Apr 10, 2020 2 min read

Health-care workers from Transitions of Washington were among the caregivers and nursing home workers across the state who took part in the Get Me PPE National Day of Action Thursday, the largest one-day protest by health-care workers during the COVID-19 crisis.

Workers called on the Trump administration to organize a coordinated, transparent national response – including using the Defense Production Act – to immediately procure, produce and provide personal protective equipment, or PPE, to all health-care workers.

Front line health-care workers and caregivers are battling the COVID-19 pandemic in hospitals, nursing homes, care facilities and client homes and say they are putting their lives on the line without the protection they need.

The lack of protective gear, paid sick leave, paid quarantine time, and other issues have caused a growing number of essential and front line workers to speak out, stage walkouts, and organize protests across the country.

“It’s not that our employer won’t give us supplies – It’s that there aren’t any,” said one worker.

Dana Bash, a nurse at Charles Morris nursing home in Pittsburgh, said, “I see what’s happening around the country, and as a nurse, this is unacceptable. We have been fighting this battle going on a month. We knew it was coming. Why did the government delay? I don’t understand why we weren’t ready.”

The health-care and nursing home workers who led the Day of Action are members or organizing with the Service Employees International Union, the nation’s largest union of health-care workers.

Caregivers did not leave the bedside for the national day of action. Instead, events happened during shift change as workers arrived for and left their shifts.

The workers also called for health-care coverage, paid sick time and paid leave for all front line workers nationwide.