I know we are hyper focused on Covid-19 and you are very busy.  Thank you for all your support, leadership and commitment to all now and as you always have demonstrated.  I would like to bring forth two issues that are at the forefront of many front-line nurses, healthcare providers and support staff right now. 

First, I would like to share with you the most recent Law signed by President Trump on March 18, 2020, H.R. 6201: https://www.congress.gov/bill/116th-congress/house-bill/6201/text  This Law provides NO financial protection or support to our Nation’s Front-Line Healthcare Providers and support staff with the exceptions that were included. which you can easily find at this link, https://www.congress.gov/bill/116th-congress/house-bill/6201/text#HD0CC5DE73193471EBB2544AEDB3F5158 and again stating “Except that an employer of an employee who is a health care provider or an emergency responder may elect to exclude such employee from the application of this subsection” found near this link: https://www.congress.gov/bill/116th-congress/house-bill/6201/text#H3682EF139E0D42A3892D7EAB48B1D650  This Act was initially written on January 3, 2020 as you will see on the first page of the document.  These exceptions are unacceptable and require immediate amendment.

Without lawfully designated support and protection in place, a quarantine of 14 days without full compensation resulting from a direct hazard of our job duties is inexcusable.  For example, if we are quarantined for 14 days for possible exposure, demonstrate no signs of illness, return back to work and then later actually contracting Covid-19, be quarantined again for another 14 days or longer, I have found no discussion of compensation in the pending Bills supporting and protecting those directly impacted due to the nature of their profession:  S.3548 – CARES Act or in the H.R.6139 — 116th Congress (2019-2020) COVID-19 Health Care Worker Protection Act of 2020.  Unfortunately, the H.R. 6198 To provide emergency paid leave benefits to certain individuals affected by COVID-19, and for other purposes Bill is not published at this time for review.

Two weeks of lost wages is incredibly damaging to those who are working paycheck to paycheck.  I have yet to hear of any hazard pay for Nurses, First Responders, First Receivers, Police, Fire/EMS, Direct Patient Healthcare Providers, Housekeepers, or support staff for the sick from Covid-19 – all of which shall I add, will likely have limited to no life-saving PPE to protect us.  This is a very real, very scary concern of my own let alone the many other healthcare providers out there.  Two weeks can make or break many households very quickly.

Next, the current Limited and Inadequate Supply of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) puts healthcare providers and support staff at extreme risk of contracting COVID-19 while caring for those who are ill and suffering.  That risk includes exposing their families and loved ones to the virus who may also contract the virus and become ill.  We are still awaiting the Bill S.3548 CARES Act to be signed into Law while actively working in conditions with inadequate PPE.  This Bill needs to be pushed through to the President of The United States and signed into Law without delay.

With that, I would like to advocate for all those who provide direct, indirect patient care and support services request that we be provided with full compensation without the requirement of going into Negative Paid Time Off and rally for emergent provision of adequate PPE, increased staffing, hazard pay and benefits.  I do not feel in my heart and soul that front-line providers and support staff, many with families and children, should be putting themselves and their families selflessly at such risk caring for the ill without lawfully designated support and protection in place.

I understand that Everyone Globally is being impacted in so many ways and we all will take losses, we all will have to do our part, we all will share suffering in one form or another.  But by God, our Government can do better and should do better to protect those who serve especially in a crisis like this.  If we do not advocate for the additional support we need and more than deserve from our own Government, who will we get it from?  The worst part about it, why is this even an issue?  How many more Congressmen/women need to become infected with Covid-19 before it matters?  How many more people need to die as a result?  You are risking the lives of the very people who can save yours and everyone else’s by not providing lawful physical and financial protection and support. 

Again, I sincerely appreciate all you do for all of us always and I thank you in advance for your response.

Please spread the word, contact/call/email your local Congressmen/women, inform those who can help create the change that is desperately needed in our local communities, counties, states all around our great nation, The United States of America.  

Respectfully,

All of us on the Front-Lines