Earlier this week, Richard Stone, the nation's head physician for the Veterans Administration, said that the VA is facing a shortage of personal protective equipment.
We asked Evangeline Conley, public affairs officer for the VA Western NY Healthcare System, and here is her response:
VA Western New York Healthcare System stopped using crisis capacity guidelines weeks ago and is currently adhering to the same CDC contingency capacity postures the CDC recommends all health care facilities use.
VA Western New York Healthcare System’s PPE practices have helped limit its COVID-19 employee infection rates to .6 percent of the workforce. Other health care systems such as University of Washington Medicine report 4.4 percent of employees have tested positive and 2.1 percent of Henry Ford Health System’s workforce has tested positive.
Supply levels are being monitored every day to make sure facilities have adequate PPE for the number and types of patients they are seeing. If a facility were to fall below stock levels, the facility would be cross-leveled by another VA facility or region.
