Health Care Workers, Meeting in Phila., Call For More Protections While Fighting Ebola
By Tim Jimenez
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- Members of a national health care workers' union is in Philadelphia this week for their triennial convention.
High on the agenda this year: a resolution dealing with Ebola.
"We represent doctors, nurses, technicians. I represent the whole health care industry," said Henry Nicholas, president of the Philadelphia-based National Union of Hospital and Health Care Employees (NUHHCE) and longtime Local 1199C president.
This year, dealing with the deadly and contagious disease of Ebola is on everyone's mind.
"Very timely -- couldn't have come at a more important time," Denise Duncan, vice president of nursing for the organization, says of this year's convention. She says the board put together a resolution calling for preparedess and protection.
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"Frontlline workers make sacrifices every single day," Duncan notes. "We're also concerned about EMTs, firefighters -- someone that might be called to a home. What kind of things have been put in place?"
And if a worker gets Ebola, Duncan says, their resolution calls for that person to be compensated as they recover.
"We want our health care community to be protected in a variety of ways," she says.
The resolution will be voted on tomorrow, and Duncan expects it to pass.
