Present: James Hemshrot, Adam Castle, Tim Headlee, Eric Hesse, Ryan Cates, Cindy Jungers, Scott Melby, Marvin Sullivan, Krystal Kreklow, Melissa Greyshcek, Ali Kuhlman, Matt Stenger, Antonino Guerrero, Mike Homer, Kurt Crosby, Carol Olsen, Lisa Vanderveen, Tom Christenson, Tom Kolstad, Michelle Chalin, Colleen Ryan, Elizabeth Trandem
Reflection/Celebration-Elevator is operational in Admin Building-Tom. Carol-Patient Death on 1 South was handled well. Lisa-patient at CRP in community was struggling. Staff collaborated well to bring him back to campus. Inversing and injuries are way down-Carol Good job to staff with quarantines occurring including one that is occurring right now.
Standing Agenda Items
New Business:
AFSCME:
Forensic SC/SCL title change-Tim-I know this is not contractual and we appreciate involvement but we are getting concerns from staff. Internal processes such as suggestion boxes and encouraging professionalism. The local recognizes a lot of things weren’t always contractual at one time. Ask that people who have issues with the new title sign their name to the petition to show management how we feel as a whole. In 1 hour we got 73 signatures that have issues with the new titles. There is a feeling that issues at the table are not a majority that aren’t behind us so we would like to show that we are representing the masses, not only the AFSCME E-board. We will be asking members to show their support. Matt-72 signatures were in 1 hour. Which is about 1 quarter of our staff. We could have 50 percent by the weekend. Carol-that is fine and we will not change the title or the classification of staff. This is the direction of the program. Staff can come talk to me if they would like to voice concerns. Stacy-what guarantee do we have that it will not change our classification? People are worried about CERP. Carol-CERP isn’t based on title, it’s built on the work you do. Cindy-This really is only a working title change. Everyone is still a security counselor and is covered by CERP statute. . We cannot guarantee that Legislature will never make changes to CERP but working title will not change eligibility for retirement plan. Carol-there are a lot of staff with different working titles that fall under CERP such as UD’s. This is not a classification change only working title change. Kurt-feedback is that people that make decisions now will not be here in ten years or when we retire so they may be interpreting it differently is the concern. Cindy-It says security counselor when I look up your file in employee record keeping system. Not the working title. Security counselor remains the current classification for this job and is currently covered under CERP. Carol-we have no intention of changing the classification title. Stacy-Could you keep security counselor title on badge along with the new title? Carol-I want people to reference themselves as the new title. TC asked the question-who was a lieutenant guard? That was not classified, then my title changed to security counselor. Nothing else changed CERP all stayed the same. Scott-We owe an explanation to staff so don’t hesitate to come talk to management. I can tell you that while I am here I will be supporting the security counselor classification. We are working hard to recruit as such.
Forensic Program position descriptions (MSH, CRP/CCRP,FNH,TRANS)-Tim-They look better than they did before. Reflecting things we are doing today. We will have recommendations, we will send the documents ack to Scott and Lisa with our recommendations noted in the PD.
Forensic Programs operational Org Charts-People are questioning this due to pressure of financing. Tim-There are 8 tiers of supervision when we see who we report to on the position description. Looks like an upside down triangle. It looks top heavy. Under descriptions it says we report to RN and RNOD. Even if it’s based on client contact percentile, we would like to see this instead. When there are 8 different ones it becomes confusing, so it needs to be clarified. Scott-Staff want to know who immediate supervisors are and who that supervisor answers to. Tim-Open to ideas just to start communication. LPN’s are marked down as 80 percent contact and counselors are at 75 percent. This is adequate for CERP which is 75 percent, but wonder the difference between these two positions. Scott-I’ve done some research and this could show discrepancy because I took into consideration with all security counselors. This does not take you out of CERP. Just an average with control center and security all involved as well. This doesn’t affect CERP. Carol-There is a different ORG chart for each program on our sharepoint.
