Jonathan Shorman of the Topeka Capital-Journal revealed details today regarding the loss of federal funding for Osawatomie Mental Health hospital, and the reasons are more terrible than many had imagined.
http://cjonline.com/news/2015-12-22/feds-cited-systemic-failure-security-cutting-medicare-funds-osawatomie-state
A report from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services cites the reported October rape of a worker by a patient, finding the staff was not appropriately stationed to provide safety and oversight.
The report also details the reported Oct. 27 rape of a mental health technician by a patient, who is not named in the report. In the wake of the attack, Miami County Attorney Elizabeth Sweeney-Reeder charged 42-year-old Aaron C. Goodman, of Hartford, with rape.
The inspectors interviewed the worker, who said she was taking gowns to the patient’s room at about 8:30 p.m. when the patient grabbed her and put his hand on her mouth. The worker told the inspectors, “I was trying to scream and was banging on the walls and he raped me.” Two patients saved her, she said, adding they came before staff did.
The situation in Osawatomie State Hospital has been viewed as dire for some time, the subject of numerous articles here on Daily Kos, direct reporting by KHI, the Wichita Eagle, Topeka Capital-Journal and the Kansas City Star.
Following the death of Jerry Martinez, a 61 year old man at the hands of Brandon Brown, a patient who was early released, many called for a strong look at how to reform the Kansas Mental Health System. Those reforms, however, have costs.
Rebecca Proctor, director of Kansas Organization of State Employees informed me in August, “This kind of staffing is dangerous, not just for staff but patients too. People cannot work nonstop safely.” While we all wish those words were not true, she knew exactly how bad the situation could get, and yet, her warning to the administration went unheeded.
The hospital had been running staffed at significantly lower than it’s budget rate of employees. Originally set for 501 employees, more than 40% of the staff positions within the facility lay dormant as recently as May, leaving employees overworked, tired, and sometimes unprepared.
http://www.khi.org/news/2014/aug/18/kansas-mental-health-system-under-increasing-stres/
With the patient count so high, many of the hospital’s direct-care staff were pressed into working one, two and sometimes three overtime shifts a week.
“The place is over census and understaffed,” said Rebecca Proctor, executive director at the Kansas Organization of State Employees, a labor union that represents many state hospital front-line workers. “Conditions there are really, really bad.”
For a mental health worker on October 27, the situation was as bad as anyone could imagine. Violated and restrained, it was up to the mercy of two other patients to free her from a sexual assault.
Angela De Rocha, of Kansas Department of Aging and Disabilities, who oversees the unit, sent email to press stating that the facility will not shut down despite losing medicaid funding. They will instead work to regain federal certification as soon as possible, with the next review to be slated in January.
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