Mental health specialists at the Lincoln Regional Center are escalating their campaign for better working conditions after a protest outside the Governor’s Mansion on Saturday in Lincoln. The techs say their concerns about safety and staffing have gone unaddressed despite repeated warnings to state officials.
Documented Safety Concerns
Workers described a recent assault where a patient kicked a female staff member “like she was a soccer ball” and punched another staff member’s head into a wall. According to Jennifer Head, a tech for about four years, the incident occurred just after 3 a.m. when the patient had previously shown no behavioral issues. She noted that three women were on shift and the assault happened shortly after a male staffer left because the patient had been watching. The situation only ended when one of the women asked a male patient for help.
Key Working Condition Issues
The techs identified several workplace problems requiring attention: a reduction in break time from 45 minutes to 30 minutes, mandatory overtime shifts, and insufficient staffing. Workers reported regularly working 12- or 16-hour shifts with overtime nearly every week, a situation they say has worsened this year. Yeon Choi described a shift where only two staff members worked a unit with 19 patients.
Yvette Olivetti, a union representative for the techs, stated: “Words are meaningless unless they’re backed up by action, and that is going to show techs that they actually care about our safety, our well-being, our own mental health and various other issues.” The workers are calling for the Department of Administrative Services to hire more techs.
Official Response and Data Dispute
Then-interim CEO Bo Botelho of the Department of Health and Human Services responded to State Sen. Carol Blood on Sept. 8, characterizing concerns as “inaccurate.” Botelho reported 33 incidents measuring level 2 or 3 as of Aug. 30, representing a 24% decline compared to that period in 2022. However, assaults on Lincoln Regional Center staff rose to 93 last year, up from 51 in 2021. The workers dispute the data, with Olivetti saying it “does not match up with what we live being technicians at this facility.” A DHHS spokesperson stated the department is “committed to continuing these ongoing discussions and improving upon both the mental health services being provided and the public servant experience at the Lincoln Regional Center.”
This article is an AI-assisted summary. All facts and figures are drawn from the original report: https://nebraskaexaminer.com/2023/10/21/mental-health-techs-protest-working-conditions-safety-at-nebraska-psychiatric-hospital/