How Health Care Workers Stay Safe During the Pandemic
Doctors, nurses and certified nursing assistants (CNAs) risk their lives and may infect their families to help COVID-19 patients stay alive. The risk to their health increases every day they go to work. Medical caregivers do everything they can to stay safe, and you can learn from the steps they take.
Keep Up-to-date With the Latest Guidelines
The CDC publishes regular guidelines about protection from COVID-19. These guidelines include proper hand and respiratory hygiene as well as cough etiquette among colleagues, visitors and patients. Many caregivers take short courses in infection prevention training. While this information is commonly agreed upon, each clinic, hospital or nursing home may have its own COVID-19 rules and best practices.
When They Arrive Home after Work
To avoid carrying any infection to their families, cleanliness is essential. Many nurses and CNAs have designated rooms or places at home where they take off the clothes they wore to work and put them directly into a washing machine. They change into decontaminated clothes that were already placed in the room.
Disinfecting the Work Stations
Along with the caregivers are the office staff who have to keep the records and order supplies. Their work stations are often completely wiped with wet wipes. All the keyboards, computers, desktops, pens and other paraphernalia that is needed are possible infection points.
Mental Stress
With overcrowded hospitals and nursing homes, nurses and CNAs have more patients in their workplace than they normally treat in a day. Along with this, there is a lack of resources, fewer caregivers and more patients whose lives are threatened. The stress of maintaining their mental health can be overwhelming. It takes its toll on the mental health of the caregivers too.
To help combat this, caregivers do everything they can to de-stress and stay positive. Exercise, sleep and socializing through social media are a few of the ways that nurses relax. Laughter is considered hugely beneficial for doctors, nurses, office personnel and patients.
Workers Compensation
If a nurse or CNA is infected with COVID-19, the first thing they should do is find a workers comp lawyer to file and support their claim. The federal CARES Act covers COVID-19-related scenarios that can help you get the compensation you deserve for unemployment pay as well as help with child care.
In most cases, when an employee needs workers’ compensation, they have to fight against a corporate insurance company. These insurance companies have an army of lawyers, and the worker needs a powerful attorney to do the fighting for them.
In New Jersey, the law requires employers or the employer’s insurance company to provide injured workers with medical treatment. You may get temporary monetary benefits or permanent residual benefits, and your family may get weekly compensation if you die from the disease. You must prove that you got the disease because of your employment and that it was caused by your working conditions and not from the same source as the general public. Being a caregiver for COVID-19 patients fulfills these requirements. In many nursing homes, more than half of the workers are CNAs. They have a very close relationship with the patients and are best placed to see the early signs of illness.
Stay Home
At times, nurses and CNAs have to make the hard decision to stay home. They may have several young children going to school online or elderly parents or grandparents for whom they are responsible. Staying home may be a short-term solution to stay safe, and they return to work as soon as they safely are able.
Some facilities offer employees bonuses during the pandemic to help them continue working, but this isn’t possible for all places.
Even after following all the rules for good hygiene and infection protection, nurses and CNAs do become infected while at work. If this happens to you, don’t wait to call a workers comp lawyer at Szaferman Lakind Attorneys at Law Office in Somerville, NJ, at 609-771-8611 to begin the process of workers’ compensation benefits. There are several types of compensation for which you may be eligible.
