CHARLESTON, W.Va. (WCHS/WVAH) — Workers at Charleston Area Medical Center said they were surprised when the hospital supplied them with face masks labeled “non-medical.”

A hospital spokesman said those masks were ordered by mistake and that as soon as the error was discovered, the masks were recalled. In their place, administrators supplied front line health care workers with one N95 mask, which is approved for medical use, and a small bottle of sanitizer. The workers were instructed to use the masks for a week and sanitize them as needed.

“It’s not preferred, you know, in a normal, non-pandemic world of course we change our N95 masks with each patient, but that has been going on since the start of the pandemic where we have been doing that for a week because of shortages,” West Virginia Public Health Officer Dr. Ayne Amjad said.

Amjad said the pandemic has forced health care providers to sometimes use unfamiliar suppliers when ordering personal protective equipment -- something she said she’s experienced in her own personal practice.

“I had to get N95 fitted for myself so I went to the National Guard,” she said. “I brought eight boxes of what I thought were great N95 masks. The guard picked one box of the eight that I brought and told me they were real N95s.”

The state has a six-month supply of PPE, which is managed by the West Virginia National Guard. However, General James Hoyer said handing out those masks to have them used for a single day before being disposed of is not a situation the emergency supply is designed to handle.

“But we do have the ability for an entity who might need daily sanitization of PPE to help out in that regard,” Hoyer said.

Hoyer said the state’s large, private hospitals have occasionally asked for small numbers of certain supplies, especially early in the pandemic. However, he said that need has subsided with hospitals turning to their own private suppliers for their equipment needs.

“I am not aware, at this point in time, of anybody who has come and laid out to us any significant shortages or requests for help,” Hoyer said.

Charleston Area Medical Center Chief Executive Officer David Ramsey was not available for interview, but Eyewitness News plans to continue asking for his comments on the PPE situation and other worker concerns.