Once again, our readers are the writers in the annual contest of narrative brevity judged by a team of story lovers: Booklegger owners Jennifer McFadden and Nancy Short, retired children’s librarian JoAnn Bauer, Eureka Poet Laureate and College of the Redwoods professor David Holper, and myself. The influence of the pandemic is visible here and […]
healthcare workers
Posted inNews
Approximately 1,100 HumCo Healthcare Workers to be Vaccinated by Day’s End
The Joint Information Center announced this afternoon that all 975 initial doses in the first batch of Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine Humboldt County received last week will have been administered by day’s end. Distribution of the next batch of vaccines, meanwhile, has began as well. The vaccine is currently being allocated under the very first phase […]
Posted inNews
NCJ Preview: Strain on Healthcare Workers, Birding in Place and Self Care (sort of)
This week, the Journal talked with St. Joseph Hospital staff about caring for COVID-19 patients and the toll it takes. Their words are worth heeding as we head into winter. We’ve also got a stress suggestion: birding. It’s calming and cheap-cheap. As for buying your way out of pandemic stress, we’re taking a humor break […]
Posted inNews
Fatigue, Fear and Frustration
If you talk to healthcare providers treating COVID-19 patients at St. Joseph Hospital in Eureka, the linchpin in Humboldt County’s pandemic response, they all have a story to tell about when the reality of their challenge hit home. For Kristen Beddow, the charge nurse in St. Joseph’s emergency room, it was losing a patient. Beddow […]
Posted inNews
The Last Howlers
They don’t do it every night, not anymore. But when it feels right to step outside at 8 p.m., take a deep breath and howl into the night, Blue Lake sisters Alexis and Shelby Wickizer — ages 8 and 5, respectively — still follow the urge. “Owwwwwwwwwww! Owwwwwwwww!” the girls called out together Sunday night, […]
Posted inNews
Abundance or Shortage? Newsom and Hospitals at Odds Over Mask Supply for Health Care Workers
Months into the coronavirus pandemic, California is stockpiling masks for a future wave of infections even as hospitals say they still don’t have enough to protect workers from the deadly virus. Newsom blamed the shortage on hospitals — saying they are not adequately distributing supplies the state has provided — and vowed to more aggressively […]
Posted inNews
Cleaning and Reusing Hospital Masks: Is it Safe?
As California ramps up its purchase of protective gear for health care workers, the state also has set a back-up plan in motion: cleaning masks so they can be used again and again. Face masks called N95 respirators are worn by doctors, nurses and other medical workers to filter out infectious droplets carrying the virus. They […]
Posted inNews
Costco Sends Healthcare Workers and First Responders to the Front of the Line
If you’ve made an essential trip to Costco lately (hopefully not to hoard toilet paper — seriously), it’s been a very different experience. Shoppers, who are asked to follow social distancing protocols, are limited to two people per membership card, hours have been cut back and shopping is restricted to those 60 and older only […]
Posted inNews
St. Joseph Hospital and Redwood Memorial Hospital Healthcare Workers on Strike
Employees at St. Joseph and Redwood Memorial hospitals donned red shirts and held picket signs demanding fair labor practices as they crowded the corner of the entrance into St. Joseph Hospital in Eureka yesterday. They were protesting the hospital’s staffing shortage and the state of new employee salary negotiations, according to a press release sent […]