Nurses Union Threatens to 'Picket Every Hospital in This Country' over Ebola Hazmat Suits

The nation’s largest union and professional association of nurses said it will rise up in protest if hazardous-material suits are not in every hospital soon.

“I’m angry about this,” said RoseAnn DeMoro, executive director of National Nurses United. “We want the first line of defense to be the most prepared. Our hospitals are resisting us. The CDC doesn’t say that we need hazmat suits. If this doesn’t change dramatically, we will picket every hospital in this country if we have to.” 

The uproar over hazmat suits is merely the latest clash between Nurses United and the CDC. Bonnie Castillo, a National Nurses United disaster relief expert, blasted CDC Director Dr. Tom Frieden for blaming the second Ebola victim in the U.S.–an unnamed nurse who helped the Liberian man who brought Ebola to America–on a “protocol breach” that led to her contracting the deadly virus.

“You don’t scapegoat and blame when you have a disease outbreak,” said Castillo. “We have a system failure. That is what we have to correct.”