Medical Bias & Inequity: the link to PPE access
2020 was a year of major shifts and changes, with one major event standing out from the rest. The COVID-19 global pandemic changed - and is still changing - the world and life as we know it. Our nursing community, our friends in healthcare and other essential industries have especially felt the full force of COVID-19 on a personal and professional level.
1 year and some months later, the pandemic continues and some experts are even predicting that COVID-19 will affect the future of nurse staffing. Brian Hudson, SVP of Avant Healthcare Professionals, writes in his Forbes article: “The global pandemic has made things worse for these nurses, patients and the general industry by adding stress to these individuals… healthcare executives are challenged with planning for current and future staffing needs ... including how has Covid-19 affected their core staff and the overall nurse shortage.”
In addition to added stress and burnout, nurses and other medical and healthcare practitioners have experienced a shortage of Personal Protective Equipment - or PPE for short. As of last month, it is still impacting nurses everywhere. “It's hard to believe, but it's been over a year and nurses are still reporting that they're having difficulty getting their PPE” says Ernest Grant, president of the American Nurses Association.
One organization was created in 2020 to help solve this exact problem: Get Us PPE. Get Us PPE is “the largest national organization getting personal protective equipment (PPE such as masks, gloves, and isolation gowns) to frontline workers who need it most. As a nonprofit, we obtain PPE via donations and makers, then deliver it to under-resourced facilities at no cost...”
While the shortage affects nurses nationwide, there is an even greater disparity when factors such as race, income level and geographic location are factored in. In the Bronx, nurses marched in November of last year in order to raise awareness at the severe lack of PPE. The Bronx has the poorest congressional district in the country, with residents suffering from many underlying conditions such as diabetes, HIV/AIDs and asthma. Statistics show that the majority of reported deaths are those of Black and Brown (Hispanic/Latinx) individuals.
The Bronx is just one example of areas hit hardest by the COVID-19 pandemic. The connection between low-income communities impacted by COVID and the lack of PPE is not hard to see. Lower income communities have always suffered from lack of adequate medical resources and PPE is just an additional item on a long list. Additionally, large cities also create more patients in need - more than hospitals and nurses can keep up with.
In order for our nurses to feel supported, the systemic inequalities and medical biases must be addressed. Low-income communities cannot be written off or ignored, as the pandemic is a public health issue - not limited to certain communities or geographic areas. If there’s anything we’ve learned it’s that COVID-19 does not care for socio-economic background, ethnicity, etc.
The pandemic has exposed the gaps in a system that have been present for a very long time. PPE is just one of many factors and the only way to move forward and to help nurses and patients feel secure, the time to act is now. Even as the pandemic slows down, there are no signs of complete normalcy yet. There is still a long road ahead and it’s up to us all to lend a hand and do our part and hold our systems of government accountable.