🔒Workers at CT children psych facility raise concerns about safety, outcomes

Employees of the Department of Children and Families gathered in the rain Tuesday to sound the alarm about worker injuries and understaffing at the state’s psychiatric facility for children age 13 to 17. SEIU 1199 union leadership said 66 of the roughly 300 workers at the Solnit South facility in Middletown are not currently working while they recover from injuries tied to workers’ compensation claims. Workers argued many injuries were “preventable” and the result of a lack of resources, funding and appropriate staffing at the facility. “Solnit was once recognized as one of the premier public children’s psychiatric programs in the country. It can and must be again,” said Becky Simonsen, vice president of SEIU 1199. “We have the dedicated workforce. We have the clinical expertise. So what’s missing? Investment. Resources.” Erin Burns, a Solnit South employee, described multiple assaults she experienced there, including one that resulted in a concussion. She said all workers understand there is some risk to working in the facility but added that, “what I cannot accept is preventable danger and harm caused by ineptitude.” “I believe these assaults were preventable and they were not simply part of doing my job,” she said. “They were the result of chronic understaffing and a lack of leadership.” A union representative said some workers have been hit in the head with objects or hurt with makeshift weapons, while others got hurt while breaking up fights between patients. Less severe injuries often occur at the facility and don’t rise to the level of workers’ compensation, according to the union. DCF has struggled to recruit and retain staff across the agency. Simonsen said the children at Solnit have serious psychiatric needs and have often survived profound abuse and trauma. In some cases, the kids have been turned away by other providers due to the complex nature of their needs. Workers said they do not blame the teenagers, who in some cases have pushed workers to the ground causing concussions, or have used “pieces of the building” as a weapon to cut workers. Rather, employees said they blame DCF and accused the agency of not adequately staffing the facility and creating an unsafe environment. According to Simonsen, some employees are being asked to work 16 hours every time they show up for an 8-hour shift. “When there aren’t enough staff, children don’t receive the intensive therapy they need. Group treatment doesn’t happen. Recreation disappears. Other educational and therapeutic programming is reduced,” she said. “Our members who came here to help children heal spend their shifts simply trying to keep everyone safe.” Simonsen argued Gov. Ned Lamont has prioritized the state’s fiscal guardrails — budget controls used to govern how spending is appropriated — over the safety of children and the workers who care for them. “We are here today to say loud and clear that these children deserve a safety net that meets their needs. Because a safety net is only a safety net if it is there when a child falls,” Simonsen said. Simonsen said she has spoken to DCF Commissioner Susan Hamilton and was told that while there is a desire to make improvements, the scope of the issue requires a significant change to the agency’s budget. Hamilton and Dr. Andrew Agwunobi, who is the CEO and executive vice president for health affairs for UConn Health, affirmed the critical role that Solnit plays in the community in a statement and said that, “our priority is delivering high-quality care for patients while ensuring the safety of staff.” UConn Health recently took over the facility but Darnell Ford, the children’s services unit supervisor, said that there hasn’t yet been a noticeable change in funding or management — just the facility’s signage. Meeting the needs of the children in the facility depends on support from lawmakers “to actually have the true investment that has been awaited for far too long,” Ford said. In their statement, Agwunobi and Hamilton listed actions that they said reflect the commitment to addressing workforce, safety and operational concerns, including increasing the pace of hiring, contracting security guards for staff safety and formalizing staff to patient ratios. They also said that they are bringing on a full time independent monitor to evaluate operations and compliance. Many speakers on Tuesday took time to express their optimism about the facility and services it has the capacity to provide when staffing needs are met. “There’s a lot to be preserved about this place. I think it’s built on decades of expertise, experience, resources,” said Dr. Akashdeep Aujla, the principal psychiatrist for Solnit South, but he added that those have been on the decline over the past decade. Many times, Aujla said his patients are ready to discharge but don’t have a place to go because of the decline in public-private partnerships with service providers and the lack of foster homes available. Two former patients also spoke of the positive experiences they’d had at Solnit, with one saying that activities like photography, swimming and dialectical behavioral therapy gave her skills that helped in her “healing journey.” According to the union, activities are sometimes left by the wayside when staffing levels are low. “Because of the short staffing, there’s been reduced programming. Reduced programming and structure creates an environment where more injuries are happening,” said Simonsen. Employees said the lack of staffing has also made it more difficult for the facility to differentiate between kids who have different needs based on their diagnosis and treatment journey, so they are often “lumped together.”