AFSCME Labor Management MSH

January 21, 2021 1230PM

Administration Building

Attendance: Adam Castle, Emilio Florez, Ryan Cates, Steve Wilking, Lisa Vanderveen, Scott Melby, Denise Considine, Scott Melby, Roxanne Portner, Michelle Chalin, Marvin Sullivan, Alli Kuhlman, Annie Jakacki, Becky Robinson

Reflection/Celebration: Carol-I would like to celebrate the way we have handled the pandemic. We have only one positive patient since May. Scott-Forensic staff have been recognized across DCT. Excited to have the vaccine. Michelle-We vaccinated the nursing home residents yesterday.

Standing Agenda Items:

1. Osha Information-Handouts from Alli.
2. 2.      Overtime Information-Handouts from Alli.

Old Business

Management

1. 1.      HSSS Lead at FNH: We have filled the positions as of 1/6. One on day/evening and 3 on overnights. Cates-any push for them to go to SERP? Carol-There was a meeting with Connie jones and reps from bargaining units. This would be part of the consideration. I don’t know of any more meetings. Annie-We had one a few months ago and were going to look at it again. We haven’t heard anything since then. Carol-That was an opportunity to explore that.
2. 2.      Budget: Carol-Jan 15th. Funded 987.97 FTEs. We paid 1076.06. paid out 88.9 more than we were funded for. Kurt-do you have a breakdown of where those are? Carol-finance looks at any FTEs sitting empty that aren’t filled. They unfund those and come back to us and say we aren’t at budget. Which others should we consider not funding? We interviewed for more positions. MSOP needs FSS as well. Every vacancy is evaluated to help us get back to balanced budget. It’s about “what opportunities are we taking to manage the budget?” Including not filling positions and looking at our overtime. 45 to 55 ftes per pay period in overtime. 51.71 positions of overtime this last period. Kurt-Desirable shifts usually don’t become available. Does that have any bearing? Roxanne-we do review all of them. We have not had a reduction in PCN for reduction. It’s mostly the lower turnover rate positions. Carol-we have support to not lay off direct support positions. Not laying off.

 AFSCME

1. 1.      COVID Issues: Cates-How did vaccines go yesterday? Roxanne-there were a lot of people in limited space. We will take what we learned going forward. Front end wasn’t so bad. A lot of people came that weren’t registered. Cates-They corrected that now where you cannot sign up on the first page and only confirmed one of them. Marvin-people from the night shift for their appointments got here only to be told there weren’t any left and were sent back home. Carol-a lot of how this is managed with scheduling and the information is out of our hands. This is done by homeland health. We were there to make sure the vaccinations were there, which we made a mistake there but were able to continue. A lot of things were not in our control. This is something we can raise up to DCT level. I don’t know what they will be doing with the clinics.

Roxanne-some people are also getting vaccinations other places. Marvin-I understand but NOCS staff had to come in and then get sent home to reschedule. I request you can maybe push for pay for some of the time. Why are we paying an outside entity for this? Roxanne-we don’t have pieces in place to have occupational health to provide the vaccines. We have nurses we can use but we don’t have everything we need to do that. Coming down from MMB. Marvin-MMB oversees DOC as well. Roxanne-DOC has that department established. The vaccine is free but they can bill for administration fee. This is what department of health pays for. You don’t pay for anything. Marvin-does that mean DHS is not paying for homeland health to be here. Roxanne- I don’t know the details. Marvin-By billing our insurance, they are double dipping and then we will be paying when rates go up.

Roxanne-I don’t know the details. Emilio-did we run out of vaccines yesterday? Roxanne-we had 350 doses at clinic. Then with all that registered and those that showed up. We administered 374 doses. We were able to stretch more from those vials. We recognized around 3pm that we were going to run out. it takes an hour to thaw and that takes more time. There are 2 more clinics for people to get it. Emilio-was there an attempt made to contact those staff to let them know we were out? Roxanne-it would have to be a broad communication. Due to confidentiality, I have no idea who is registered. Emilio-those that help with vaccines, when were they notified? Roxanne-we just got confirmation for the clinic on Saturday. So, there was some last-minute planning. We have lots of resources to pull from.

