AFSCME Labor/Management FMHP

April 21, 1230PM

Administration Building

Attendance: Adam Castle, Rick Pitts, Ryan Cates, Marvin Sullivan, Cory Moon, Matt Stenger, Rachael Youker, Michelle Chalin, Roxanne Portner, Carol Olson, Becky Robinson

1. 1.      Introduction and Attendance
2. 2.      Old Business
   1. A.     Covid Issues: Roxanne-Goggles need to be worn for isolation within 6 feet of patients. Out on units with patients on isolation with n95 masks. Posting every day for requirements. We went back to high risk in Nicollet County. All staff need goggles in patient areas that we previously wore. Goggles or face shields are acceptable with covid positive. Matt-There are two different reporting sites. Roxanne-The state is at substantial orange and red. BA 2 has moved from south to north. Anticipated for a month now. Marvin-Are we taking patients from isolation to medical trips if not emergent? Roxanne-If we can delay it unless emergent, they will be delayed. If emergent we need to. Marvin-We had a couple of them and we brought them to summit from med trip to drop off to see a doctor on campus. We questioned it right away and no one seemed to know if it was necessary. Was left until staff picked her up. Carol-we can follow up on that. Ryan-We asked nursing for n95 and the nursing supervisor said they were given then when fit tested so they should have them. Didn’t seem to know what to do. Carol-We can follow up. Roxanne-I talked to the supervisor and there should be n95s in nursing stations so they are readily available. It’s a storage issue. I don’t have an issue with having them other places. Matt-We got ours out of PPE kit first, then kept more on unit. Marvin-There may be double on Linden now, in the med room. We don’t have access to that. Becky-We have been finding area in the units. Rick-They usually have a tote by the door on most units. Carol-North campus received a lot of them when we were under ICS the other day. Staff that need to get refitted, need to get that done. We are starting to hit the 1-year mark. Encourage staff to do so. If you didn’t pass the health portion process…. Roxanne-The CBT is necessary. Medical clearance is necessary to wear an n95. Then they get clearance based on your health questions. There is a tracking document for people that are due. Annually you have to complete the fit test. Working on an annual fit test instead of doing all year round to keep people current. These could become due at different times. Staff that are cleared, there is a recommended re-fit time. Rick-If Scott isn’t around, its tough to find someone. Carol-There are a lot of people that can do it and we should get a list out with those staff.
   2. B.      Cameras in Staff Areas: Ryan-We disagree with cameras in staff break areas. Carol-We looked into that camera and we can’t move it. cameras will stay where they are. We want to capture movement towards the doors for security purposes. Matt-But there are some areas you say you need some and don’t have any. The maintenance door in ironwood doesn’t have one. Carol-There is a whole list of cameras we have and I don’t know that list. It probably is but I don’t know. We got a funding request to add cameras. I will verify it. Matt-We pushed it off so far about maintenance doors and now it’s still not a big deal. Carol-We need to get funding for these things. Cory-Can we get a list of those cameras funded for? Carol-Yes. One area I can recall is Minneola. It never got enough cameras to begin. Sensory rooms got added that I remember. Areas identified by staff before. Cory-A future list. Prairie view with all the activity going on, should be a priority. Cameras in sensory rooms and people coming out talking about drugs and sexual activity. Carol-Yes. I would like to do this quick. I’m happy to get funding. Cory-To see down the halls, all you have is mirrors. Staff don’t have monitors at desks. Only rely on the globes. You can’t observe well. Add cameras and a monitor for staff to see. Becky-We can verify with Brian but I think its on there. Carol-I will look into it.
   3. C.      GMW Radios in Grove A: Ryan-any movement? Carol-It’s been evaluated and they added additional radios in banks. Will not place one in a special place for GMWs. They are in staff areas to use. Ryan-That isn’t their work location. Its separate area like a unit is. Rick-They have floats as well. They can show up to get assignments, then I am not sure. Then they have some who work an area. Ryan-Prairie view and Forestview are the only ones that don’t.
   4. D.     Prairie View, Cameras in Quiet Rooms and Curtains Outside of Patient Doors: Becky-I did follow up with the supervisors. I will talk to physical plant. People are on board for curtains on secure units. On non-secure units, we aren’t sure because we want to assist with integration. Potential to ask them to remove during knock hours is what they are brainstorming. The other side is the risk correlated to it. That clientele is doing community-based programming and stable. Cory-A lot of patients struggle there. Becky-We will look into it. Waiting for new doors to be delivered. Carol-Replacing the side doors with windows so staff don’t have to open the doors when doing checks. They are being done by the owner of the building at the end of this week or next.
   5. E.      Coverage Staff, OT Staff Getting A Team in FSS Roles: Ryan-This is still happening with new AODSs. Becky-Ted said he would remind the AODS and reinforce that when possible. He did acknowledge that some shifts are all coverage staff sometimes. Its not regularly done.
   6. F.      GRW Schedule Changes: Ryan-This is DCT but we oppose the rotation there. you will lose staff. It’s a bad idea.
   7. G.     Staffing For North Campus NOCS: Cory-Still scheduling one RN and 2 HSSS. They won’t have the resources to deal with aggression and meeting police at the door. They have extras that could be sent to help. Becky-That is a good suggestion. The supervisor wasn’t aware of concerns on NOCS. We are willing to figure it out. Cory-Staff requested running drills and was told no because it’s a waste of time. An RN requested it and got denied. Carol-Law enforcement has a badge to get into the building. They would be the first to arrive and equipped vehicles with badges to get onto campus. Becky-Drills that pertain to event where manual restraint is needed and response times. Cory-And educating people.

