has been quite vocal on lack of PPE and need to protect frontline bedside nurses and healthcare workers. I'm posting links to a few letters and actions taken over the past 6 months.

Visit ANA’s COVID-19 Resource Center https://www.nursingworld.org/practice-policy/work-environment/health-safety/disaster-preparedness/coronavirus/what-you-need-to-know/legislative-and-regulatory-advocacy/ to check out ANA’s latest position statements, official communications to the federal government and legislators letter writing campaigns.

February 27, 2020 joint AHA/ANA Letter to Capitol Hill Regarding COVID-19

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America’s front line health care providers seek sufficient financial support for the following:

  • To quickly update, train staff on and implement pandemic preparedness plans to respond to COVID-19 in all health care settings
  • Obtain scarce supplies, including personal protective equipment (PPE), essential for protecting front line health care professionals.
  • Rapidly ramp up infection control and triage training for health care professionals in all health care settings, especially in light of growing supply chain shortages...

https://www.nursingworld.org/~493322/globalassets/practiceandpolicy/health-and-safety/aha-ana-covid-19-letter-feb-27-2020.pdf

March 11, 2020 ANA Letter to Honorable Michael Pence in response to the work of the Administration and the Coronavirus Task Force

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ANA requests that the Administration focus on the following issues:

  • Personal Protective Equipment (PPE): The safety and health of our frontline clinicians is vital to keeping communities healthy. N95 masks are approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to provide the minimum appropriate protections to healthcare workers including nurses. However, ANA acknowledges the challenges of ensuring an adequate supply chain of approved PPE for healthcare providers. The Administration under the new guidelines for respirators and masks during the pandemic must investigate and communicate on the transmission mode for COVID-19 so that decisions about appropriate PPE are based on the best information available. ANA encourages the Administration to coordinate the supply chain to provide the regions most affected with the resources they need while incentivizing increased supply to back fill PPE elsewhere, as well as identify the metrics for when the interim guidance will be rescinded to ensure that clinical providers and health care facilities can prepare to continue caring for their patients.
  • Ensure that nurse are at the table: As the Task Force and Administration implements policies that protect the healthcare workforce, ANA encourages the Administration to work with nurses at facilities to protect staffing levels in order to prevent adverse outcomes caused by fatigue. If a facility becomes overwhelmed with patients, nurses need the appropriate support to provide quality care to every patient. Chief nursing officers are in the position to advocate for staff. https://www.nursingworld.org/~49427d/globalassets/practiceandpolicy/health-and-safety/ana-letter-to-honorable-michael-pence-2020-03-11.pdf

March 16, 2020 Joint AHA/AMA/ANA Letter to Capitol Hill seeking $1B for comprehensive strategy in response to COVID-19 https://www.nursingworld.org/practice-policy/work-environment/health-safety/disaster-preparedness/coronavirus/corona-virus-letter-ahaamaana_1B/

My previous post: President + VP met 3/18 with Nurse Leaders re Covid PPE needs

March 19, 2020 Joint AHA/AMA/ANA Letter to Capitol Hill seeking $100 billion for frontline health care workers

https://www.nursingworld.org/~494faf/globalassets/practiceandpolicy/health-and-safety/joint-aha-ama-ana-letter-to-capitol-hill-march-19-2020.pdf

Might have missed their campaign: #GetMePPE which supports Connecticut Sen. Chis Murphy's S.3568 - Medical Supply Chain Emergency Act of 2020, introduced 3/23/20. https://ana.aristotle.com/SitePages/Personal_Protective_Equipment.aspx

Add YOUR VOICE by telling Congress more PPE needed: https://p2a.co/H7d7X7i

May 2020- ANA Personal Protective Equipment Survey

ANA conducted a survey of nurses across all 50 states and 3 US territories, from May 15-31, to get a clearer picture of the personal protective equipment (PPE) situation on the frontlines of the COVID-19 pandemic. This survey highlights continuing PPE shortages across the country as well as PPE reuse and decontamination practices. Results presented to members of congress and published in Nursing World.

June 3, 2020: ANA President Dr Earl Grant presented congressional testimony to the Pandemic Response Accountability Committee on various issues including lack PPE, reuse PPE for extended periods andnot supporting PPE decontamination.

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....Personal protective equipment is still scarce in many health care settings. In the most recent ANA survey of more than 14,000 nurses addressing the time frame of May 15 through the 31st, almost half of the respondents experienced shortages of PPE, and 43 percent said their facility is decontaminating N95 respirators for reuse. More than half of these respondents said they feel unsafe using decontaminated respirators. ANA does not support the use of decontamination methods as a standard practice; however, we have acknowledged this is a crisis capacity strategy. We recommend that this oversight body engage with the FDA about the need to expeditiously research the effectiveness of various decontamination methods for the reuse of PPE by nurses and other health care professionals. We also urge additional oversight to ensure a return to best practices as soon as possible.

https://www.nursingworld.org/practice-policy/work-environment/health-safety/disaster-preparedness/coronavirus/June-3-2020-prac-grant/

American Nurses Foundation developed the Coronavirus Response Fund which I posted about in hopes could help our members---

Education: developed + presenting for FREE CE:

ANA's COVID-19 Self-Care Package for Nurses

  1. Nursing Ethics: Strategies to Resolve the Top Ethical Dilemmas Nurses Face
  2. Moral Resilience
  3. Dealing with Fatigue: Strategies for Nurse Leaders
  4. Promoting Nurse Self-Care: Emotional and Mental Wellbeing
  5. A Nurse's Guide to Preventing Compassion Fatigue, Moral Distress, and Burnout

ANA's COVID-19 Webinar Series

The first seven webinars in the ANA COVID-19 series cover different aspects of this crisis and provide up-to-date information that can be applied immediately in your care of COVID-19 patients. Each of these approximately 60-minute webinars has been developed and recorded in April, May and June.

