Workers say violent disturbances followed staffing shortages at CT youth psychiatric facility
Solnit workers say violent disturbances followed staffing warnings at the Middletown youth psychiatric facility
NBC Connecticut Investigates is looking into safety concerns at the Solnit Children’s Center South Campus in Middletown after workers say two violent disturbances left multiple staff members hurt.
More than half a dozen employees have gone out on workers’ comp due to the incidents, according to union delegates who work at the facility.
Those workers say the warning signs were there before this all happened.
The Solnit South hospital treats children ages 13 to 17 with severe mental illnesses and other issues.
Two employees who are also SEIU 1199 union delegates told NBC Connecticut Investigates that staff had repeatedly raised concerns about staffing levels.
They said they were not at the facility when the two most recent disturbances happened, but said the incidents were reported to them by co-workers who were there.
“Some staff right now are just like in awe,” said Saleena White, a Solnit child services worker.
Darnell Ford, a lead child services worker at Solnit, said the situation is frightening.
“Some people who’ve been here 25, 30 years have never seen this,” Ford said. “It terrifies me.”
The union delegates said one disturbance happened on June 14 and another happened on June 20.
They said the June 14 incident was especially serious and left 11 people hurt.
White described a chaotic scene involving patients attacking staff, multiple restraints happening at once, and too few workers available to respond.
After the first incident, the union sent an email to DCF Commissioner Susan Hamilton and others warning that another disturbance could happen.
The union’s email said there were more than 130 coverage gaps for the weekend of June 20 and June 21.
It also said the hospital superintendent was “downplaying our members’ injuries at every turn.”
Ford said workers had been raising concerns long before the recent disturbances.
“We have been talking about something unfortunate like this happening for at least the last two years,” Ford said.
Both White and Ford testified to state lawmakers in February about what they described as severe staffing issues.
In written testimony, Ford said workers had seen youth create weapons out of whatever they could get their hands on.
White wrote that the units often feel like “a war zone.”
State Sen. Matt Lesser, a Middletown Democrat, said a large percentage of DCF staff at Solnit South have been hurt on the job.
Lesser said the legislature’s Appropriations Committee provided DCF with another $1 million in funding, in part because of issues at Solnit relayed to him by workers there.
“That funding was not funding that DCF requested,” Lesser said.
“DCF needs to come up and be honest to say what they need, so they can create a safe environment,” Lesser said.
DCF told NBC Connecticut Investigates that Solnit South’s hospital is now under UConn Health after Solnit’s hospital license was transferred to UConn Health in April.
That leaves a key question: whether DCF shared the staffing warnings it received with UConn Health.
There is also a girls’ residential facility on the Solnit campus.
After the two hospital disturbances, workers at the residential facility filed a working-under-protest form saying they were still severely understaffed.
From breaking news and local politics to art exhibitions, live music, high school sports, small businesses, and cultural events, we celebrate the people and places that make Connecticut unique.