1. Work Group Updates: Asked Pine and redwood for a swap date. No changes in level of care. They will remain level B in Grove C. wanted closer proximity in the grove with Pine moving to redwood. Elm shifted to grove D due to a lot of area coverage. Anticipating Elm will be higher support people. Ryan-Property and control will go to level A care? Becky-Yes, but exceptions with entertainment systems, etc. for coping. Cory-Will that trickle into grove d? Becky-No. Lynn has draft of scheduling survey and q and a tool getting placed into electronic platform. We will regroup before we circulate it. Would leave open for at least a week.
2. 4.      Safety Concerns: Grove A and Readmissions: Matt-Grove A is concerned that patients coming back in are going into the unit when they should be brought back into secure perimeter to be evaluated. I have a list of patients that come back in and cause problems. Becky-That is fair, I have received other requests from the grove managers. We have been talking to clinical who know their baselines and hold during processing. Not all, but those that are questionable. A statutory proposal may allow them to move to secure unit until they stabilize and move to a non-secure location within 90 days, they won’t have to go through the SRB process. This would allow flexibility.
3. 5.      Ironwood and Juniper Units: Becky-I met with management and HR. Thinking about moving comparable. FSS would be offered by seniority after days off identified with which pattern they prefer and dead bids. Then go from there. Any openings needed would go to bids ore reassignments. Moving Juniper to aspen as posted on SharePoint. No staffing impacts for direct care. Aspen supervisor will be James Hemshrot. 4 Leads. Carol-Aspen has more beds so it allows for that. Marvin-Long range plan for patient on Aspen? Becky-Yes, had clinical adjustments and backup plan if needed for isolation. I asked them this week if he needs to get moved. We want to give sufficient notice. It will probably take a couple of weeks to facilitate. I told program managers to start talking to staff. Closer to June at the earliest.
4. 6.      Work Directives and Supervision of FSS Positions: Ryan-Who directs FSSs? Issues with getting different messages from all divisions. Nursing, Security, GSs, AODS. They aren’t always receiving the same messages. Anything that has to do with their job. On Spruce when law enforcement arrived. We had a lot of supervisors show up and plans were changed. Who makes the decisions? Becky-Additional presence is to uphold all practices, policies, practices. A manager can supersede a plan. A manager can encourage a nurse not to change a plan. Ryan-They couldn’t go on the unit. Policy says have to do rounds. Becky-If there is a disagreement. Matt-Same supervisor did it on tamarack as well to not place in seclusion. Ryan-They over ruled grove leader. Its happening more lately because there is more management. Becky-I will look more into it. Ryan-It was the same supervisor. Who do we listen to? Becky-Anyone who is a supervisor or manager can give a direction. I don’t want a tug of war with who is your boss. If there is different directions, we need to work on that. Cory-Staff are on edge. People come on to the unit who don’t know the patient as well and make decisions. Becky-They also know where we are with compliance. They are content experts and can look into something that we could get cited on. This could be a case as well. Cory-Kind of like the gray line with imminent risk. That is what is happening. Becky-There will be more training for imminent risk coming soon. We received 3 citations about this lately. Managers are trying to sort through this and the new training may help. I will look into it. Ryan-He is actively threatening us, how is that not imminent and then asking to break policy. Becky-Its not breaking policy, we can use other ways to do rounds for a period of time. Marvin-Under current training, these were imminent risk. Rick-We talked about a dedicated A Team, you would always have the same people making decisions. You may get a decisive person and then a non-decisive person and then we get into this issue. It might be a good time to look at it. Becky-There are pros and cons with it. Ryan-We have to listen to everybody. Becky-Let me know if you get different messages. Marvin-We get a lot of direction and then asked by other supervisors why we are doing something. Carol-We can get better and better with that. Just like working on a unit with different staff but it does happen. Becky-1 to 9 support ratios for supervisors to staff is the best ratio. We need to get better at fostering consistently. It feels like the ratios are off but we aren’t operating outside of best practices. Cory-Communication is going downhill. They don’t talk to each other. Becky-FMHP leadership, we have a weekly leadership meeting. We are trying to structure meeting minutes are carried forward to grove managers to go through to say this is what we need to push forward.
5. 7.      Discuss Blinds and Shades for View and Privacy: Ryan-Its an issue on willow and patient was in office while another was getting wound up. Can anything be done to limit the view during an incident to block it? Carol-We need to ensure staff are visually monitoring the other side. Cory-They have cameras in the offices as well. Becky-Can we get a focus group on this for solutions? Ryan-Yes, a lot of patients get worked up when they see others. Becky-I will talk to Jay. Cory-You could even do a couple of windows. Ryan-Patients will just watch what it going on. Carol-Patients hear radio traffic as well.
6. 8.      Staff Visit Control: Ryan-Want to staff visit control with more visits happening. Carol-We staff when there are visits. Ryan-There are also a lot of different things they do in there that Master control has to take control of while doing their duties. I assume it was brought up recently. Carol-I will take that back and look into it.

