KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Children’s Mercy Hospital responded to a report about prohibiting its medical staff from wearing masks throughout shifts by citing Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines.
According to a report from KCUR, Children’s Mercy sent an internal memo March 19 to employees directing medical staff not to “wear a mask continuously throughout your shift in order to protect yourself.”
Children’s Mercy reiterated Friday in a statement to 41 Action News that the hospital is following CDC guidelines.
“The health and safety of our patients, families and employees is our top priority,” Children’s Mercy said in the statement. “The CDC says if you’re not sick, you don’t need to wear a mask unless you’re caring for someone who is sick and they aren’t able to wear one. We want to protect our employees’ health both now and in the challenging weeks and months ahead. That’s why we are adhering to the CDC guidelines.”
Personal protective equipment, including medical-grade masks, are in dwindling supply.
With the COVID-19 outbreak not expected to peak for several more weeks or months, Children’s Mercy and other health care providers are trying to ensure such equipment will be available as the pandemic progresses, according to KCUR’s report.
“We need to be very judicious about what we're using and when we're using it in a patient that actually needs us to use the PPE so that when we have high (risk) situations down the road, which I anticipate that we will, we don't only have low-risk PPE available,” Children’s Mercy Division Director for Infectious Diseases Dr. Angela Myers told KCUR.
Children’s Mercy said is plans to implement additional measures to reassure its staff during the COVID-19 outbreak:
“We understand that everyone, including our employees and families, may be feeling anxious and even fearful. To help our staff during this stressful time, our mental health specialists offer in-person and virtual sessions for our employees. We also offer virtual support groups for teams, and a virtual guided meditation series. Starting Monday we will have private space for employees to practice activities to improve their overall well-being and our mental health professionals will begin conducting regular wellness checks with our staff, following proven protocols."
