Post by Logan on Jan 23, 2016 3:54:32 GMT -6
Administration defends efforts to fill staff vacancies at Augusta psychiatric hospital
AUGUSTA — On the final day of her 3-11 p.m. shift as a nurse at Riverview Psychiatric Center, Kim Bickford heard state and hospital officials explain to legislators why the hospital is so short-staffed that a third of its nursing positions are unfilled.
They should have asked her.
“I’ve been mandated (to work overtime) two or three times a week for the past four months,” the Waterville resident said, “working up to 60 hours some weeks.”
-snip-
Riverview Superintendent Jay Harper told the committee that staff injuries have dropped from at least 20 a month a year ago to nine or fewer a month today. They also heard Maine Health and Human Services Commissioner Mary Mayhew say that the budget allows Riverview 364 positions and that 51 of those are vacant.
Mayhew and Harper spent almost 2½ hours in front of the committee, time that Gov. Paul LePage later characterized as “wasted.”
“If the Legislature stopped holding useless hearings like this, it would be the best thing they ever did for the Maine people,” LePage said in a statement issued through his communications director, Peter Steele. “They had no recommendations, no action items, no proposed legislation – nothing but attacks. The last report to the court master found the negative news brought on by the constant drumbeat of legislative hearings is hurting Riverview’s ability to recruit needed employees.”
Continued at www.pressherald.com/2016/01/22/administration-defends-riverview-staffing-vacancies-to-legislative-panel/ .
AUGUSTA — On the final day of her 3-11 p.m. shift as a nurse at Riverview Psychiatric Center, Kim Bickford heard state and hospital officials explain to legislators why the hospital is so short-staffed that a third of its nursing positions are unfilled.
They should have asked her.
“I’ve been mandated (to work overtime) two or three times a week for the past four months,” the Waterville resident said, “working up to 60 hours some weeks.”
-snip-
Riverview Superintendent Jay Harper told the committee that staff injuries have dropped from at least 20 a month a year ago to nine or fewer a month today. They also heard Maine Health and Human Services Commissioner Mary Mayhew say that the budget allows Riverview 364 positions and that 51 of those are vacant.
Mayhew and Harper spent almost 2½ hours in front of the committee, time that Gov. Paul LePage later characterized as “wasted.”
“If the Legislature stopped holding useless hearings like this, it would be the best thing they ever did for the Maine people,” LePage said in a statement issued through his communications director, Peter Steele. “They had no recommendations, no action items, no proposed legislation – nothing but attacks. The last report to the court master found the negative news brought on by the constant drumbeat of legislative hearings is hurting Riverview’s ability to recruit needed employees.”
Continued at www.pressherald.com/2016/01/22/administration-defends-riverview-staffing-vacancies-to-legislative-panel/ .