Carol-I am not surprised that we didn’t communicate it, it’s not unusual. Roxanne-there is just a rush to get the vaccine out. Emilio-I witnessed an entire overload but its good we were able to get them administered. Any adverse reactions to vaccine? Roxanne-I don’t know that. Emilio-someone came in and said they had sweats all night. We would like to know anything. Roxanne-as an employer we can’t share that. Steve-we understand HIPAA. It’s not a secret when they put out info on side effects. We aren’t asking for names. When we had people come in for the vaccinations…. The intent to schedule the vaccinations was to stagger departments so no one was running short. We are asking for side effects to see if that is an issue with scheduling as far as running short along the way. We don’t want to have a mad dash to get these done. Roxanne-that was the thought initially but to manage that would be overwhelming for how fast we have to do this. As many people as quickly as possible. I don’t have access to the process. Only 3 days and 1100 people on campus, this is a major undertaking. Steve-Do we have a plan B should a department go out with side effects? Roxanne-same as process for overtime and inversing as we do now. We aren’t limiting registration. It is what it is. It isn’t perfect. Kurt-Did they plan on having people that work 24 hours with these patients to be first? Roxanne-Everyone here was categorized at 1A. Kurt-What happens to people who weren’t here to sign up? Roxanne-we don’t have additional doses. Next dose is for 2nd dose. If we get more vaccines, we will offer those out. After that, you may have to work with your health care provider. It is supply and demand. We are fortunate to have gotten these doses. I realize some staff didn’t get the email but that is what it is. I can’t do anything about coordinating around vacations. It’s an imperfect system.

Annie-Anybody know if homeland is tracking symptoms? Some people had to answer questions after to see where they were at. Roxanne-homeland uses V-Safe app where you go in and report side effects. Their request to us was to put a poster up to inform staff. Carol-we could even put that up somewhere. Roxanne-the app is called V-safe. Annie-Could you please put this somewhere, so staff are aware? Roxanne-yes, I can do that. Cates-any follow up on people that were turned away will get paid? Carol-I will send that up to command center at DCT which includes HR as well. Cates-are we following MDH guidelines with who comes into work? High risk exposures. Here they are told to come into work. DOC says don’t for 14 days. Roxanne-we are following MDH. If its outside of work and have care provider telling them to stay home, they go through HR. Alli-there are a lot of needs with provider and facility with high risk exposure. Steve-if we are following MDH guidelines, if provider says you are high risk and need to be quarantined. How is that relative to needs of facility? Alli-consideration if person doesn’t want to seek guidance, then we go through symptoms checks. They might now qualify under covid policy but if they want time away, they can use sick. Not always covid issue. if they want to stay away but doesn’t meet covid leave policy. Carol-covid leave has confused people. it is very specific to person having symptoms, testing and results. Different from someone who has high risk and doctor says you should quarantine. Staff has other options for leave uses. They believe covid should apply for that.

Kurt-I have used covid leave and I wasn’t never around someone I knew was positive. HR has done great. I had 3 children that tested positive. Contact AOD office and told them all 3 kids had symptoms, but I feel fine. I was instructed that if you don’t have symptoms, come into work. I went the next day for a test to be sure and not expose my coworkers. I got 3 tests. I know someone who works for DOC and they are told not to come in at all. Carol-I don’t know how to respond to that. Alli- I think it’s good to look at case by case. We can also ask infection control as well. If there are questions by staff on coming to work. Ask supervisors and HR.  Kurt-If it’s possible to give the AODS office direction on coming to work, that would be great. Some supervisors don’t know what to do. Roxanne-supervisor said if not experiencing symptoms, should you come to work. Using leave accruals is an option If you choose to stay home. Kurt-There was no option for me. Leaving it up to each individual, isn’t going to clear anything up. There should be a direction. Annie-80 hours is not to be used if you are quarantining. Only if you are showing symptoms. Carol-correct. Having symptoms and going to get tested. There is a period of time. If positive, its covid leave. If negative, it’s your own leave options. Same with quarantining for high risk exposures. Annie-we were pushing for you guys to give consistent responses as far options. To make sure anyone exposed were given all of the options instead of just telling them to come to work. Let staff know their options when they call. This is what Kurt is trying to get at.  Asking for something consistent across the board. Carol-thank you for your concern, we need to move on. Cates-are there other times for the meetings so we can have the Eboard there.

