The St. Joseph Medical Center is under fire after the Washington State Nurses Association (WSNA) said the hospital has been reusing damaged mattresses for months, endangering both staff and patients. The WSNA sent KING 5 video showing blood and other bodily fluids seeping out of one of the hospital’s mattresses. Jayson Dick, director of the WSNA’s Labor Advocacy Division, says he’s seen this before, but not to this degree. “I’ve been a nurse for twenty years, and that was one of the things where it’s like, that’s pretty gross,” he said. Dick says nurses in the Labor and Delivery Department noticed that fluids were leaking out of the beds, but the beds were used for other patients. St. Joseph President Jennifer Schomburg says the mattress in the video was immediately discarded after it was used, and was never used again. The WSNA filed a complaint with the Washington state Department of Health back in October. The complaint says the damaged mattresses pose a significant risk to patients, especially given where these mattresses were found. “Blood and other fluids can carry infectious diseases and other illnesses,” Dick explained. “Given where this is taking place in Labor and Delivery, there are a lot of bodily fluids expressed during the birthing process, and sitting on top of a compromised mattress, yeah, there’s a huge potential risk.” In a statement, Schomburg says that “any mattresses that are compromised are immediately taken out of commission and not used for patient care.” However, Dick says nurses are reporting that damaged mattresses are still being used. “When it was brought to the administration, they decided to try to patch the beds, and several weeks to two months later, we’re still seeing beds in use that are patched and still expressing these fluids,” he said. Read the full story here: https://www.king5.com/article/news/local/tacoma/st-joseph-medical-center-tacoma-not-replacing-mattresses-quickly-enough/281-f33212f4-d599-4e93-8231-6dde7e6f67f3