  1. Be Confident Protecting Yourself and Providing the Best Care to Your Patients during this COVID-19 Pandemic (focus on PPE)
  2. Ventilator Management: Essential Skills for Non-ICU Nurses

  3. How to Respond to Ethical Challenges and Moral Distress during the COVID-19 Pandemic

  4. How to Survive the Pandemic with an Unbroken Spirit – Actions to take Right Now to Stay Strong and Focused

  5. How You Can Have a Direct Impact on Reducing The Devastating Racial Disparities of COVID-19

  6. COVID-19 in Non-Acute Care Settings: Hard-Earned Lessons from Two APRNs on the Frontlines

  7. Caring for Covid-19 Patients: Disease Progression and Nursing Interventions You Need to Know

My dues well spent this year.

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Don't mean to be a Negative Nancy, but that is only grandstanding. PPE availability is still severely lacking, covid's resurgence is far worse than when it initially began, Congress doesn't seem to care about doing anything except appealing to Trump's ego.

They have webinars, sent a few letters, and talked to a few people but nothing has changed. Hospitals are still at their max capacity, they're basically abusing nurses during this situation and because of license laws and family needs, many can't quit, PPE is lacking, safety is out the window, some states are foregoing CE requirements or many places are offering free CEs to keep nurses working so they've done nothing exclusive there, etc.

There will be several nurses worldwide with PTSD, with many retiring or looking for new careers due to the nonsense and lack of support during this crisis. Nurses don't need letters and meetings, we need action!

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Specializes in Vents, Telemetry, Home Care, Home infusion.

Have you written your US Representatives and Senators to let them know PPE remains in short supply to keep the pressure on the federal government to have President Trump use the Defense Production Act (DPA) to ensure the availability of more PPE?

Despite hearing personally from nurses, physicians and hospital CEO's , Current President and V.P. are in denial re PPE situation. I observed Vice President Mike Pence, head of Coronavirus Taskforce telling reporters on 7/8/2020 , “PPE, we hear, remains very strong.”

Yet 7/22/20 FEMA head says coronavirus hot spots may face PPE shortages, U.S. isn’t ‘out of the woods’ at congressional hearing.

Only hearing from EVERY NURSE, PHYSICIAN, RESPIRATORY THERAPIST , and ALL Healthcare organizations putting pressure on the government, will keep the pressure on legislators to get DPA involved in ramping up PPE protection.

ANA campaign

Get involved:

Tell Congress more PPE is needed immediately

The administration needs to fully exercise the #DPANow to #GetMePPE. https://p2a.co/H7d7X7i

Contact the President: https://www.whitehouse.gov/contact/

June 16, 2020 ANA Letter to OSHA Regarding Temporary Emergency Standards

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...OSHA’s standards for PPE must be restored and robustly enforced without further delay, for the sake of the economy as well as safety of individual health care workers. We also urge OSHA to follow up and report on the complaints that were filed during the emergency, with particular attention to complaints of healthcare workers who experienced retaliation for raising concerns about PPE availability and quality.

https://www.nursingworld.org/practice-policy/work-environment/health-safety/disaster-preparedness/coronavirus/osha-letter-06162020/

CNBC 7/22/20 Testimony by FEMA head says coronavirus hot spots may face PPE shortages

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Federal Emergency Management Agency Administrator Pete Gaynor told lawmakers the U.S. could face shortages of personal protective equipment in areas with climbing Covid-19 cases.

He called the reliance on overseas suppliers for PPE a “national security issue.”

Gaynor said FEMA is still competing for the equipment, saying that other countries, governors, mayors and tribal leaders are searching for the same supplies.

https://www.cnbc.com/2020/07/22/fema-head-says-coronavirus-hotspots-may-face-PPE-shortages.html

Why Is There Still a PPE Shortage?

NY Intelligencer

July 9, 2020

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...Many dentists, specialists, and other private medical practices are now open to patients who had put off care during quarantine. And others that would be open aren’t, because they can’t find the PPE. All these businesses are now in the fight for equipment, which has some resorting to buying masks for $7 each online.

With more and more businesses opening across the country, masks, gloves, and face shields aren’t just in demand from medical professionals, either. Prisons, nursing homes, trucking companies, and the construction industry are also in need of PPE.

