Gov. Inslee can’t let Western State Hospital be most dangerous workplace in Washington

Within the last few months, our coworkers at Western State Hospital in Lakewood have suffered multiple assaults.

One was attacked so badly, it resulted in a broken jaw. Another had a finger nearly bitten off by a patient. A nurse in the hospital had part of an ear bitten off, while a social worker suffered a broken nose. Yet another worker sustained a fractured skull and almost lost eyesight.

These stories have become so commonplace, it’s difficult to keep track of all of them.

Last year, there were more than 1,000 documented assaults on hospital staff, averaging nearly three per day. Patient-on-patient assaults are now business as usual.

No wonder nurses and other hospital workers now greet each other with words more appropriate for police and firefighters, wishing each other: “Be safe today.”

Clearly, Western State Hospital is the most dangerous place to work in Washington.

We need quick and decisive action from Gov. Jay Inslee, who has demonstrated an ability to rise to the occasion when necessary, such as ordering an immediate halt to digging under Seattle’s State Route 99 tunnel project when a sinkhole formed in 2016.

Here are three things the Inslee administration can demand right now to fix problems at Western State and other Washington institutions:

▪  Bring on more staff. Staffing levels remain woefully inadequate at Washington’s institutions. Many employees at Western State must work mandatory overtime every week just to cover the bare minimum number of employees needed to keep the hospital running.

▪  Improve training. There is a severe lack of adequate onboarding and training for new hires, as well as for long-term staff working at state institutions. More up-to-date, evidence-based training is needed for all staff on a regular and ongoing basis.

Additional training will result in better client care and services, as well as reduced threats of violence and safety hazards.

▪  Develop a long-term coordination plan with local law enforcement assigned to Washington’s state institutions. Improved coordination is urgently needed as behavioral health hospitals like Western State move to become fully forensic (serving strictly criminal, no civil patients) by 2023.

Staff at state institutions need more support from local law enforcement to carry forward charges when people are assaulted. And local law enforcement needs more support from state government to house violent forensic patients who cannot be adequately treated at state institutions.

Washington can learn from other models around the country, such as Baltimore County jails in Maryland, which have separate wings devoted to housing people who are simply too violent to be cared for at state psychiatric hospitals.

Finally, the criminal justice process for people who assault hospital staff or fellow patients can be streamlined. There should be greater transparency between local law enforcement filing charges and prosecutors acting upon them.

Unless there is real accountability for patients assaulting state employees or other patients, there will be no deterrent to assaults continuing with impunity.

There are undoubtedly more ways to fix problems at Western State and other Washington institutions, but right now decisive action is needed from the governor’s office. The assaults occurring on a daily basis against state employees and institution clients can and must be stopped.