Safety concerns at Tewksbury Hospital spur workers to picket
tEWKSbURY — tewksbury hospital’s workers picketed Monday afternoon to voice frustration over safety concerns and security lapses at the facility.
the demonstration outside tewksbury Public library, which is near the hospital campus, followed a letter sent in April to brooke Doyle, commissioner of the Department of Mental health, demanding a stronger response to workers’ fears about the lack of security.
“there’s a real lack of safety here,” said Dorothy “Dot” Perry, a member of the SEiU union and a social worker who has staffed the hospital’s mental health units for four years. “i’ve been pushed and i’ve been charged at. i’ve been screamed and yelled at.”
Perry described tewksbury hospital, which is run by the Department of Public health but is also used by the Department of Mental health, as one of the least secure facilities she has worked in since she began working in hospitals 26 years ago.
the safety issues are serious enough that on March 3 the Department of Public health, which oversees the sprawling campus, hired the former head of the state’s Executive office of Public Safety and Security, thomas turco iii, to lead a security assessment there. the team includes two retired State Police officers and is cooperating with the State Police.
the assessment began after a february stabbing on campus heightened staff anxiety about their vulnerability at work.
the globe reported in March that an influx of patients from the criminal justice system was overwhelming the psychiatric hospital, contributing to overcrowding and dangerous conditions at a facility ill-equipped to properly care for them.
“tewksbury hospital and the Department of Public health are committed to ensuring campus safety for both staff and residents ,” said Ann Scales, a spokesperson for the Department of Public health.
DPH is reviewing the hospital’s infrastructure, equipment, policies, and training in what Scales called “the ongoing assessment.”
the security consultants asked about the building’s security and what its vulnerabilities are, said David guiney, a nurse with DPH’s tewksbury units who is also the Massachusetts nurses Association’s executive co-chairperson for state’s facilities. he raised concerns about unlocked doors and a lack of security staff during his interview for the security review, he said.
So far, he said, he has not seen significant security improvements.
“the staff are so concerned,” he said. “We don’t have the training; we don’t have the resources.”
guiney also said the building needs metal detectors. there have been incidents in which patients have come into the hospital with small knives and scissors.
“You can’t put a price on the safety of the staff, the visitors, and the patients,” he said.
the Saunders building at tewksbury hospital houses about 370 patients of both the Department of Public health and the Department of Mental health. but the DMH units, like those at other state psychiatric hospitals, are facing new challenges from a growing population of patients referred there through the criminal courts. the globe investigation reported a 10 percent increase from 2018 to 2023 of people admitted to state psychiatric hospitals through the criminal justice system, called forensic patients. these patients require care the hospital is not staffed or equipped to provide, workers have said.
the mental health units are overcrowded, with the number of patients consistently exceeding the number of operational beds since June 2022, according to DMH data. Workers say threats, groping, and assaults are commonplace.
on Monday, the more than 50 picketing workers carried signs that read, “our families worry about us,” or “Respect long-time employees.” the letter to Doyle asked her to address a “longstanding and escalating” safety crisis that had been raised in meetings between administrators and labor leaders for months.
Among the workers’ requests are units exclusively for forensic patients, separating them from others at the hospital there voluntarily or through civil commitments.
“DMH looks into all allegations and addresses them as the circumstances indicate,” said glenda hazard, a DMH spokesperson, who added that, “DMH has also conducted listening sessions at all inpatient facilities and regularly continues to seek ways to respond to safety issues.”
the hospital has also seen a decline in workers, according to DMH data, showing that tewksbury’s mental health units had fewer workers in 2023 than in 2019, when the hospital had fewer beds.