BUFFALO, N.Y. — Frustration is mounting among those on the front lines of this pandemic. Two local nurses are speaking out about the conditions they're working in during this latest wave of the pandemic.

"We need to be assured that they're working on these issues and right now it has been silent,” Kathy Kelly said.

What You Need To Know

  • The pandemic is in its fall surge

  • Two nurses at Mercy Hospital of Buffalo say they are frustrated with the conditions they're working in

  • Catholic Health responded by saying they've worked quickly to convert existing nursing units to care for COVID patients

Not enough staffing, having nowhere to cool off, and lacking access to water. These are the conditions some nurses tell Spectrum News they're dealing with at the Mercy Hospital of Buffalo as COVID-19 cases surge in the region. 

"It's very tiring. It's very emotional dealing with the patients. The patients are coming in and they're very ill," said Kelly, who is a registered nurse at Mercy Hospital and the vice president of CWA Local 1133, which represents workers in the Catholic Health system. She said working in full PPE for 12 hour shifts can make it feel like a summer day and nurses are sweating through their clothes. That's why she's pushing for cooling stations to be set up in the nursing units and wants water readily available.

"It's very hard to work in those types of conditions," she said.

A nurse who works in a COVID-19 unit at the hospital and wants to remain anonymous says staffing has always been an issue. But the pandemic has only made this problem worse. 

"Sometimes we work with two nurses, if one nurse takes a break they'll leave that one nurse on the floor for 12 very acute sick patients that can take a turn for the worst," the nurse said. 

In order to wash her hands, she said she often has to wait for her break to do so since there isn't easy access to running water in her unit. She also says there's even been an instance when her supervisor didn't show up for a rapid response, when a patient's health quickly deteriorated.

"It feels like we took a step backwards for something we knew that was coming," the nurse said. 

Both nurses say they've contacted the hospital administration about their concerns and haven't really gotten answers. 

A Catholic Health spokesperson released the following statement to Spectrum News:

"In response to the significant surge in COVID patients across the region, Catholic Health has had to quickly open up and convert existing nursing units to care for these patients. This includes several units at Mercy Hospital of Buffalo. Throughout this crisis, the health and safety of our staff has been a top priority. The administration at Mercy Hospital has been able to staff its COVID units with a combination of new hires, contracted agency staff, and by reassigning nurses from other areas of the hospital that have fewer patients. We are working closely with our union leaders to ensure we can be as flexible as possible with our staffing to respond to this current crisis. Work has also been ongoing to add more hydration and cooling stations throughout the hospital to support the staff working on Mercy’s COVID units. This was noted earlier today during the hospital’s daily incident command meeting as a top priority. Two cooling machines have already been installed and five hydration stations will be in operation this evening."