A handful of health care workers at the Bradley Memorial Campus of the Hospital of Central Connecticut gathered at the Southington facility on Tuesday morning to demand more security in response to what they describe as a patient population that’s grown increasingly agitated and aggressive since the start of the pandemic.
Employees say aggressive behavior can range from “minor incidents,” like patients throwing cups of water or urine, to more serious incidents, like when a patient attempted to choke a nurse. A few weeks ago, a patient tried to start a fight, according to a union representative who spoke at a press conference organized by the staffers. At the time, the hospital had two security guards working, but still had to call the Bristol Police Department to get the situation under control.
“We love Bradley Memorial. Every day we come in, it’s a joy to be here,” said Melissa Cordero, a respiratory therapist at the hospital. “We just want to make sure that not only are we safe at work, but our patients are safe when they come into the hospital.”
Typically, the hospital has one full-time security guard, though it occasionally staffs a second during periods of heightened security concerns. As part of contract negotiations with Hartford HealthCare, which owns the Hospital of Central Connecticut, employees are asking the health system to keep the hospital permanently staffed with two security guards, with one dedicated to the emergency room.
In an emailed statement, Janette Edwards, vice president of operations at the Hospital of Central Connecticut, said that the hospital remains committed to contract negotiations with the union and has already agreed to “a significant increase in wages” and “several operational changes.”
However, the statement did not address specific questions about whether Hartford HealthCare was open to adding a second security guard, how the health system determines how many security personnel to staff at any given facility or whether any other Hartford HealthCare emergency rooms do not have a dedicated security guard.
Employees said they began to have more safety concerns with the start of the pandemic, when the emergency room experienced an influx of patients referred to by surrounding doctor’s offices and urgent care centers. Since then, the hospital has continued to get patients from surrounding communities because of shorter wait times than other emergency rooms in the area.
Last week, a representative from CHCA District 1199, or Connecticut Health Care Associates, the union representing nurses and other workers at the Bradley Memorial campus, filed a complaint with the state Department of Public Health requesting that it assist with convincing hospital management to employ more security staff.
Concerns from the Bradley Memorial campus staff come amid reports of increased violence towards health care workers in the wake of COVID-19. A survey of 1,000 nurses from National Nurses United, a national union of registered nurses, found that over 80% of nurses had experienced workplace violence within the last year, with nearly half reporting an increase in workplace violence within the past year.
The issue of health care worker safety came under a spotlight in Connecticut last year following the murder of Joyce Grayson, a visiting nurse who was allegedly killed last October by a patient when she went to a halfway house in Willimantic to administer medication. The tragedy sparked calls for increased safety, particularly for those working in home settings, where many health care workers are behind closed doors with patients.
Last month, the state committed $6 million in American Rescue Plan funding towards a slew of initiatives aimed at boosting safety for home health care workers, including GPS tracking devices, emergency response buttons, and the implementation of a buddy escort system.