Coronavirus kills Missouri nurse who voiced concerns on lack of PPE

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A nurse in Kansas City, Mo., who was on the front lines battling the novel coronavirus has died from COVID-19, according to the nursing association of which she was a part of and the hospital where she worked.

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Celia Yap-Banago, a nurse at Research Medical Center (RMC), died last Tuesday after contracting the virus most likely from an infected patient she was treating. Her death comes just a week before her scheduled retirement and after Yap-Banago, like so many other medical workers across the country, voiced deep concerns about the lack of personal protective equipment (PPE) for front line workers.

“She was one of many RNs at the hospital who have expressed concern over inadequate COVID-19 preparation at RMC,” reads a statement from the nursing association National Nurses United, which held a candlelight vigil in her honor last Thursday.

“Those concerns include insufficient supplies of the optimal personal protective equipment for RNs and other health care workers, delays in notifying nurses of being exposed to a suspected infected patients and staff and expected to continue reporting to work when exposed,” the statement continued.

Yap-Banago, who worked as a nurse for 40 years at RMC, was remembered by one colleague as an “amazing nurse” who “dedicated her service for countless years at Research and a dear friend to all of us.”

The nurse had warned on the lack of PPE before she died from the virus. (iStock)

“I feel that I can speak for many nurses when I say that the loss of one of our dear fallen soldiers on the front line of this pandemic is more than devastating, it is a wake-up call,” said Charlene Carter, a nurse at the medical center, in a statement.

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“We are heartbroken by the passing of our colleague, Celia Yap-Banago, a nearly-40-year nursing veteran at Research Medical Center,”  Ashley McClellan, the CEO of RMC, said, according to news station WVLT. “It is difficult to put into words what Celia means to our hospital and to the countless number of patients she cared for.”

As of Tuesday morning, Missouri has seen more than 7,100 cases of the novel virus. Nearly 300 people there have died as a result.