Nurses at Hackley Hospital filed a complaint alleging they were barred from wearing donated masks but were not provided with masks by the hospital, WZZM13 reported.
Registered nurses filed a complaint against the hospital, alleging they were told to throw away donated N95 masks, the news agency reported.
Justin Howe, who is a registered nurse with the intensive care unit and the president of the Mercy Health Partners RN Staff Council, which is the local affiliate of the Michigan Nurses Association, said they were not allowed to use donated supplies.
The masks were part of the personal protective equipment (PPE) that Mercy Health asked community members to donate to local hospitals because there was not enough for staff members due to a shortage, WZZM13 reported.
The Michigan Nurses Association filed a complaint with the state's Occupational Safety and Health Administration, arguing the hospital violated a duty clause to protect its workers from harm. It also filed a complaint with the National Labor Relations Board, alleging that the hospital created a retaliatory policy and increased restrictions on nurses who wanted to wear the donated PPE.
Howe told the news agency he was frustrated that nurses could count on the community for help, but not their own hospital.
Justin Grill, chief medical officer for Mercy Health Muskegon, said the hospitals have no way of knowing if PPE brought from home could actually perform as expected and that nurses did have access to PPE when needed.
While nurses claimed they were told to throw away the donated PPE, Grill told the news agency that they asked staff to allow the hospital to fit-test it to determine if the PPE was adequate, and staff was asked to only wear N95 masks in situations that were appropriate to preserve what they had in stock.
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