SAN FRANCISCO (KGO) — “Right now, it is so miserably hot on our floor. It is 95-100 degrees and we are taking care of extremely-ill patients.”
That’s Melton Smith who is a registered nurse at UCSF’s Medical Center at Parnassus in San Francisco, where he and more than a half a dozen other nurses tell us that on certain floors, there is no air conditioning.
“My anger level is up to here. I’ve been dealing with this for years and I don’t know what else to do. I’m sick of it and we’re all sick of it,” said Smith.
He says cold towels were recently given out, but those gave him a rash on his neck.
“Not only is it difficult for us, but especially for patients that are trying to get better,” said Sharon Dopak who is a registered nurse with UCSF and a union representative.
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Several of the nurses we spoke with wished to remain anonymous.
“Especially from a top hospital in the U.S., it’s really ridiculous. I can’t even put on my gloves to do the work that I need to do to take care of my patients because my palms are sweating from the heat,” said one nurse.
“Me too. I took off my gloves yesterday and they were soaking wet and I couldn’t put on gloves after that and we’re required to do that,” said Smith.
“Nurses are turning patients in the room and sweat is getting in their eyes cause it’s just work and it’s uncomfortable,” said another nurse.
Those at UCSF were aware of our requests for comment, but did not get back to us in time for this broadcast.
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UCSF’s CEO did return Melton’s email complaining about the conditions saying in part: “I’m really sorry about the situation.” Going on to say, “We’ve made substantial investments in cooling over the last decade and will continue to do so.”
Employees we spoke with are hopeful for either cooler work areas, or a plan to take those in hot rooms elsewhere, which they say has been done in the past.
“It’s very unfortunate that when we go to the CEO of UCSF and say hey, this is what’s going on. We’re just met with a, we’re doing the best we can because the reality is these rooms should not be open,” said Dopak.
“They have totally ignored us. It makes us feel like they don’t care,” said Smith.
We did also reach out to CAL/OSHA to get their take on the situation, but also did not hear back.
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