State takes away pepper spray, non-lethal tools from Tewksbury Hospital security. Nurse says, "We feel abandoned."
Last week the WBZ I-Team reported that the Department of Public Health was proposing taking away non-lethal tools from security officers at Tewksbury State Hospital. On Thursday it did just that.
The decision came just months after the state trained and issued the security team the equipment. The increased security measures were implemented in the wake of an I-Team investigation that uncovered unsafe conditions and thousands of calls to police for help.
Nurse says patients, staff at risk
Ryan Wilkins is a registered nurse at Tewksbury State Hospital. "I think it's incredibly unsafe and dangerous," Wilkins told the I-Team, furious that the state is taking away tactical equipment from campus security.
It's a decision that he says is leaving the staff and patients vulnerable to serious injury. "We have a security force inside of our building that responds within seconds to our calls for help and to help intervene in behavioral situations," Wilkins said. "We need their assistance, and we need them to be amply equipped to be able to do that job."
Tewksbury is a public hospital with a growing mental health population and treats some of the most dangerous and mentally ill patients.
Pepper gel, batons, handcuffs
On Thursday, the Department of Public Health sent out a notice to colleagues at the hospital advising them of the change in policy that said in part:
"Tewksbury sometimes faces workplace violence and aggression from some patients… we work to balance security and protection with healing and therapy… Security team specialists will not carry or use defensive tactical weapons, including pepper gel, batons, and handcuffs… we are relying on approaches that work best in health care."
Wilkins says the Healey administration's decision was made without input from frontline workers, nurses and support staff who were not consulted or given a seat at the table. "This is incredibly frustrating and collectively we feel abandoned," Wilkins said.
Local leaders, who are also frustrated by the change in policy, are fighting back, pressuring the state to reconsider. Representative David Robertson (D-Tewksbury) tells the I-Team, "These solutions that they're retracting were implemented. We already know they work, and thus they should be retained and not reexamined," Robertson said.
Robertson says he is cautiously optimistic that the state will reverse course. With attacks on health care workers not uncommon, most safety officers at major Massachusetts hospitals have defensive tools.
