New temporary employees assigned to ease deficits at Beatrice
digg it!
Facebook
del.icio.us
Seed Newsvine
Fark It
Reddit
BY JoANNE YOUNG / Lincoln Journal Star
The state Department of Health and Human Services moved Monday to ease problems at the Beatrice State Developmental Center by filling staff deficits with 25 temporary employees, and a plan for a total of 50 by the end of the month.
The goal of eliminating mandatory overtime would be accomplished with DHHS staff at other facilities, community providers and trained people from private staffing agencies, said John Wyvill, director of the department’s division of developmental disabilities.
The state Department of Health and Human Services announced a five-point plan on Monday to enact immediate help for the Beatrice State Developmental Center.
* Increase staffing by 50 by the end of March to eliminate mandatory overtime.
* Implement a community-based care plan.
* Enhance client care and safety.
* Reallocate funding to implement community-based care
* Communicate with families, guardians, stakeholders, elected officials, and communities to fully inform and engage them.
A U.S. Department of Justice investigation report on the Beatrice center can be found on the Justice Department's Web site in the Civil Rights division.
The temporary employees will be on board until the end of May and could be extended to the end of June, Wyvill said. The 25 temporary staff that moved to the Beatrice facility on Monday came from other DHHS programs.
“We plan to eliminate mandatory overtime by the end of June,” he said.
Wyvill said the temporary staff will be trained to work effectively with clients with developmental disabilities. In addition to the mostly client care staff, Beatrice will get help from two additional lawyers and a doctor to help with reviews of medical providers to “make sure everything is going smoothly.”
The department had announced earlier that it is moving 100 more clients out of Beatrice and into community-based care by the end of the year, with an end goal of 200 residents remaining at Beatrice by Dec. 31. The department will ask the Legislature for authority to transfer existing funds so the money can follow each client into community-based care, Wyvill said.
“The federal government has made it very clear that community-based care is the way to go in terms of serving clients with developmental disabilities,” Wyvill said.
But Omaha Sen. Gwen Howard questioned whether there are adequate community services to accept 100 Beatrice clients.
DHHS got the results late last week of a Department of Justice investigation announced last May. The investigation, done in September and October, had similar findings to federal inspections by the Department of Medicare and Medicaid Services and a review by Nebraska Advocacy Services.
Jen Rae Hein, spokeswoman for Gov. Dave Heineman, said the governor authorized the five-point plan after a four-hour meeting on Saturday with CEO Chris Peterson, Wyvill and other staff members.
Omaha Sen. Tom White, who last week had voiced his concerns with other senators about the problems at the Beatrice center, wondered Monday afternoon why it has taken the department so long to act. He also questioned whether there are enough extra people to help out in Beatrice, and why the department has not used the tools given by the Legislature in the past to solve the problems.
Residents, he said, have been at risk for a long time and the center has long deserved adequate staffing.
“That is what is so deeply frustrating,” he said.
Jodi Fenner, with DHHS legal services, said the department has not ruled out the use of bonuses, authorized by the Legislature, to make sure the center is adequately staffed, but she believes the temporary staffing will solve the problem. Using bonuses for one agency and not statewide, or paying new employees more than existing employees, can cause negative results, she said.
The Justice Department’s investigation last year consisted of an on-site review including interviews with administrators, professionals, staff and residents, observation of residents and review of documents.
“We have concluded that numerous conditions and practices at BSDC violate the constitutional and federal statutory rights of its residents,” the report said.
In particular, the Justice Department found the Beatrice center failed to give residents adequate protection, training, behavioral and mental health services, health care, nutritional and physical services and to discharge them to the most appropriate settings.
At the time of the investigation, the report said, 175 residents had a behavior program that included some type of restriction or restraints. About half had been diagnosed with a mental illness, but all but a handful were being given one or more psychiatric drugs.
The report gave examples of mental, verbal and physical abuse and neglect, injuries and other problems with staff and residents. One incident included a game of “canine catch” in which the resident was instructed to fetch a pop bottle thrown across the room multiple times, even when it wasn’t thrown.
Many of the deficiencies were linked to the difficulties of staffing the center, the report said.
In addition to the five-point plan, the center will provide each client with appropriate activities so the use of restraints can be eliminated, Wyvill said. And a coordinator will be assigned to each client and guardian to provide a successful transition to community care.
Reach JoAnne Young at 473-7228 or jyoung@journalstar.com.
Post Your Comment
Standards and RulesYour posted comment will appear after it has been approved.
Frequently asked questions about story commenting.
One problem I saw when I worked there, was there are TOO many management people out there with a desk job. All going home at 5 pm. This is a 24 hour facility!! How about taking some of the 8-5 management and putting them on the same shift schedule as the Direct Care staff for each shift. That way they could do more HANDS ON training of the evening and night time staff. The management needs to be HANDS ON working the units with the Direct Staff, not just as an occasional observer, but day to day HANDS ON, TRAINING the staff better care , montoring the staffs ability to care for the clients served. They are desperate for help, because Direct Care are forced to work overtime, mandatory frozed another shift, and for the majority, treated like just a number to cover the shift. And when it's time for a raise, guess who gets the minimal raise if any!
The change in clients served as also scared prospective employess away.
And they can't figure out why no one wants to work there. "
"
I worked for three years at DEC (men's max. security prison here in Lincoln). Prior to that-- and then after leaving corrections-- I worked in community based programs (group homes/agencies) for persons with DD.
What was sad about this is: I made almost twice as much in a prison where I was never once assaulted, as opposed to a group home where I was bit, kicked, punched, chased with weapons, been the subject of attempted sexual assaults, just to name a few wonderful moments.
The people working at BSDC have a job that is FAR more difficult (and perhaps dangerous at times) 90% of the time than inside of a prison in our state. OH! And those staff at BSDC have to deal with their population and its potential aggressors without handcuffs, isolation cells, chemical agents, batons, shields or guns.
TSCI/NDSC and BSDC/HHS are BOTH state institutions and agencies. The fact that there is such a disparity in pay grades is nauseating!
In Nebraska, our criminals get better care than our vulnerable. I'm ashamed that I call this place home, sometimes. "
Contract employees (the front line staff) get less sick time than the non-contract employees (management). Hmmm, lets put the front line staff under huge stress and work them endless hours which makes them much more susceptable to any bugs floating around, but let's give them less sick time. Does that make any sense? What about the management's job makes giving them more sick time justifiable?
Front line employees have to phone into a computerized system to clock in and out to prove when they were there, but the management just floats in and out whenever they want. They say they are salaried so they don't have to work 40 hours as long as the job gets done. Well, obviously it's NOT getting done and state law says a full time employee, salaried or hourly, has to work 40 hours a week. What's fair about front line workers having to PROVE when they were here, but the management doesn't? Especially since the management could easily use the same phone/computer based clock in/clock out system as the front line employees? What's wrong with making EVERYONE clock in and out just to make sure everyone is putting in their fair share?
Front line employees also have to work every holiday. They are given extra pay but the management is given every holiday off and if a holiday falls on a weekend it's moved so they can still get a three day weekend. What's fair about that?
Just a couple examples, there are many others! "