Nurse's murder mobilizes members PEF demands state protections for mental-health workers

By DENYCE DUNCAN LACY

PEF President Roger E. Benson said he was "shocked and saddened" over the murder in late November of mental-health nurse Judith Scanlon of Blasdell, New York, who died after being hit in the head with a blunt object during a home visit to a patient. Diane Wylie, an outpatient of the Buffalo Psychiatric Center and current client of the Buffalo Federation of Neighborhood Centers, has been charged with Scanlon's murder.

The union leader immediately reached out to Scanlon's family, and at the same time blasted the state's policy of accelerating the discharge of psychiatric center patients and the cutbacks in the state's mental-health system, saying those factors contributed to her murder.

"We extend our deepest sympathies to Judith's family as they cope with this terrible tragedy," said Benson. "We are calling on the state to immediately review its protocol for home visits and to restore funding for additional staff for the Office of Mental Health (OMH) to prevent more tragedies such as this one."

In a letter to Gov. George Pataki and OMH Commissioner James Stone, Benson called for an immediate moratorium on unaccompanied home visits to clients by mental-health staff, At press time neither the governor nor Stone had responded to Benson's letters.

"This tragedy might have been prevented if Ms. Scanlon were required to make home visits with a co-worker, much like police officers are required to work in pairs because of the danger inherent in their jobs," Benson wrote.

And union leaders are seeking an end to the requirement that staff transport clients to meetings and appointments. Scanlon had warned of the potential risks involved in driving patients to various appointments, and had filed an improper-practice charge against the state for directing staff to use their own cars for client transportation.

New safeguards needed

Benson also met with union leaders from OMH in early December to finalize PEF's strategy for gaining new safeguards for community mental-health workers.

Based on that input, PEF is also demanding: that the state provide cellular phones for staff making home visits; a caseload limit of 10 patients per mental-health professional; reinstatement of a safety training program for mental-health-care workers in the community, and a new requirement that the training be mandatory; and, establishment of a new policy requiring state and county agencies to share information about potentially violent patients.

According to Scanlon's work records, she did not consider Wylie, the patient charged with her murder, to be violent. Now there are questions about whether any other government agencies that assisted Wylie, such as the state Office of Children and Families, knew of any history of violence.

Benson added that the union is reviewing all its legal and contractual options in response to the murder to force the state to improve worksite safety for all its members in mental-health-care jobs.

The federal Public Employee Safety and Health Act requires the state to provide safe worksites for its employees, but Benson says OMH worksites have become increasingly dangerous because of short staffing and pressure to deinstitutionalize mental patients.

And the union is also looking at long-term solutions to on the job violence. PEF's Executive Board authorized the union to conduct an independent investigation of factors leading to workplace violence at OMH and at the Office of Mental Retardation and Developmental Disabilities.

Let the public, workers speak

Union leaders are also working with state lawmakers to try to schedule in Albany, New York City and Buffalo, public hearings on the mental-health-care system.

One possible legislative proposal to arise from such hearings would be enactment of an outpatient-commitment law, to force patients who are not following their treatment plans to be returned to mental-health facilities.

And as The Communicator went to press, PEF leaders and members organized a statewide, synchronized candlelight vigil to both pay their respects to Scanlon, and call attention to the dangers of working with the mentally ill.

"We have repeatedly warned the state about the growing violence against our members working with the mentally ill, and advised them to hire more professionals to treat and deal with today's more violent, more seriously and persistently mentally ill patients," Benson said.

"This is a safety issue that has been raised again and again by PEF as well as the victim of this tragedy, Judith Scanlon," Benson added. "The decision has to be made whether we want to keep dealing with tragedies such as this or face reality and adequately provide for mental-health care."

And Benson says PEF and other state-employee unions and the state will use joint-contract funds for health and safety to sponsor a "Safe and Therapeutic Environment Conference" on March 23 and 24 in Schenectady.

At the conference, teams of workers from each of the 28 OMH facilities across the state will get training on ways to reduce violence on the psychiatric units.

Take me back to Communicator home page

Save A Tree and Stop The Presses. I'll read the Communicator online!