Healthcare workers need your help against COVID-19

I am writing to ask that you take all necessary actions to ensure that healthcare providers have immediate access to personal protective equipment (PPE), ventilators and other lifesaving equipment necessary for our response to the COVID-19 pandemic. As an acute care nurse, I have the knowledge and expertise to save lives during this national health crisis. To do this, I must have the correct equipment to care for my patients and be safe in my work environment. In the absence of appropriate PPE, I put myself, my family and others at risk for exposure. Your urgent action is vital to provide the equipment I need to care for my patients, the people we both have pledged to serve. A significant number of your constituents infected with this virus will become critically ill and experience severe respiratory distress. Many will require mechanical ventilation, a machine that does the work of breathing for patients with damaged lungs. Emergency medications and equipment will also be needed to support the patients’ heart and blood pressure while they fight the virus. In the absence of adequate access to ventilators and other life-saving equipment, with clinical staff calling out in the absence of adequate protective equipment; patients who could be saved will die. We are counting on you to act now to give us the resources we need. Please partner with us to combat COVID-19. Without your support and action, our country faces a devastating loss of lives.