Vigil Held For Nurse Who Died After Colleagues Say She Contracted COVID-19 While Treating Patient Without Proper Equipment
HOLLYWOOD (CBSLA) — A solemn scene unfolded outside Hollywood Presbyterian Medical Center Wednesday night as nurses and other hospital staff came together to remember Celia Marcos.
Marcos was a beloved veteran nurse at the hospital who died after contracting the novel coronavirus. Her colleagues said she was infected while treating a patient, because she was not provided proper personal protective equipment.
"Celia was called to a coding patient who was infected with COVID-19," Rosanna Mendez, executive director of SEIU Local 121RN, said. "She was there for 45 minutes to an hour tending to that patient. The hospital gave her a surgical mask, the paper mask a lot of you all are wearing tonight. She should have been wearing N95 respirator."
Marcos's son attended the evening vigil, and while he did not speak, another nurse read some of his words.
"It means a lot to me and my family that you are here tonight to remember my mom," the note said. "I drove down from San Francisco just to be with you. I know my mom really cared for her colleagues and loved being a resource for everyone in her unit."
The nurses at the hospital, in return, offered reassuring words.
"And even though you were not able to be with her at the time of her passing, all of us were there with her," one nurse said. "And she was never alone."
For its part, hospital management said they were heartbroken by what happened, and that nurses are provided with adequate personal protective equipment.
Hollywood Presbyterian released a statement that read, in part:
"We have been and will continue to provide all staff at CHA Hollywood Presbyterian Medical Center (HPMC) with the appropriate level of PPE that is required per existing CDC guidelines. HPMC is using the COVID-19 infection prevention and control recommendations that have been published by the LA County Department of Public Health and the CDC."
"There's not enough protections," Mendez said. "There's not enough PPE, it's what we need to obtain. It's what we are working towards."
The nurses said they would keep fighting to get what they need while keeping Marcos' memory alive.