1. 2.      Hazard Pay: Cates-any progress on hazard pay. Carol-no updates. It’s at DCT level.
2. 3.      FTS Shifts 8.5 to 8-hour shifts: Roxanne-preference to remain 8.5 hours. They think it brings value and its more manageable. The volume of staff is easier to manage. Cates-an specifics about the benefits? Roxanne-it spans a broader web as far as daytime hours they can offer. Have heard from staff that they prefer the break in between. Some people may not.
3. 4.      Increase in Charge Nurses: Kurt-There used to be 1 RN in charge and an RNOD. We were told the RNOD was eliminated and the RN in charge increased, and that it was cost neutral. They brought numbers to me that there are now 4 or 5. How is that cost neutral? Roxanne-Charge nurses are RNs, so isn’t that MNA? Kurt-This is a budget issue and LPNs are affected as well. Each grove used to have 1 charge nurse and the OD were spread out. The numbers don’t add up. Can you break it down? Roxanne-we have the same number of RNODs or RN in charge doing the same role. The RNOD is no longer managing as they were. Now the RN in charge is how we assign. We standardize to have RN in charge the same in every building and grove. Kurt-There were only 2 before but now there are more? One of each. Now an RN in charge is in each area. Roxanne-I don’t have the graph in front of me. An RN in charge in each grove including each building.
4. 5.      Coaching Sessions/Emails being placed in Files: Cates-this is happening again. We agreed before that emails are not coaching sessions. Can we do something about this? Roxanne-this is solely an email? Cates-yes, email saying it’s a coaching session. Carol-take it to HR to get specifics. Roxanne-you can tell me offline as well.

New Business

Management

1. 1.      Driving Precautions: Scott-repeating what I have done in other meetings. I am getting reports of staff driving unsafely. Not stopping at stop signs every other day. Slow down, stop, use signals, give physical plant staff room to do their jobs. Be careful. Marvin-Do we think we are creating a more dangerous situation. Now you have 300 staff coming through at every shift. Scott-if we drive safe, we will be fine. Same number of people but compressed time. We will monitor and make adjustments. Marvin-I have almost hit someone going slow because I can’t see them. Now there are more people. Scott-I hear you. Marvin-no, you don’t. Carol-that was inappropriate. Marvin-sorry.
2. 2.      Updated Steward List: Alli-can we get an updated list? Steve-we are working on a list and will get that to you asap.
3. 3.      Scheduling Changes Process from 10 hour to 8-hour Shifts: Carol-I want AFSCME to hear how we are moving forward and asking for you to let us know what you think. Jodi has schedule worked out. we identified positions for aspen. Will be posted for voluntary reassignment across forensics. Express interest for voluntary reassignment to aspen. Will include days off in preference. Most senior will get awarded as usual until we get through list of volunteers. Then if there are open positions, we will look forensics wide to find least seniors for reassignments to aspen.  Then will look to see if there have been enough volunteers off of nights to aspen. If we are good on nights, then we will let nights indicate preferences on days off. If we have too many on nights. We will look at vacated positions by the voluntary aspen positions. Nights will have option to voluntarily express interest with days off in order of preference and assigned by seniority. The remaining extra will be reassigned. Steve-Open aspen fss and fssl. If we have enough volunteers, great. Then the least senior fss is bumped to aspen. Overnights will then have option to volunteer for new open positions. Carol-after the first movement to cover aspen, if we are at allocation for nights. If not, only nights will have option for voluntary reassignments to open positions from move to aspen.

