NSHA tells staff to stop stealing personal protective equipment during pandemic

By Dave Heintzman

The head of the Nova Scotia Health Authority is asking staff to stop taking personal protective equipment out of the organization for whatever reasons.

In a video message, Doctor Brendan Carr – NSHA President and CEO – says it's become clear they are losing stock of equipment at a rate not consistent with their current clinical practice. In other words, people are taking masks, and other protective equipment.

“There is no way that anybody should be taking any equipment out of any of our facilities or supply areas, that all of those equipments need to be here and accounted for because they will be needed a couple weeks from now,” says Carr. “There will be zero tolerance for anybody taking any of this equipment out of our facilities.”

He says for those who may have taken some items or equipment without understanding the severity or potential impact of it to “bring this equipment back because we are going to need it, and this is potentially going to have an impact on one of your fellow staff members and their abilitiy to look after a sick patient a few weeks from now.”

Carr says there's no reason why the average staff member needs to be using an N95 mask for anything other than aerosolized procedures.

“And so, we just need to be very respectful of that, and we need to hold each other to that at this point in time.”

Carr says if that changes, if they learn more, they will communicate that, and deal with that situation, but he says for right now, everyone needs to focus on having the right equipment available for when it is needed.

Top Stories

Top Stories

Most Watched Today