Kansas City nurse says she caught coronavirus from a patient, and her co-worker died
Within a week of seeing a patient she believed exhibited symptoms of COVID-19, nurse Charlene Carter felt like the top layer of her skin had been peeled off.
The 36-year-old nurse at Research Medical Center would soon test positive for the coronavirus.
Her coworker, 69-year-old Celia Yap-Banago treated the same patient and died this week, Carter said. Yap-Banago had previously tested positive for the virus.
Carter blames the death on a lack of personal protective equipment available to nurses on her floor at the time they were exposed.
“Had we had access to the proper protective equipment I really feel like in my heart Celia would probably be here,” Carter said.
In a written statement Thursday, Christine Hamele, the spokeswoman for HCA Midwest Health which manages the hospital, said this is “simply not the case.”
“Research Medical Center is doing everything we can to protect our colleagues, not only today, but ensure supplies of personal protective equipment well into the future,” she said in a statement. “Our preparedness and planning started months ago and since the outset of the pandemic we have followed CDC guidelines for PPE.”
A vigil for Yap-Banago is scheduled for 8 p.m. Thursday night at Research Medical Center. It is organized by the National Nurses Union which has called on HCA Midwest Health to provide better protective equipment for nurses.
Testing positive
Carter, who works weekend nights on the cardiac floor of the hospital, said she first saw the patient on a Saturday toward the end of March.
The patient had been transferred to her floor from the emergency room with what Carter said appeared to be symptoms consistent with the new coronavirus.
However, she said, her floor was not one where staff expected to see COVID-19 patients, and staff did not have access to personal protective equipment. The equipment had been gathered and placed in a centralized location for the floors that worked with potential COVID-19 patients.
“We didn’t even have access to it,” she said.
When Carter expressed concerns to her supervisor, she said, she was ultimately told that the patient wasn’t considered a possible coronavirus case.
Dave Dillon, spokesman for the Missouri Hospital Association, said hospitals are being “very cognizant” of anyone displaying symptoms of COVID-19.
Hospitals simply can’t test everyone who walks in the front door because of logistics, but most are very guarded about visitors, Dillon said.
“Even people who are there because they’re giving birth may not be able to have visitors,” he said.
People who come into hospitals for ailments other than COVID-19 might not automatically be masked if they are going to an area that is not caring for potential coronavirus patients.
But at the operational level, policies vary from hospital to hospital.
HCA Midwest Health did not respond to The Star’s questions about that policy in time for publication.
Carter said she worked with the patient for seven hours before turning her over to Yap-Banago at the end of her shift.
“I was afraid for Celia,” she said. “If this patient tested positive she’s a high risk population person.”
She said she warned Yap-Banago about her concerns before they walked into the patient’s room. But, she said, nurses tend to be selfless and on busy days go on “autopilot.”
“I’m sure she had concerns but at the same time we have to keep moving,” she said.
Only the patient was wearing a mask, she said.
The following Wednesday Carter was told that her patient had tested positive for COVID-19. Carter said she was concerned that she could have put her coworkers and other patients at risk before she realized she’d been exposed.
“I was hoping that I didn’t get it and give it to them,” Carter said.
The very next day she started showing symptoms of a virus she wouldn’t wish on her “worst enemy.”
“I constantly felt like it’s possible I might not make it” Carter said.
She dealt with extreme headaches, body aches and shortness of breath.
“It was a stinging feeling all over my body,” she said. “Just ambulating from my couch to my bedroom it takes every ounce of my energy.”
It took about a week for the symptoms to begin to let up, she said. In total, she missed two weekends before going back to work at Research.
Yap-Banago, her coworker, never returned.
‘One is too many’
Since recovering and returning to work, Carter said, she believes the hospital is trying to provide adequate protection for staff but it’s still not enough.
“What we’re looking for is N95 respirators,” she said.
She said the staff on her floor has been fitted for those masks but are using surgical masks as they wait for them to arrive.
As of Thursday, the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services recorded that 27 hospitals in the state had a shortage of N95 respirators.
When Carter came back to work, she said, the floor was eagerly awaiting Yap-Bonago’s recovery. Though they knew she was sick, Carter said they felt certain the “fireball of a nurse” would pull through.
Instead, they were shocked to receive a message Wednesday that she had died.
“I’m sure there are many Celia’s out there. Us nurses and healthcare providers we just want the proper protective equipment that we need to keep us from falling ill and to keep us from dying,” Carter said. “One is too many.”
This story was originally published April 23, 2020 at 5:40 PM.