None of this was hard to foresee, which makes the present state of things so maddening. Why isn’t supply meeting demand four months after it became clear how essential PPE is to fighting this pandemic?

https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2020/07/why-PPE-shortage.html

USA Today:

7/23/20

Rookie middlemen muddle the government’s effort to buy coronavirus supplies

https://www.usatoday.com/in-depth/news/investigations/2020/07/23/covid-PPE-face-mask-shortage-draws-new-companies-us-contracts/5459884002/

AMA 7/15/20 : How to ensure PPE access in pandemic? AMA offers 10-step road map

https://www.ama-assn.org/delivering-care/public-health/how-ensure-PPE-access-pandemic-ama-offers-10-step-road-map

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Specializes in Critical care, tele, Medical-Surgical.

Unfortunately despite letters to hospitals and elected politicians NNU has not succeeded in making sure all nurses have what is needed to protect nurses, patients, and families lives. Many hospitals and clinics where our nurses work have been forced to use their N95 supplies and order more, BUT the shortage continues after seven months. Nurses lives matter too. The CDC wimped out.

https://act.nationalnursesunited.org/page/-/files/graphics/0320_COVID_Natl-protection-standards_flyer.pdf

https://www.nationalnursesunited.org/know-your-rights-protections-work-covid-19

https://www.nationalnursesunited.org/press/medstar-washington-nurses-demand-optimal-PPE-and-denounce-unsafe-battelle-so-called

Here is the only item I found about consequences for failing to provide PPE as required by law. . A hospital is being investigated by OSHA because a phlebotomist was only provided a surgical mask and not allowed an N95. She died of COVID-19. I hope to find out what OSHA decides. I read it and think I would have liked working with “one-stick Larry­dean”.

https://www.startribune.com/covid-19-death-of-north-memorial-worker-prompts-osha-probe/571828111/

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I proudly tell Senator Doug Jones how I feel every chance I get. He's had town halls all over AL. Can't say the same for the other ones. SMH

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Specializes in acute care, ICU, surgery, vasc.surgery,trauma.

I have sent emails to all my state reps, the Governor and the President.I also contacted all of the local city councilors and the mayor. The only response I got was from the mayor.

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Specializes in oncology.

Writing and calling to the House and Senate is important but I am not sure those activities would really help. In my state we found out that the Kushner and Pence group were bidding up equipment and in the words of the genius:

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“The notion of the federal stockpile was it’s supposed to be our stockpile,” Kushner said. “It’s not supposed to be states’ stockpiles that they then use.”

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Kushner also insisted that they had found supplies and distributed them “where we anticipate there will be needs.”

The only thing the current President in office thinks is important is if it will derail the vote come November. We needed commercials and ads that the US people would react to, not just the media, about the lack of PPE. And we still need them. I just cannot understand why they are not standing up and representing their members in a way that gets notice and is acted upon

Regarding the ANA Coronavirus Fund for Nurses:

This national effort kicked off with a $1.9 million sponsorship grant from Johnson & Johnson, and the Tylenol, Neutrogena, Johnson's and Aveeno brands. Together, we encourage like-minded organizations and individuals to come together and join us by donating to this fund.

There are no instructions on how to apply for this on the ANA site.

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Specializes in Critical care, tele, Medical-Surgical.

Mar 5, 2020 National Nurses United, the nation's largest nurses' union press conference on Coronavirus preparedness

Mar 5, 2020 National Nurses United, the nation's largest nurses' union press conference on Coronavirus preparedness

Jul 22, 2020 Use the DPA for PPE

National Nurses United is calling on the federal government to use The Defense Production Act to produce enough personal protective equipment for every nurse, and every patient, in every health care facility in the United States of America

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Specializes in Vents, Telemetry, Home Care, Home infusion.
2 hours ago, londonflo said:

Regarding the ANA Coronavirus Fund for Nurses:

This national effort kicked off with a $1.9 million sponsorship grant from Johnson & Johnson, and the Tylenol, Neutrogena, Johnson's and Aveeno brands. Together, we encourage like-minded organizations and individuals to come together and join us by donating to this fund.

There are no instructions on how to apply for this on the ANA site.

Under the Coronavirus Response Fund for Nurses page, left side has link for Direct Financial Assistance which included qualifications.

https://www.nursingworld.org/foundation/programs/coronavirus-response-fund/direct-financial-assistance/

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Update: COVID-19 Grant is no longer available as fund was depleted by July 8th, 2020

In partnership with the American Nurses Association, Nurses House established a COVID-19 fund which provided grants to 2,417 nurses throughout the United States. From April through July the amount distributed in grants totalled $2,734,500. The COVID-19 grant program closed on July 8th. Thanks to ANF for their generous support and to all of the sponsors and donors who helped make this campaign such a huge success.

https://pages.nurseshouse.org/apply-for-help

Nurses House still has general grant program still available for nurses in need and is accepting donations to help nurses in need.

Info in previous thread posted @ Allnurses.....

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Specializes in oncology.
24 minutes ago, NRSKarenRN said:

Under the Coronavirus Response Fund for Nurses page, left side has link for Direct Financial Assistance which included qualifications.

Thank you for sharing this. I did not see the link but I am glad to know it is there and grants are available through "Nurses House".

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