'We're dealing with the worst of the worst'
Staff assaults are on the rise at the maximum-security Chester Mental Health Center, and a group of recovering security therapy aides spoke to media on Monday at the AFSCME Local 424 office in Chester.
Tony West, a 10-year employee at CMHC and a Marine Corps infantry veteran, suffered an arm injury breaking up a fight between two patients.
"It occurred several months ago and there was no way to get any fast treatment," West said. "Almost all these injuries that the guys you talked to are older injuries because they're still out.
"There's no way to get us back to work because of the bureaucracy of Tristar."
Tristar Risk Management, based in Texas, handles worker's compensation claims for the state.
Several of the aides present Monday expressed concerns regarding a slow process of getting treatment for injuries (including six months for a MRI), not receiving a return-to-work date and being relegated to isolation after getting cleared to return to light duty.
"We are technically supposed to assist with folding napkins, shredding paper and doing laundry, but we literally sit there and do nothing for a paycheck," West said.
According to West, those who are relegated to light duty while in injury recovery are assigned to a room slightly larger than a bedroom closet with a heater and nothing else for hours on end.
"It's just the misery of not being treated, not getting better, nothing," West said.
West was asked why he believes Tristar does this.
"My opinion would be they think that if they extend this period of time out, you'll get so tired of being punished in light duty, you'll say '(expletive) it, I'm just gonna go back to work.'
"We actually had a guy on light duty do that this Monday."
AFSCME Council 31 staff representative Ty Peterson said the worker's compensation system in the state needs to be reformed.
"Worker's comp used to be about getting the injury treated and the employee back to work as soon as possible," he told the eight CMHC employees in attendance. "And Tristar is not doing that.
"It's still costing the taxpayers thousands and thousands of dollars to replace you."
AFSCME representatives have claimed 15 staff members have been assaulted in the last few weeks, with some suffering injuries that required hospital treatment.
"As far as security on the floor, they have done nothing in the 10 years I've been there to make the job a more safer, secure job," West said. "We have no non-lethal (weapons). We can't do anything except for (Crisis Prevention Institute)-approved physical holds."
"And you're talking about calmly trying to restrain someone who is a lot of times bigger than you, stronger than you, more combat experience than you - coming from Chicago, a lot of these guys - and we're supposed to gently and politely restrain them," West continued. "No mace, no handcuffs, no tasers, no anything.<br /> "We have no tools in our toolbox to use other than speaking nicely and the occasional writeup. That's all we have."
West - who said he has had his nose broken, head split open by a milk crate and suffered several concussions at CMHC - was asked to describe protocol in a situation where a solitary staff member was being attacked by a patient with a blunt object or another type of weapon.
"I did a lot of training for the security for a long time and it takes two to touch," he said. "Flat out. The only way you could ever do anything, as a STA, being attacked with a shank, with a chair, or with anything, is to say that you fear for your life.
"And assuming you're tough enough to overcome that assault, your only option is to say you feared for your life."
According to meeting minutes from Local 424's last meeting on March 6, the union claims that if it tries to stop "dangerous patients" from coming into the facility, CMHC would lose its maximum security title and be vulnerable to closure.
Peterson was asked his opinion on why the frequency of staff assaults is increasing.
"I think the world, or culture of the land, is to be a little less hands-on with people and that is part of the reason why these patients are being more aggressive," he said.
Peterson also pointed to changes in medication and doctor diagnosis, combined with more patients from the community with a reputation of violence.
"We're dealing with the worst of the worst," he said.
The Herald Tribune has submitted a Freedom of Information Act request to the Illinois Department of Human Services seeking the frequency of reported staff assaults at CMHC, the number of assaults reported thus far this year and how the frequency of the reported assaults compares to the previous year.
On Wednesday, IDHS Associate General Counsel Thomas Mulcrone replied to the newspaper's FOIA request and asked for an extension to gather and review the records. Mulcrone wrote that DHS will have a response on the request on or before April 14.
"The injuries that are occurring now, I've seen it happen once before," West said. "We had what we call a 'mandate crisis,' where they refuse to hire more people to fill in the spots because they save money.
"I don't have to pay your benefits, I don't have to pay your time off, I'll just mandate me twice."
West said that in a mandate situation, staff members recovering from injuries have to keep working on the job.
"You're working 16 hours a day, so it's not like you're going home and lifting weights and being active," he said. "You're on the job your entire day, you go home and then you sleep and get up and do the same thing every single day of the week.
"With no rest is basically my point, mental or physical."