Ohio’s nursing homes don’t have enough personal protective equipment to last another week. That’s the finding from a federal agency that deals with Medicare and Medicaid services.
A spokesman for a union that represents health care workers in nursing homes says those facilities have been hit the hardest by this pandemic. Yet Anthony Caldwell of the SEIU 1199 says there isn’t enough equipment on hand to protect workers and patients in Ohio’s long-term skilled nursing facilities.
“15% of nursing homes do not have a one-week supply of N-95 masks, 6% of nursing homes do not have a one-week supply of surgical masks and 9% of nursing homes do not have a one-week supply of gowns," Caldwell says.
Caldwell says it’s vital that the federal government step up immediately. The state’s stats show as many as 70 percent of Ohio’s COVID deaths have been in nursing homes.
Copyright 2020 The Statehouse News Bureau
