Biowaste Company Donates 200 Masks To Nursing Home

Rynocare is a Reno company that picks up pharmaceutical waste, materials that have been contaminated during cancer treatment, and biomedical waste including items that have been contaminated with COVID-19. 

"We're in the front lines as well, picking up biomedical waste and transporting and treating that waste," Andy Black, Director of Operations at Rynocare said. "So we're having to deal with COVID-19 infected barrels."

Black says his staff handles these waste products with extreme care. They sterilize the waste by using hot steam for 45 minutes. Then they take it to the landfill.

"We overly protect ourselves and the public and the vehicles that we drive it in and we make sure everything is completely sterile before and after," Black said.

Rynocare picks up biowaste from about 150 locations around northern Nevada. That includes Lakeside Health and Wellness. The company stopped there to donate 200 KN95 masks, Monday morning.

"They're the highest-end mask on the market and really this is where they need to be," Black said. "These skilled nursing homes are feeling it the worst."

Lakeside Health and Wellness has been hit hard by coronavirus. As of Monday evening, 46 residents and staff have been infected and seven have died, including one staff member. Black hopes that providing more personal protective equipment will help prevent the spread of the virus.

"The skilled nursing homes is really where the epicenter is with this thing and we just wanted to reach out and do what we could do to help," Black said.

The masks are intended to be used once but many medical and nursing home employees are forced to use them for several days because of the national shortage of PPE. Reno City Councilwoman Naomi Duerr says Lakeside Health and Wellness is one of about six facilities with cases of COVID-19.

"Where there is one, you can expect transmission and expect that there will probably be more," Duerr said.

She is asking these facilities to ask for assistance if it is needed. Duerr says when she found out about the issues at Lakeside Health and Wellness, she asked the community to help.

"That evening, one of our developers actually arrived with homemade masks, and the very next day, our Reno Fire Department and REMSA came forward with masks out of their own limited supply," Duerr said. "They came forward with about 200 N95 masks and 400 surgical masks."

The Nevada Division of Public and Behavioral Health (DPBH) began calling licensed skilled nursing facilities in early April. Its goal is to determine if they have positive or suspected cases. Federal health agencies are recommending that nursing homes take specific actions to keep patients and residents safe. That includes compliance with CDC guidance, the implementation of symptom screening for all, ensuring that all staff use appropriate PPE to the extent that it is available, the use of separate staffing teams for residents with coronavirus, and they are asking each facility to work with local and state leaders to find ways to separate COVID-19 patients from other residents. Meanwhile, the Division of Emergency Management is trying to buy more PPE for Nevada's health care and nursing facilities.

"I think they're assessing all of the nursing homes in the state to find out what they need from the state level and get them resources," Duerr said.

Duerr says donations and the arrival of new equipment could be critical, possibly saving lives.

"What happens at a nursing home affects what's happening at a hospital because as these nursing home patients get sicker, they are going to be sent to a hospital," Duerr said.

As more cases spread throughout northern Nevada, Duerr says the PPE is even more important. She says it will help prevent the spread within facilities, which means it could possibly prevent the spread into the community by staff who unknowingly get infected.

"Then they go home to their family or to the grocery store or interact with others," Duerr said. "Then that's where community spread begins."

That is why Rynocare is doing its part to help get more masks where they belong. He says he would love to continue these donations if possible.

"If we can get our hands on more, we would absolutely love to," Black said.

Duerr is encouraging people who have concerns about specific locations regarding COVID-19 to alert the state. DPBH has a complaint form on its website. That is because it cannot investigate a facility if it does not know about it. 

Link: http://dpbh.nv.gov/Reg/HealthFacilities/dta/Complaints/HCQC-Complaint-Form/