Add Ons:

1. 1.      Atlas Vacation: Ryan-Where we request vacation, the information isn’t accurate. We have to go to two different locations. Can we integrate this on the same page? Carol-Take that to Jodi since she will know more what you are talking about. Ryan-yes, I will.
2. 2.      Utility Post: Ryan-Opening wasn’t posted. Becky-Hanging on to the PCNS to transition to Aspen opening. We have some reserved for the Aspen. Ryan-The more that leave and don’t get posted, good days are taken away. Becky-I will talk to Jodi and Ted to see what that plans are for that PCN but I thought it went through. Marvin-A lot of people are asking about it. Becky-Jodi is planning on posting the utility pool spot.
3. 3.      Lights in Unit Station: Ryan-What is the reason? Becky-Standards related to safe lighting in residential. Looking at nursing and meds. We need to make sure we have safe lighting. Looking at space by space. Looking at hallways and all areas. We don’t want it too light or too dark. We have only done this in spruce, redwood and tamarack so far. Rick-Linden as well. Becky-This has been for years. Carol-It was expected when the facility was built. People dim them too much so we have to do something to keep at industry standard. Becky-We tried prompting for the last 3 years. Ryan-Staff think its so you can see what we are doing. Becky-It is not that at all. It’s so we don’t trip on something when we walk onto a unit.
4. 4.      Clinical and Management on COVID Units: Ryan-Reminder that no one shows up when there is a covid outbreak. They should still be doing rounds as usual. Marvin-Even to be a body on the unit to help. Becky-The unit-based staff I understand. We do try to keep only necessary traffic limited on covid units.
5. 5.      Staff working with clients who assaulted them: Ryan-Staff is placed on a unit constantly with a patient that will still bring it up to that staff. We have enough staff that we should be able to accommodate. Rick-This has happened too much. It’s always been an issue. we are bid enough to accommodate staff. Ryan-Just to make sure staff are comfortable. Becky-Staff my not be comfortable asking but you can let us know about that.
6. 6.      K9 Units: Carol-They will start building us into their routine.
7. 7.      Incident Review Training: Carol-We had the county and law enforcement come and talk through the process of prosecution. Nicollet county attorneys’ office is 5/19 which is out labor management time. We will go ahead with the training. It will be WebEx and would like you to join. 1230 to 2pm. Shift labor management meeting from 11 to 1230. Next month will be my last fyi.

Meeting Adjourned at 145pm