Cates-can we get a written copy of this? Carol-yes. We also work on timelines for these steps as well. Roxanne-we can send that out and ask for feedback. We want to provide relief for the overnight staff since they are being affected. Carol-we want to be able to start next week. Jodi wants to be able for them to put in for vacation requests. Atlas won’t approve when on regular day off. As soon as we know the new days off, it will be able to.  Steve-I didn’t know timeline was going to be so quick. Do we know the restructure of all of this? What is aspen going to be? Roxanne-we can put context into that. We hope it is comparable to Bartlett 2nd floor but they are dividing in half. Anticipate those with grounds privileges will be on aspen. Cates-birch and cedar staff will come from where? Roxanne-we need to talk through that after grove structuring converting. Trying to consider the options with what are our primary elements to keep team together. If one group moves locations, they stay intact if possible. one Bartlett will move to main. Carol-try to move entire unit intact to other units. Aspen birch, cedar, forest view north to move. Aspen is where we create a new team with posting bids. Steve-Transition occupy north campus. What is happening with north campus staff? Carol-they will move intact to other units. Steve-4 spots to open. Take north campus and put at forest view north. Bartlett staff for cedar, you are only filling one unit by reallocating. Carol-it’s not determined yet where the team will go. Aspen is the one we don’t have staff to move. Carol-north campus, Bartlett 2nd floor. Those 3 will land on birch, cedar, forest view north. We don’t have a team for aspen. Roxanne-we are looking at around 15 to 16 staff not counting the nocs staff for aspen. Jodi has reserved 1 lead pcn for aspen. With staff decreasing on nocs, maybe shift another lead to aspen but won’t do that until its vacated through attrition. Kurt-Reduce leads on nocs by one? Roxanne-potentially. They will be furious they go to 8 hour shifts and lose a lead. Carol-that hasn’t been decided yet. Roxanne-we will look throughout the NOCS for lead PCNs. Steve-15 or 16 staff and looking throughout campus. How many lead spots, FSSs? Roxanne-we will reflect that in what we provided. Carol-when we sent this out, the positions and days off it will have the options for aspen. Steve-in a week? Roxanne-we will get it to you.

Cates-was this a well-planned discussion? Carol-all along we knew we would have additional units. When we were richer, we built utility pool with that in mind to be prepared for this. We may not have anticipated not getting more funding but when that happened, we had to look at our resources. Cates-did you request supplemental funding for staffing? Carol-yes. DCT put in adjustment to dollars for all DCT. It wasn’t acted on in the sessions. It was attempted. A bill was passed in 5th session that provided one-time limited funding for all DCT. With that outcome, we closed Como in twin cities and eliminated a DOC program in moose lake. Positions in Como were offers positions elsewhere. Layoffs occurred in MSOP. A bonding bill provided funding for TABS program to build a gym and costs for MSOP CPS program. There was also an asset preservation amount. Kurt-I was there for the entire ask process. Were these positions not budgeted for? Planning for the expansion. Where did the money go? Were there more positions created?

Carol-Governor wanted us to reduce our ask by half. There were 100 positions after that. It was passed incrementally. 2017 to 2020. 2021 was not funded. In 2017 it supported the positions for what they were worth at that time. Every year there are increases to health care, wages, etc. so there are additional positions which increases the total. We managed the pcns very well. We reallocated by not filling positions and adding lower wage positions. We got approved to fill positions but moved those to more AFSCME positions. Kurt-if we can get a breakdown on that, that would be nice. Cates-I have ratio numbers. 2017 it was 1 to 13. 2018 was 1 to 12.8. 2019 1 to 12.59. 2020 1 to 11. 2021 it was 1 to 10. This shows the ratio reducing. What will you do with this? Carol-we are not reducing direct care positions. We are spreading them to cover an additional unit. Staff don’t believe this. We don’t make these decisions willy nilly. I wish I could support the 10-hour shifts. I only have so many I can reallocate to aspen. We aren’t reducing, just spreading them. We aren’t even reducing staff on nights to cover space. We don’t make the decisions lightly. We need to manage to cover this. Kurt-The biggest things beside movement, was the lack of leadership to ask for input from staff. It’s quite the bombshell to them. The figures Ryan stated earlier, you are increasing management at the same time. This is why people are upset, we need to work together on this. Roxanne-we have heard form nocs staff. Sometimes we get assumption that we are the stakeholders. We feel we have asked for input when the budget was projected. We utilized our supervisors to get that information. That may not have been the case. How can we enhance that? We are interested in thoughts for the future. I am disheartened that the perception of that. Cates-you asked how we can free up positions. There are 8 in the aods office, that would take care of it right there. Annie-the biggest issue we run into is because they are being excluded. Communication through the supervisors isn’t always a good thing. They may not want to look bad. Transparency to staff, explaining it to staff and why. That is the best way to keep morale up. MSOCS had open forums with WebEx for everyone to join for questions. We haven’t heard many complaints because they have ways of being a part of that. Some supervisors are good at it but others aren’t. you will get more accurate information communicated this way. Roxanne-okay. Kurt-Overnights have been passionate. Staffing subcommittee was available and it was never mentioned. Trying to work towards using the resources while minimally affecting staff. Taking an extra day away from NOCS to recover, isn’t a good idea. Marvin-Day staff is affected as well. Daycares aren’t open at 530 is the reality. A lot of people affected on day shift by this.