Forensic Programs (MSH,CRP/CCRP,FNH,TRANS)-Tim-How are we using defining work areas related to contract and OT distribution. We are recognizing everyone we see in our contract. We feel this is being split and interpreting different ways. How can we alleviate grievances? Carol-Is the issue of staff working across CRP and MSH? Matt-Transition also on overnights. Tim-we need something to classify the need and the class. Carol-we want to move forward with having counselors being offered overtime across programs (i.e. MSH and CRP) but we would like to find a time to sit down with afscme to figure out a way we can take care of this. An agreed way it should be offered out. Scott-We would like to work out the details so we can be on the same page. Kurt-we need to come to resolution with transition as well. Scott- We would like to take on one piece at a time to get this done right. We will start with the CRP and OT issue first and then move on from there. Scott-We are interested in being consistent. Kurt-what can we tell member when I come back with this information? Matt-I think the confusion comes from transition language from years ago. Carol- For the question raised about Transition Services and the two work areas for offering of overtime, without Transition Leadership being at the table, we will need to get back to you. Our plan will be to get back to you within two weeks.
Forensic Lead Leveling/Guidelines-Carol-We changed language to lead applications. Scott-We have 55 people on the list. That’s a lot and we changed the process to what it is today. We don’t plan on doing this except for every 6 months to a year. James-why were the questions taken off? Scott-this comes down to opinion. Differing views amongst staff and management due to it being subjective. It didn’t feel legitimate before right? It has been a constant irritant. In reviewing, the decision was made to evaluate annually and everyone has a review with their supervisor. So if staff is meeting expectations, this should be an acceptable process. Some disagree but this is what we felt was the best option. Stacy-why does every unit on days have a lead but not on nights? Scott-That was established before I came to MSH. Carol-We also don’t have a UD for every unit on nights. With less staff on nights and nights working across units as one work area, we determined less leadership needed and they needed approximately an equivalent number of leads to support them. Stacy-people are looking for promotional opportunities. Carol-we can ask the supervisors about their need also.
Forensic Interview and hiring-James-seems like we have good and bad feedback from it. The last couple of people hired had very good scores but couldn’t make probation and ended up being bad staff. We need to focus on the probation period very seriously. Others are vouching for people who can’t even pass interview process. Matt-we were stopped by a janitor that was an HSSS long time ago. She can’t get back because her position won’t be back filled. She has been turned down on interviews for a counselor and HSSS. Feels like she is being held back because they don’t want to backfill her position. Scott-The minimum qualifications were changed so that could have something to do with it. We have people that interview well but don’t work out but we also have poor interviews that staff turn out well. We look at experience, reference checks and interview. It is a difficult decision to make and we are looking at our process. We are trying to develop new interview questions as well. We are looking at this and it takes a lot of work. We are doing our best.
Forensic Skills/Training Fairs-Carol-We are continuing with safety skills and fairs. The topic is determined by incidents that have occurred. This quarter we will be focused on proximity. Each of these skill fairs are focused on helping develop staff skills with the goal of minimizing risk. Decision is to try to hold people accountable for getting to these because there is great value in these. Supervisor may have to monitor their staff. Suggestion to add an afscme representative to the learning and Development Advisory Council. Scott-This is where we glean ideas for next skills fair. Carol-Tom and Steve are developing similar safety teams in other programs-similar to MSH.
Forensic Client/PT internet use-AFSCME is not advocating for any client internet use! Reports are that transition patients are using the library to create Facebook accounts for patients on the hill. Reports of staff being laughed at for accepting friend requests when they are actually patients. When clients request internet usage, staff are asked to use their login information? We are asking that we come up with safeguards that clients can login with own user so it’s recognized as patient use, not the staff’s usage. How do we separate when it comes to usage? Carol-if in fact that is occurring we want to know that. Transition patients using computer to use Facebook. That is not acceptable and staff need to do supplemental on this. There will be internet access to patients that will be 100 percent monitored and regulated with safeguards and restrictions. We need to stay ahead of these technology advances and have a ways to go. Stacy-bigger concern in using our PW’s. Scott- This should not be happening. Supervisors need to tell patients that. Scott-it is acceptable for staff to request to meet team approved patient requests to get something from the internet, example might be to show a beneficial vide. But do not give out any PW numbers. Scott-only show patient’s videos with team approval. Our staff need to stop doing this upon request by client just because. Stacy-there is a client with a program on his flash drive for his headset. He wanted to download to a computer. Staff said no and the client had a fit. The Unit director gave the patient the IT phone number who also said no. Scott-Patients can have flash drives. Stacy-how does staff know what’s on the drives. Scott-flash drives should only have treatment type stuff on these. Someone possibly made a mistake with how it got on there. Carol-one staff will be monitoring every client and computer when it’s being used. We can’t exclude all internet usage when these clients are working at getting transitioned. Everything involves the internet nowadays. When we have issues we need a supplemental written. If there is an identified report of abuse, then I will talk with Transition. Stacy-handbook sounds like everyone will have internet access. Carol-the handbook is only a draft and we are still modifying it. Scott-we can address things if there are concerns with what is in the handbook. I don’t want staff being responsible for every click of a mouse. We would address if something comes up. Rather have it happen here than when someone leaves. Stacy-The ordering out says local vendors each evening if you have attended all groups and been safe on the unit. If this is MSH wide, we will have patients ordering every night. You will have staff running constantly. Carol-this is a draft. Get a hold of Chad Portner with any feedback. We are getting in trouble with licensing because we are taking away client rights. We will need to work out the logistics. We can have specific times also. This is only a draft and general so units can work within it.
