We Need More Ventilators, But We Also Need People Who Know How to Use Them
Marijan Murat/DPA via ZUMA Press In the past days and weeks, health care experts have focused on a horrifying reality: the acute shortage of ventilators, a common medical device that is necessary to help patients with serious respiratory diseases, such as COVID-19, breathe. There are an estimated 160,000 ventilators in hospitals throughout the United States. (The…
Tents, Mask Rationing, and Staffing Up: A Renowned Hospital in a Coronavirus Hub Prepares for the Worst
Of all the experts I’ve talked to about the coronavirus this week, Dr. Maria Raven is by far the most cool, calm, and collected. Maybe it shouldn’t come as a surprise: It’s basically a part of her job description as the chief of emergency medicine at UCSF Medical Center, the Bay Area’s largest hospital. Now, the…
Tell Us Your Story: How Is the Spread of Coronavirus Already Disrupting Your Everyday Life?
For this week’s episode of the Mother Jones Podcast, we want to hear from you: How has the spread of the coronavirus across the United States already disrupted your everyday life—and how are you coping? Call (510) 519-MOJO. That’s (510) 519-6656. You’ll hear our host Jamilah King give you instructions on how to introduce yourself and…
Nurses Are Raising Red Flags About Hospitals’ Coronavirus Response
An ambulance worker outside a nursing facility where more than 50 people are sick and being tested for the COVID-19 virus in Kirkland, Washington.Elaine Thompson/AP Shortfalls in safety equipment, planning, and communication have left US hospitals unprepared to isolate coronavirus patients and protect healthcare staff during the the viral outbreak, according to a new survey…
Home Care Workers Are Underpaid, Uninsured, and on the Front Lines of Fighting Coronavirus
ipopba/Getty Etelbina Hauser has a tough job. The 57-year-old immigrant from Honduras and grandmother of 12 makes minimum wage cleaning houses and taking care of a 93-year-old client with dementia in Seattle. But recently, when a nursing home offered her better pay and benefits caring for a dozen residents as a certified nursing assistant, Hauser…
“You Can’t Afford to Get Sick”: Why Workers at the Country’s Largest Health Contractor Want a Union
HRAUN/Getty On a snowy day this past December, Logan Stinemetz was driving to his job at a call center in Lawrence, Kansas, where he helps people enroll in health insurance, when he hit black ice and spun into a concrete barrier. The accident left Stinemetz in debilitating pain, made worse by the arthritis and degenerative…