1. 4.      FMHP Changes to North Campus: Carol-if you have any questions regarding aspen reallocation. Roxanne-I think I sent an email I sent earlier was incorrect. HSSS will not be moved as my email may have said by accident. It was a typo.

AFSCME

1. 1.      Intermittent RNs given LPN Spots: Cates-they aren’t being offered overtime. It’s being offered to intermittent RNs. Carol-can you send us specifics? Cates-it’s happening a lot right now. It’s consistent. Contract is for LPNs to be offered first. Our contract can’t apply to RNs. I will send you the dates and groves and anything else pertinent. B. Steve-An LPN on Grove E wanted to do overnights on an RN spot. Picked up fss spot. A lpn was floated over. Scott-Roxanne needed to get to a meeting regarding vaccines. Steve-she did fss overtime. AOD called an on duty noc lpn to cover that unit. Then called day/evening lpn and said can you help out that person if they need it. she took fss overtime. If you wanted that help on that unit, you should have offered here the overtime. I will forward the email. There is a contractual issue here. Carol-forward that.
2. 2.      UP covering FNH: Cates-Utility pool and nursing home are different work areas. Working across work areas is not following the contract. I want to attempt to work with you. Carol-utility pool was posted for forensic services assignments. We can take a closer look at the contract. Pulling a staff that was posted for forensic services. We can look at the language. Cates-defined as own work area. Defined but not supposed to work outside of work area. Have to go through the process. Get back to us on that.
3. 3.      Camera and audio recording with no sign: Cates-policy says staff have to be notified. The cameras taking temps are recording. Staff need to be notified. There are no signs. Carol-I didn’t know that. Cates-they also audio record. Carol-we don’t have that turned on but it is capable. Steve-it does have the capability but staff should be notified that it is capable. Carol-so a sign that says that? Steve-how would we know? Roxanne-we would be obligated to tell you. Steve-it was taking pictures during the test phase. We were unaware until the security director informed us. Carol-we will post something. Scott-I didn’t know which camera we were talking about or I could have been prepared. We all have cell phones at work that have the capability. Cates-yes, but we aren’t allowed to use them. Scott-wouldn’t this be the same. Cates-no, because the appointing authority is using it.
4. 4.      Camera in staff only area/Mail Room: Cates-I am told there is a camera. Office for utility and transport as break area also. There is no need. Carol-It’s in the area that was the mail room. It is being remodeled. Original design was to be mail room. It always had a camera in it. Cates-it did not have a camera. Steve-I know for a fact. Carol-it was just discovered yesterday, it was just put in by the company. Cates-staff only area. The sally port that used to have a camera. Steve-interior sally port door does not have one. That is suggested to move the mail room camera. Carol-Okay, yeah. We can look at it.
5. 5.      Performance Communications to Sidestep union Contract: Cates-Staff was notified of incident where they did something wrong. Body language during an incident. Not a coaching or expectation. Is this new? Sidestepping the contractual process? Roxanne-documentation that would go into file. Summary of a meeting they had related to a topic. Cates-When they were talked to, they were told that patient was going towards another MAPE member, he stepped between and they also have the training. So, there wasn’t any reason to step between them which is why they got hit. Is that what you are expecting? Roxanne-no, there were other things involved but I don’t want to talk about that. Cates-you can always find something wrong in any situation. Roxanne-that is the first I have heard of that feedback. Cates-we need to know about this. Roxanne-this was the first one we decided to do this with. No discipline or investigation. We weren’t looking for faults. We look into these when there is an injury? Cates-was there time missed due to the injury? Roxanne-I don’t believe so.

