Juneau’s Bartlett Regional Hospital is the first, and so far the only, hospital in the state to be cited by workplace safety regulators for COVID-19 violations.
Hospital staff tipped off the state, leading investigators to find the city-owned hospital’s health and safety program inadequate. They issued more than a dozen citations.
The whistleblower was Laurie Bell. After years of pushing for a safer work environment at the hospital, she finally reached her breaking point over masks.
Bell used to work at the registration desk in Bartlett Regional Hospital’s Emergency Department. She and her coworkers were often the department’s first line of defense.
“We basically did all the grunt work before the patient would be seen by a nurse or doctor,” she said.
She said when the COVID-19 pandemic first spread into Alaska, they had a lot of exposure to the virus.
“There wasn’t enough [personal protective equipment] for everybody,” Bell said. “We were told that we were low risk and did not deserve personal protection.”
She said the hospital gave them one blue paper surgical mask per shift. She said that each time, she cited federal guidelines and asked for more protection.
“I was told that, in not-so-polite terms, that I didn’t know what I was talking about,” she said. “[That] I didn’t understand the science, even though everybody could go on the [Centers for Disease Control and Prevention] website and see what was recommended. And that I should just stick to what I...
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