Kingsboro members fed up, ready to fight
By SHERRY HALBROOK
When you combine decrepit and outdated facilities with demoralized staff, it’s depressing. So how can that environment be therapeutic for people who suffer from depression or other mental illness?
It’s a question that fills the minds and dogs the days of staff, including approximately 340 PS&T members, at Kingsboro Psychiatric Center.
The U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) surveyors have picked up on the problems at Kingsboro. The state stands to lose up to $22 million in Medicaid funding if it fails to correct problems, mainly related to inadequate and inappropriate treatment, cited in the federal survey.
The more than 2.5 million people in Brooklyn depend on Kingsboro Psychiatric Center as their public source for adult mental health services. With less than 300 beds, this facility serves the state’s most populous county (Kings County), but members say it seems always to be the last in line for resources.
Like poor stepchildren
“For decades, Kingsboro has been shortchanged on resources when you compare it to some of the other state psychiatric centers downstate such as Bronx PC, Creedmoor PC, Manhattan, PC and Pilgrim PC,” said Larry Parker, council leader of PEF Division 252 at Kingsboro.
“Why is that?” asked PEF Vice President Pat Baker, a social work assistant 3 on full-time union leave from her job at Kingsboro. She is PEF’s labor-management coordinator and chairs PEF’s L-M team at the state Office of Mental Health.
“Kingsboro sits in the midst of a very large and diverse community and it has played a unique and important role there for more than a century, evolving from Long Island State Hospital, to Brooklyn State Hospital and then to Kingsboro PC,” Baker said. “This place has great needs, but they seem to be continually overlooked. We can speculate why that happens, but we don’t know why and we would like to know.
“Ten years ago, we were promised a new rehabilitation center at Kingsboro. We never got it. What happened to that?” Baker asked. “They can’t even keep a simple thing like an elevator running in the old, two-story rehab center.”
At least a dozen geriatric patients were transferred from Kingsboro to Pilgrim PC and other facilities last year because they could not receive the appropriate therapies and services at Kingsboro.
“The disparity in resources makes it harder to create appropriate treatment plans for the clients,” Baker said. “The state Office of Mental Health (OMH) should look at this problem and correct it.”
Staff scapegoated
Instead, OMH management at Kingsboro is blaming the staff for everything, said PEF leaders.
“We’ve offered to work with management to resolve issues,” said PEF field representative Jackie Cataldo.
“The Kingsboro executive director intimidates and micromanages the staff,” Baker said. “It’s a toxic, hostile work environment built on open contempt, scapegoating, harassment and bullying. The creativity and involvement of the staff are not just discouraged, they are disdained.”
“It takes a tremendous toll on our members, who often feel they must work extra hours and weekends to make up for the lack of staff,” Parker said.
It has been difficult for the union to defend its members, he said, because they often are too afraid of retaliation to file grievances and stand up to the abuse.
“We need more resources, but we also need more respect for the staff,” said PEF Executive Board member Gladys Francis, a social work assistant 2 at Kingsboro. “At a meeting, a social worker just said, “We are always told when we do something wrong, but we also should be told when we do something right. We need more of a team approach.”
Time for action
Under Baker’s leadership and with the help of PEF Region 11 Coordinator Jemma Marie-Hanson, PEF is mobilizing at the local, regional and state level to focus attention on the problems at Kingsboro and get solutions.
“We have begun meeting with our state legislators and local political leaders to make them aware of this situation,” Parker said.
“We also will ask to meet with the commissioner of mental health and other top administrators to try to get a more cooperative effort between labor and management to deal with these issues,” Baker said.
The unions representing other bargaining units at Kingsboro are concerned about many of the same issues, Parker said, and PEF is working with them to coordinate a response.
“PEF has assigned a mobilizer to work with Division 252 to update this division’s full mobilization status,” Baker said, “so our members there can respond immediately to any rallies, or other activities.”
The problems aren’t simple, and achieving the solutions won’t be simple either, the leaders said.
“It’s all interconnected,” Parker said of the lack of resources and the hostile environment. “It affects both patient care and staff. It affects every facet of the system.