(Continued from page 5)


Article 18 Health and Safety Committee, welcomed the participants. The plenary session, “Safety in New York State,” featured representatives from the state AFL-CIO. At a following session, Rocco Brindisi, PEF Article 18 Committee chair, introduced the state’s Department of Labor staff members who discussed “Using PESH as a Tool for Change.”


PEF President Susan M. Kent presented the Judi Scanlon Award to AssemblyMember Aileen Gunther. Scanlon was an intensive case manager who was murdered in Buffalo by one of her clients in November 1998.


“This is a special award, as the death of Judi sounded an alarm across the state that people who go to work should return home alive and well. Aileen Gunther has been a fierce advocate for many of the health and safety issues affecting PEF members,” Kent said. “As a nurse, she understands the need for laws so our members can deliver quality care. Safe staffing not only ensures patient care, it protects health care workers from violent incidents. Aileen also was instrumental in the passage of the state’s Safe Patient Handling Act.”


Albany County District Attorney P. David Soares delivered a rousing keynote address. He weaved health and safety issues into his speech which addressed reducing street violence, building hope for people in Albany County by restoring communities, dealing with the crisis of re- entry and ensuring violence-free worksites.


Valuable workshops


PEF members attending the workshops described them as informative and current. “As a principal engineering technician


HONOR RECIPIENT — PEF member Mary Anne Alloggio receives a special commendation for her work to develop a safe patient handling program. Albany County District Attorney P. David Soares, keynote speaker, engages the audience at the 2015 statewide Health and Safety Conference.


at the state Department of Transportation, some of our health and safety issues include the handling of syringes found in construction zones, identifying poisonous plants, ticks, and other outdoor health threats,” said John Duengfelder Jr. “This conference provided hands-on interaction with people from other agencies. It was a valuable learning experience to discuss health care issues on a statewide level.” Mike Kopkin, an associate abandoned property accounts auditor at the state Department of Audit and Control, noted the workers’ compensation workshop addressed a “far-reaching issue.” “Most employees are unaware they can file a workers’ compensation claim even if they don’t lose time at work. This workshop highlighted the rights and responsibilities when an employee is injured. Those who attended this workshop and others have the responsibility to share this information with our rank- and-file members, such as the additional contractual benefit provided by Article 13 in our contract,” Kopkin said.


Mary Anne Alloggio, a physical therapy assistant at the Long Island Developmental Disabilities Services Office (DDSO), said long-standing issues also were addressed. “Safe patient handling programs help to ensure a safer working environment


that benefits individuals and their health care providers. It goes hand-in-hand with safe patient ratios because safe patient handling protocols require two staff to lift or move a patient. The information obtained at this conference confirmed the need for safe staffing ratios,” she said. Alloggio received a special award during a panel discussion for her excellent efforts to develop a safe patient handling program at Long Island DDSO.


Knowing your rights


Hennessy said the conference embraced several areas of concern for PEF’s health and safety activists.


“Our goal is to help our members establish and maintain safe and healthy worksites,” Hennessy said. “This conference provided various avenues for people to receive specific information on where and how to solve issues, so they can perform their jobs in a safe and healthy environment.”


“Each year, we make progress, and each year more issues arise,” Brindisi added. “Working directly with state managers puts us all on the same page. No one wants to suffer a work-related injury or illness. This conference keeps the door open to cooperation, respect and action in the workplace relating to health and safety issues.”


Inpatient beds, more state staff essential for treating children with mental illness


By DEBORAH A. MILES


The state Assembly Committee on Mental Health held a hearing May 29 in Buffalo. Barbara Rock, PEF chair of the Labor-Management Committee at the state Office of Mental Health (OMH) and chair of PEF’s Nurses Committee, provided testimony on children’s mental health services in western New York. Rock told Assembly Mental Health Committee Chair Aileen Gunther, and Assembly Member Crystal Peoples- Stokes PEF has not been included in the discussions to develop new inpatient services, an issue that PEF President Susan M. Kent raised at previous legislative hearings.


Page 6 — The Communicator July/August 2015 “The state has again put on hold its plan


to close facilities because of a backlash of opposition from legislators and PEF leaders. Instead, the state is slowly moving to justify closing facilities by eliminating inpatient beds. This cannot be ignored,” Rock said. “We need to focus on where the mental health services for children in the Buffalo area will be, or if they will be improved, reduced or eliminated.”


Rock reminded the Assembly members that PEF has been a fierce advocate for services for New York’s citizens and especially those who require services at OMH, the state Office for People with Developmental Disabilities and at the state Department of Corrections and


twitter.com/nyspef Community Supervision.


Rock reiterated that PEF opposes reductions in vital services to vulnerable New Yorkers, the privatization of state- provided services and the reduction of qualified and experienced staff who are professionally trained to provide services. “PEF needs assurance for continuity of employment for its members with no geographic hardship. We must create conditions, during a decade of retirements, to recruit qualified professionals into the state workforce in the communities where they live. We have held rallies and delivered thousands of petitions to the governor to support all of our workers and public


twitter.com/susankentpef PEF Information Line: 1-800-553-2445


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