BY DAN VALENTI

PLANET VALENTI NEWS AND COMMENTARY

(FORTRESS OF SOLITUDE, THE WEEKEND EDITION APRIL 3-5, 2020) — THE PLANET has confirmed with sources connected to Berkshire Health Systems the contents of a leaked, internal memo first published by this website.

The memo indicates the alarming nature of the spread of COVID-19 in the city of Pittsfield and Berkshire Medical Center. It also provides clues about the handling — or mishandling — of the situation by BHS at the hospital.

In case you missed it, here is a memo this week to “All” by Patrick M. Borek, vice president of Human Resources, BHS. We have highlighted the most concerning sections (italicized):

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THE MEMO BEGINS:

As expected, we are seeing sustained community transmission of the coronavirus in Western Massachusetts. Therefore, like other hospitals and health systems across the Commonwealth in accordance with Massachusetts Department of Public Health guidelines, we are adjusting our procedures for this new stage in our response to the pandemic.

Staff Exposed to the Virus in Patient Interactions
With the virus so prevalent in the community, and with all employees masking at all times, there is no longer a need for a furlough after exposure to a COVID patient. We will continue to conduct screenings to identify potential exposures and find opportunities to improve process. If the screener determines that you have potentially been exposed, you should continue to mask, check your temperature and symptoms daily, and continue to work.

If You Become Sick
Regardless of the source of your symptoms, this simple statement continues to apply: If you’re sick, stay home. More specifically:

Stay Home and Call Occupational Health at 447-2684 if You Have:
Fever greater than 100 degrees and / or lower respiratory symptoms (cough, chest congestion, shortness of breath, tight sensation in your chest)
Any other serious illness that would have kept you out of work before the current situation

Come to Work if You:
Have upper respiratory symptoms (runny nose, nasal congestion, common cold or seasonal allergy symptoms)
Suspect you might have been exposed to coronavirus or some other illness either at work or in the community, but do not have fever or lower respiratory symptoms

As before, all absences due to illness will be handled according to normal policy (you will have access to your Earned Time, and Long-Term Illness Bank if your illness exceeds two days).

Thank you for all your efforts and your continued dedication to the health of our community as we face this crisis. If you have questions, please feel free to contact your manager, your HR Business Partner, or me at any time.

Pat

Patrick M. Borek

Vice President, Human Resources

Berkshire Health Systems

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THE PLANET interprets this memo from a common sense standpoint, not from a medical one, although the two here coincide. Are we correct? Lives might be at stake.

Bottom line: From this memo, it appears to contain proof that BHS is ordering likely infected staffers to continue to work.

And while this is happening, We The People’s executive rep, perhaps the only one with the weight of office to get clear answers from the hospital — the hospital that occupies monopolistic control of healthcare over the entire county — brags about her spaghetti and sauce. As the city gains worldwide infamy at a COVID-19 hot spot, the mayor tells us to color pictures and send them to the corner office.

Is this real? Can this be happening? Have we slipped into an alternate universe’s nightmare?

The BHS HR department is telling its staff that even if they have been exposed to the virus or think they have, still come to work. All we’ve read and understood about how COVID-19 spreads is that some people who get the virus might not be symptomatic or have only mild symptoms but, because they are infected, they become carriers. They can infect others and expose them to a virus that spreads exponentially, even though they themselves experience no symptoms of mild ones masking as a cold or flu. People hospitalized — a decidedly compromised subset of the populace with more than the normal immune systems risk — Are they in added danger because of this policy, which on the surface at least seems coldhearted and both counterproductive and counterintuitive.

THE PLANET puts out this call for our BMC sources to continue to let us know what’s actually happening on the wards. We shall respect all requests of confidentiality.

Is the situation at BMC so out of control that the hospital has to order infected staffers report to work? Doesn’t this go against recommended guidelines, let alone the more demanding protocols of a hospital?

THE PLANET also loves that little twist of the dagger near the end, telling staffers that any time missed will come out of “normal policy” of sick leave. In other words, any time staffers miss because of being run over by a pandemic will come out of their own “normal” hides. BHS has cut its dedicated, heroic, and overworked staff no slack despite the “Act of God” that may potentially put them out for some time or even kill.

We remind one and all that BHS is not in the Dreaded Private Section. It performs one of society’s most vital and necessary jobs, that of public health. Its staffers daily brave the front lines of what has been rightly called a war, risking their lives, and being sent in with inadequate ammo. No way should they be docked for missing time if they get felled by a pandemic. A hospital needs to be as accommodating to its beleaguered workers as possible.

You will recall, though, that this is the same management team that forced nurses to strike over working conditions, one of the most important of which was staffing levels. After the dust settled (did it ever, though, really??) and nurses went back to work, they did so understaffed. So they told us. If that was true, it means that from Day 1, BMC was not prepared for a serious outbreak, let alone a pandemic.

THE PLANET doesn’t know what the legal ramification will be if infected staffers spread the disease to immuno-compromised patients, especially if anyone dies (staff and/or patient). We can’t imagine it an envious situation, and we would question why a hospital would want such exposure. Of course, we are not lawyers here at the Fortress nor are we nurses and doctors on the front line. We can only watch as BHS handles an out-of-control wildfire as it does.

We do know that squirt guns will not be enough.

Could proper planning have put the hospital — and the city — in a better position? Could it have prevented little Pittsfield, Mass., from becoming one of the world’s Top 5 worst hot spots? That’s a question we also put not only to BHS but also mayor Linda Tyer, The Invisible Woman, who has renamed COVID-19 to CRAYOLA-19.

What an embarrassment.

Have, if you can, a great weekend, everybody.

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“I have not yet begun to fight” — John Paul Jones.

“OPEN THE WINDOW, AUNT MILLIE.”

LOVE TO ALL.

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