Cates-it seems to be picky. You don’t ever look if patient was on meds or other things. Roxanne-I have been working with the doctors as well when there are continued incidents we serve. We may be required to elevate it up as far as pharmacy. Trying to wrap that in. the process is new to our system. We started looking at everything. Now using pharmacology. Carol-in all my years, we look broadly at everything. If we need to be better at sharing the internal reviews, it’s very broad. I expect the supervisors are sharing that. Cates-I have never seen it. Our members aren’t seeing it. Carol-I assumed all of that is shared. We can do better. Roxanne-I will definitely look into that. Marvin-Is this used as a teaching tool or put in like a coaching session used as discipline. Roxanne-I think it should be both. Intention to teach and should it become a pattern, potential it could be used in investigation. It’s not irrelevant. Marvin-at what point does it lead into discipline?

Roxanne-In MAPE we moved away from labeling anything in the file as coaching. It’s a communication. You don’t know if it evolves into discipline, so it has to be documented. Carol-there are times where a supervisor will say this is a coaching. They should say that. Bring it to attention and further training or education is what we want. Depending on severity, then next time I may need to have this a coaching now. I need this to change. Depends on the situation. Every time you are providing education to staff there is a communication. Marvin-are you advising supervisors that when these staff follow through or does something positive, are they putting that in there as well? Carol-yes. Marvin-I never see that. Roxanne-I will try to promote that, we aren’t very good at that. Trying to keep a file of kudos sometimes don’t make it there. Steve-How this goes into the file is contractual. Becky says teaching yet possibly discipline. As it relates to discipline, if its performance communication, when can it be removed? Does it need to be address with investigations? I clearly want to see how this is being utilized. Alli-I am not familiar with how this is used. I can do more follow up and get an answer. Steve-I respect Becky’s communication but I don’t want to see this sidestepped in our contract. It is very specific in the contract. I want this followed up with haste. Annie-we appreciate correcting problems first but if they are sending emails about coaching, etc. Sometimes there are never any clear expectations or coaching that happens. I wonder if they are using that to show there is a discussion around it and what that entailed. There is never any teaching happening. Staff sometimes don’t know what they are supposed to do. They need to also show what they are teaching or guiding. Becky-got it. Carol-we are passed 230. I have a 315 appointment I can’t miss. Cates-step 3s another day? Alli-yes, I can schedule those.

