Northeastern Ontario hospital workers on the 'frightening' frontlines of COVID-19

Dave Tremblay has cleaned the hospital rooms of patients who were suspected of having SARS, H1N1 and C.difficile.

But he's never had to suit up like he does now when he goes into the room of someone who might have COVID-19. 

"This one seems to be that much more scary," says the cleaner at Health Sciences North. 

"How fast it's spreading and we don't really know for certain how it spreads."

Tremblay says in his two decades working at Sudbury's hospital, he's never seen the atmosphere this tense. 

As a union steward with the Ontario Council of Hospital Unions, he's getting a lot more questions about refusing unsafe work and about personal protective equipment. 

"They're following the government guidelines, we think that the government guidelines should be a lot stronger, especially when it comes to the type of masks we should be using," says Tremblay.

He would like to see all hospital workers outfitted with the top-of-the-line N95 mask, instead of the surgical mask and goggles they use now.

Tremblay says he's even wondering if he should keep gloves on to press buttons in the hospital elevator.

A nurse who works at a northern Ontario hospital, who CBC has agreed not to name, also worries about what she puts on every day to protect herself, especially compared with what hospital workers in other countries are being equipped with.

She says "donning and doffing" the mask, gloves and other gear now takes up a lot of her shift, which is now focused on treating suspected COVID patients.

"The anxiety and stress level on the unit has increased more than I've experienced before," the nurse says.

"If you cough or your sneeze or you have a sore throat, everyone's like (gasp), but you just have to breathe and stay calm through this."

She says the patients she's spoken with are also frightened and she wishes she knew more about the virus to comfort them. 

"It's new for everybody, it's hard on everybody," says the nurse. 

"We're kind of waiting for the flood of patients to come in. And not knowing when that's going to happen. The waiting is stressful as well."

Vicki McKenna, the president of the Ontario Nurses' Association, worries about how that stress will affect her members in the weeks to come. 

"We are concerned about nurses working excessive hours and physically burning out and their resistance wears down," she says. 

McKenna says staffing levels at some northern Ontario hospitals was already a concern before the pandemic. She wonders if retired doctors and nurses might need to be called in to help out. 

"The solution is more people," she says, 

"The nurses are telling me some of them are working overtime, but they're managing. But how long they can manage without reinforcements is another story."