Hospital suspends nurse who started GoFundMe to buy protective gear

A nurse in New Jersey who turned to GoFundMe to raise money for personal protective equipment (PPE) for her and her colleagues has been suspended by hospital administrators.

ProPublica reported Tuesday that the nurse, Olga Matievskaya, raised more than $12,000 to fund the purchase of masks, shoe covers and other equipment that nurses at Newark Beth Israel Medical Center told the news service were in short supply at the hospital.

In response, hospital administrators suspended her for an unspecified amount of time for distributing unauthorized equipment, officials told the news service. The punishment was handed out even as Matievskaya’s colleagues say administrators have failed to provide adequate gear for nurses and doctors.

“No employee is allowed to distribute unauthorized medical supplies within the hospital,” hospital administrators told ProPublica. “The nurse in question was temporarily suspended for inappropriately distributing unauthorized medical supplies, against this policy.”

At least one nurse who spoke to the news outlet contended, however, that “[t]here was no information distributed” about nurses and doctors not being allowed to source their own PPE in cases of shortages.

“We understand this is what we signed up for,” one emergency room nurse at the hospital told ProPublica. “Just provide us with sufficient [PPE] so we can give these patients the optimal care that they need, and so we aren’t contaminating others or ourselves.”

The hospital reportedly would not answer questions about the gear purchased by Matievskaya or whether any others who participated in the fundraiser would face suspensions.

“We are working 24-hours a day, 7-days a week to ensure that the appropriate PPE gets to the right staff, at the right time,” the hospital said.