12/24/13

Chelsea,

We the Nursing staff of Rawson Neal 11:00 pm -7:30 am shift, are formally requesting that the snacks for this shift be increased to at least one package (12 packs) for each unit and that if we have any leftovers to be kept on the unit for the next night instead of sending them to POU. And we are also requesting that we be allowed at least two cartons of apple juice be supplied for each pod as well. We are constantly being attacked by our clients because we don’t have anything to give them to eat at night and that Mark refuses to leave even one pack of crackers for our clients because he has stated that the staff members are eating them instead of our clients and this is not the case. He has also been observed counting out 50 packs of saltines and he expects that to last all day and they are usually gone by 3-11:30 shift. We encourage our clients to eat their scheduled meals and for the most part they do. When our clients don't eat meals they expect us to at least have crackers and juice for them and usually there isn't any which is basically a refusal for their rights to eat.

At least 50% of our clients take medications the require them to take their medications with food and this is never taken into consideration when the snacks are issued.

We are also requesting that someone other than Markstart issuing the snacks because we feel that whenever someone else does the snacks there is far less complications and the snacks seem to last longer. Mark has also been observed rummaging through all of the drawers and cabinets looking for snacks and if he finds some he removes them. We hide snacks so we have something to give to our clients and not for staff consumption. We wouldn't have to hide them if we were allowed to keep them for the next night. Mark has stated he does this because the Health Department does not allow us to kept snacks from one day to the next day. We would agree with this if Mark wasn't taking them to POU. When we ask him to leave a few packages for clients who are up he refuses and we have no choice but to take from the snacks that are meant for 10 AM and 2 PM snack pass and then that causes them to run out

We continue to have issues with our clients hoarding food in their rooms and we believe this is an infection control issue.

Chelsea, below you will find a list of signatures of RN 11-7:30 Nursing Staff who agree that the current way snacks our being handled are putting our clients and staff in jeopardy and that safety and clients needs doesn't seem to be a concern to the RN administration. Can we please at least try to come to a more reasonable compromise to resolve this issue?

Thank You for your help in resolving this matter.

RN 11-7:30 Staff