At a time when hospitals and health care workers nationwide are experiencing shortages of protective gear for treating those confirmed or suspected of being sick with the novel coronavirus, resourceful means of addressing that are being pursued in Boulder County.
A person who asked not to be identified by name contacted a reporter Thursday with this inquiry: “I work at a research lab at The University of Colorado, where all research efforts have been suspended. Most research facilities have an abundance of PPE (personal protection equipment) and N95 masks just laying around.
“Considering we are not even currently allowed in our labs, all this PPE is just sitting around unused. I think the health care community should be pleading with research labs across the US to share their supplies.”
That person specified the CU Boulder Office of Animal Resources and the school’s Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee as being potential sources they believed could be drawn upon.
Friday afternoon, a CU Boulder spokesperson said the university is on the case.
“The BioFrontiers Institute and associated labs donated research materials and protective equipment to both the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment as well as Boulder Community Health Foundation to assist in COVID-19 testing and medical care,” Melanie Parra wrote in an email.
“In addition, students, postdocs and staff have volunteered through CDPHE and the helpcoloradonow.org to assist with scientific and administrative support.”
She also said the university’s Emergency Management office is coordinating with the Research and Innovation Office and other campus units to identify available supplies and determine the best process for making them available to health care providers.
“Some supplies will need to be allocated to the university’s Medical Services team,” she said.
Emergency evolving ‘on daily basis’
Meanwhile, Gabriel Velasco, a veteran emergency room registered nurse at CenturaHealth’s Longmont United Hospital on Friday volunteered the hope that local businesses and other individuals might be able to assist in meeting the need for “PPE gear donations and fabrication.”
Velasco, who lives in Boulder and has been in the LUH emergency room for four years and at the hospital for seven, said the hospital is not experiencing a shortage yet, but he is concerned about what will happen when there is a surge of those seeking medical attention, either from the disease, or for other medical treatment from a staff whose resources are already heavily taxed.
“I think this is an emergency that is evolving on a weekly basis, if not a daily basis,” said Velasco. “As some of the pressures come to bear, it will force all of us to think about doing things in unconventional ways, that maybe we hadn’t thought of before.
“I’m just trying to explore alternatives in this situation that we do get to a point where we don’t have any of our approved medical supplies to use as PPEs.”
As for N95 masks, which are classified as respirators, “What some physicians have been doing is taking these masks home and sanitizing them with greater than 60% percent grain alcohol, in order to be able to reuse the masks.” Also, he said, nurses are being limited to one mask, per patient, enabling them to wear it for the entirety of their contact with that patient.
“Right now, we have been able to use the supplies that we need, right now, and we haven’t seen the surge yet at our hospital,” said Velasco, who credits the work being done by hospital leadership and Boulder County Public Health officials during the coronavirus pandemic. “But obviously, we are taking steps to minimize overuse and wastefulness.”
Boulder County Public Health spokesperson Chana Goussetis stated in an email Friday, “I’m not sure we can say there is a ‘serious shortage,’ but we are receiving ongoing orders for PPE from the health care community as they continue to screen and care for patients.
“We are working at the state level to increase supplies, particularly for our long-term care facilities.”
Continuing to build stockpile
Rich Sheehan, spokesman for Boulder Community Health — which has an employee among the confirmed coronavirus patients in Boulder County — said “We have reached out to multiple local organizations along with CDPHE and the county, and we’ve had some success.
“One of the CU labs provided helpful materials. Given the national shortage of PPE, we are continuing efforts to build up our stockpile.”
Currently, he said, BCH is in “a good position,” due to having started its preparations early and having emergency reserves, and that it was grateful for the generosity of people in the community.
BCH put out a statement by social media Friday afternoon which said, in part, “We are taking measures to conserve our supplies while adhering to PPE guidelines for mask use from the World Health Organization and local and state health authorities, as well as best practices shared by other health system experiencing community spread of COVID-19 in their areas.”
Noting that the Boulder community has a “great tradition” of people “pitching in to help out in tough times,” it said the hospital was receiving numerous offers to donate needed supplies. The health care system said it would welcome donations of sealed/unopened boxes of masks, gloves or other PPE at the main entrance of its Foothills Hospital, 4747 Arapahoe Ave.
Velasco said people are going to have to be creative and resourceful. He was alarmed at seeing news coverage from Seattle, a hotbed of coronavirus cases, of hospital staff fashioning protective gear from office supplies. The other day in a hardware store, he even picked up a few things such as visors and a pair of coveralls.
“I’m looking at avenues to do things in conjunction with what hospital leadership and county health officials are working on — certainly not as a substitute, if they have solutions that are better equipped to address these issues.
“I am just looking at some fallback solution, so we are not sitting around a table making PPEs from office supplies.”
To donate coronavirus protective supplies to Boulder Community Heath
Sealed/unopened boxes of masks, gloves or other PPE are being accepted. Donations can be brought to the main entrance of Foothills Hospital (not the Emergency Department entrance). Place donations in the blue bin. Donations are accepted Monday through Friday, between 7 a.m. and 7 p.m. BCH appreciates the public’s generosity.
