WHEREAS:

300,000 AFSCME members work in health care facilities and provide care to some of the country's most severely ill people; and

WHEREAS:

According to the National Safety Council, the staff injury rate from patient attack at many state psychiatric hospitals and developmental disabilities centers are two to three times higher than staff injury rates at correctional facilities; and

WHEREAS:

The major reasons for patient attacks against staff and other patients and clients can be linked to inadequate staff; staff who are untrained or poorly trained in recognizing when a patient is about to become violent and in the proper procedures to use in secluding and restraining a patient/client; overcrowding; poor design of the facility; and, improper therapeutic planning for patients/clients; and

WHEREAS:

The stress associated with working in this environment is great and in many instances leads to high rates of lost time and use of sick leave, which contribute to staff shortages.

THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED:

That AFSCME will continue to work in cooperation with management to ensure that workers ate trained in how to control aggressive patients, including the appropriate use of seclusion and restraint; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED:

That AFSCME will continue to use collective bargaining, legislative and legal action to get increased staffing and correct physical design problems and program decisions that are dangerous to the safety of the staff and residents.

SUBMITTED BY:

Bruce A. McCreary, President and Delegate
LeRoy Bunge, Secretary-Treasurer
AFSCME Local 1105, Council 25
Lansing, Michigan