Forensic CRP/CCRP-Lisa-Things are going well, been two months settling in. Lots of good suggestions. We walked around and identified where we needed cameras. Working on getting cameras placed and functioning in all areas. Stacy-There are times where clients can be in courtyard with staff supervision. Staff seem comfortable responding during crisis. This was shown this past weekend. Will be doing drills with help from Tom Roessler with fire drills and safety processes. Implementing suggestions. Tim-Site visits are set up just like any other visit like CRP on campus.
New Construction-Tim-This is rumor control. Heating doesn’t work. TC-This is inaccurate. Tim-Pipe is leaking. TC-Inaccurate. Tim-The camera is in the kitchen area when other areas in need don’t that should because they are full patient areas. What can I bring to staff about this? Scott-where staff hand things out to patients is where things happen historically. Nursing window as well because that’s where they occur. We can make adjustments if we can’t see in TV rooms. There are times when staff work closely with patients and we want these covered. Stacy-You can utilize these better with multiple areas being covered as opposed to straight down on the staff area. Matt-You are only getting a view of the doorway if it is in a staff area as opposed to the other side where you can see all of the client. Cameras in staff only areas need to be negotiated for cameras that are not for safety and security. Carol-forward the camera email to me. Carol-when a new building is built we need staff to bring to leadership about any issues they are having or foresee happening. Matt-There is also an issue when staff shut the seclusion door there is push back. Scott-I noticed doors shut easy but are hard to open. Matt-The air pressure doesn’t allow it to shut quickly. Stacy-sally port between secure and unsecure doesn’t have a camera so control can’t see the staff. TC-this is being added. Carol-we received extra funds to add cameras in the building. Kurt-staff feel we weren’t able to give input before building was opened. Carol-we have a lot of people that came together to put this all together on paper. This happens with new construction. We will learn more when we get to phase 2 as well.
AFSCME Office Space-Update-Tom K-We are working on a space in first floor of admin building. I will get back to you.
.5 Hires/Workers-James-We would like to have part time staff who are working full time hours have opportunity to go full time. Can we do an MOU for this if there are spots available HSSS and GM workers? If staff are interested in doing so? Matt-Also in regards to intermittent positions, they are being scheduled only 6 hours. We know this is not contractual, just would be nice to look into doing. We would like them to be scheduled 8. Scott-we will look into it. Matt-There is nothing we can do but just putting it out there because we have interest from the members.
Add-Ons: LPNs and RNs retention and hiring-Tim-we will be tracking inversing and overtime. If we see something chronic like mandating inversing we want to request any FTE for the positions that have been vacant for a time that the FTE’s are broken down for the retention of LPNs and RN’s. Carol-Our focus in our Labor Management Committee is on recruitment and retention. Focus will be on RN and LPN and psychiatric staff. Tim-we need to get aggressive on this. Scott-we agree. Carol-We are interested in ideas. Michelle-I want to make sure that people know the graph report is in hours. A larger program is going to have a larger overtime ratio as opposed to a program of a smaller size. Keep this in mind when looking at the graph.
Meeting adjourned at 152pm.