Post by Logan on Apr 8, 2016 0:04:15 GMT -6
Conditions at the state’s psychiatric hospitals in Anoka and St. Peter are nightmarish and dangerous, employees said Wednesday. They’re pleading for millions of state dollars to improve security and hire more staff.
“Violent patients are assaulting staff in record numbers,” said Jackie Spanjers, a nurse and union head at the Anoka-Metro Regional Treatment Center (learn about the Anoka hospital). “We’re walking around wounded and feel like punching bags.”
A key step in fixing the problem, Spanjers and other employees said, is more state funding. But Gov. Mark Dayton’s proposal to spend more than $120 million on the two troubled facilities faces tough realities at the Legislature: There’s just not enough money to fund all the projects Dayton, lawmakers and local governments think are worthy.
“I’d rather be spending money on universal pre-K, if I had my druthers,” Dayton acknowledged Wednesday, even as he urged lawmakers to recognize the “urgency” of spending more money on the state’s major psychiatric hospitals.
Read more: www.twincities.com/2016/04/06/wounded-minnesota-psych-hospital-staff-plea-for-more-funding/
“Violent patients are assaulting staff in record numbers,” said Jackie Spanjers, a nurse and union head at the Anoka-Metro Regional Treatment Center (learn about the Anoka hospital). “We’re walking around wounded and feel like punching bags.”
A key step in fixing the problem, Spanjers and other employees said, is more state funding. But Gov. Mark Dayton’s proposal to spend more than $120 million on the two troubled facilities faces tough realities at the Legislature: There’s just not enough money to fund all the projects Dayton, lawmakers and local governments think are worthy.
“I’d rather be spending money on universal pre-K, if I had my druthers,” Dayton acknowledged Wednesday, even as he urged lawmakers to recognize the “urgency” of spending more money on the state’s major psychiatric hospitals.
Read more: www.twincities.com/2016/04/06/wounded-minnesota-psych-hospital-staff-plea-for-more-funding/