1. 6.      AODS Purpose: Cates-They were added just like you added all of the other things like overlapping shifts, 10 hours shifts, etc. Why do we need the AODS pool? It’s only an added expense. Carol-It’s not a pet project as you said. I needed administrative on duty supervisors that manage all programs on campus and pay attention to all other issues. The conduit to executive on duty. I disagree, there is a point. They serve a good purpose. Consistency how we manage the campus. Roxanne-I had the pleasure trying to manage the unit. Because there were delineated practices for time and leave. Summer was off the charts because everyone did their own things and offered based on preferences. Going back to how it was done, isn’t all positive. Carol-ODs that managed earlies, the list on our meetings was long. Making decisions on inverse and overtime didn’t make staff happy. It’s interesting because people glorify how it was back then. Cates-we did have issues with Stu, but compared to others, we would take it every day of the week. Marvin-there is a lot of communication on campus. Many will say the AODS pool is not the best option. Supervisors also say how frustrating it is. Roxanne-I have heard it as well but there are individual practices you hang on to. You get to make decisions based on what you want instead of as a whole. That is an element that people don’t consider. Along with not having an understanding of how different it is now. Marvin-What we see on weekends when our supervisors aren’t there. The old way, I could call if there was an issue and ask for a staff to help. Today, that doesn’t happen. Kurt-Some AODs seem to put emphasis on appeasing people. it’s a personal style there also. There is a lot of miscommunication there. We can’t get consistent messages from the AODS pool. The supervisor is not following direction from the NOC supervisor on placement of staff. Other AODS do, and when asked, they state that they will look into it. Why can’t there be consistency with direction from the area supervisor for all the AODS to follow, to avoid confusion? It’s a common theme. Scott-I do know there are complaints and we try to address. Shaun smith is doing a project around the AODS. He has requested feedback from Ryan. Has he? Cates-Yes, and I provided that. Then COVID hit. He reached out again. I have had issue with the AODS. The problems are acute. There was dishonesty within the AODS pool. I don’t feel like dealing with Shawn will do much. Scott-he is separated and objective. He said he is waiting to hear from you. Let him know what you plan on doing. I am trying to get an objective review.
2. 7.      Unit Partnering: Cates- Running one staff with a float. Is this what you are planning on doing going forward? Roxanne-Let me do some follow up on that.
3. 8.      Any Progress on Chairs? Scott-we are developing a standard for chairs in each area. A labeling process to make sure they stay where they are deployed. Standardizing the process to repair chairs. They are warranted, so they will be replaced if damaged. If we have good work orders, we can get parts covered on warranty. Develop process to count chairs as well.
4. 9.      LPNs should be able to work across groves: Cates-RNs being able to do it. Looking at LPNs to do the same? Carol-I will talk to Roxanne about that, she isn’t here right now. She will reach out to you.
5. 10.  Shift changes and staff reductions: Cates-If working with labor is important, why are we consistently not involved or notified before the announcement? Carol-I talked about the budget issues and how to manage. When I talked to supervisors on nights, they said staff won’t be surprised by it. Cates-there are constantly rumors out there. Kurt-A petition was started by night staff before communication about this. The petition was started on a Saturday night and was over 100 the next day. All signed by people of all professions. It makes labor look like we aren’t supporting our members. We reached out in September to see if there was anything we could do. I understand its 70 people and I am biased but when you work overnights and weekends…when you take away 10-hour shifts. We are beside ourselves due to adding all of these supervisors and grove leaders, nursing supervisors, etc. Give us the decency to reach out to us. Carol-I appreciate that. Someone did send us an email about a strong desire to go to straight shifts, is that true? Cates-That is not consistent across forensics, are you thinking about doing this? Carol-no, just thought I would ask. Marvin-we hear a lot about 12-hour shifts. Hospitals run 12 hours shift. There are benefits. There are a lot of things that can help but we weren’t given the opportunity.
6. 11.  FMHP broke? Why was supplemental funding for staff not requested from the legislature in 2020? Knowing the units were being opened: Carol-Nothing more to add. Cates-I was told msop and others did. Carol-they did not.

Add Ons:

1. 1.      Safety Meeting: Cates-The turnaround time isn’t beneficial when you back to the 8-hour shifts. Kurt-The drive time also adds an element. Cates-MSOP SCs all work 6, 2, 10 also. Now adding FMHP to that will make the screening section very frustrating. Expecting to get through to unit on time is going to be difficult and paying overtime. Patient groups and activities are set up during overlap time. Won’t be able to run anything now. Schedule will need to be changed for our patients. Marvin-Med trips are also over the shift change. Transport hasn’t resolved that issue. Becky-I don’t know if your members have received emails about the programming. Encourage staff to participate in that. If implemented how will it affect days off and vacation? Staffing reductions and intervention in patient incidents. It doesn’t allow time to be ready at shift change times. We will not have numbers to escort patients in the facility. This will lead to more injuries. Usually due to inadequate staffing. Kurt-Scott and Becky did rounds this weekend. Staff contacted with me and said they didn’t know who you guys were. Some said they didn’t have questions because they were told to contact their supervisor in an email. Steve-we talked about the bottleneck at COVID area. With the new temp tablets, we are self-screening. Do we need to have a covid area if we are self-screening? Can we eliminate the screening area and use the other entry areas to decrease the issues at lower access? Since we went to tablets, how many people have been asked to leave due to not passing screening? Scott-Direction from DCT is we need to do it. I will continue to press the question. Many of these concerns, have been brought up already. We are doing it because we are told we have to.

Meeting Adjourned at 320pm