ATLANTA – A veteran nurse who was allegedly attacked by a violent patient was one of several speakers Thursday before a state Senate study committee formed to look into violence against health-care workers.
“I was attacked by a patient who had already attacked one of our technicians,” a nurse who identified herself only as Destiny, said. “While I was trying to de-escalate the situation, the patient lunged at me, grabbed my hair and twisted it in her hands. I was punched and kicked several times; I was bit; and she tried to drag me into the bathroom.”
Destiny, who works at Northeast Georgia Health System’s Braselton location, said it took five nurses and three security guards to restrain the patient. She said she suffered a back injury, multiple scratches and bruises, and weeks of headaches and anxiety as a court date nears.
“I’ve been asked multiple times, am I sure I want to press charges,” she said. “The patient and her family have requested my home address, and now they know where I am. I work 12- and 14-hour shifts, and I have a son and daughter who are sometimes home alone.
“We are here to take care of patients,” she said. “We are not here to be harmed.”
According to a study from the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, health-care workers account for approximately 50% of all victims of workplace violence.
But Deborah Bailey, executive director of government affairs at Northeast Georgia Medical Center, told the committee 75% of all workplace assaults in the U.S. involve health-care workers.
“Only 30% of nurses and 26% of physicians actually report those incidents,” Bailey said. “Violent altercations are so common now that most employees consider them just part of the daily job.”
Workers in health-care settings are four times more likely to be assaulted than workers in private industry, according to the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations.
“Alarmingly, the actual number of violent incidents involving health care workers is likely much higher because reporting is voluntary,” the commission stated.
Kevin August, a veteran former police officer and FBI official and now director of security at Grady Memorial Hospital, said any legislation addressing attacks on health-care workers must come with enforcement powers.
“Training and more staffing are imperative, but if police aren’t enforcing the laws and judges aren’t punishing it, this problem will never be solved,” he said.
Lindsey Caulfield, chief marketing and experience officer at Grady, said health care is the fastest-growing industry in the nation, and health-care and social service workers are five times more likely to suffer violent workplace injuries than other workers.
“Eighty percent of these workplace violence incidents in healthcare settings are patient on provider,” Caulfield said.
Anna Adams of the Georgia Hospital Association (GHA), said rising cases of violence are occurring throughout the state, not just metro Atlanta.
“The pandemic has highlighted our major workforce shortage,” she said. “These types of attacks are often covered under worker’s comp, and figures show 22% of these claims are filed due to injuries inflicted by a patient, a member of a patient’s family, or a co-worker.”
Dr. Kathleen Toomey, commissioner of the Georgia Department of Public Health, said stresses brought on by the pandemic, coupled with easy access to social media, are also factors.
“One nurse who was involved in an attack had her home address posted on social media, where the public was invited to harass her,” Toomey said. “At one north Georgia mobile vaccination site, the staff were heckled and intimidated to such a degree they were forced to close the site.”
Adams said a GHA survey shows most Georgia hospitals see violence against healthcare workers from mentally ill patients or patients suffering from behavioral health issues.
State lawmakers passed a resolution creating the study committee earlier this year. Its mission is to look into the problem of violence against health workers in the state.
This story is available through a news partnership with Capitol Beat News Service, a project of the Georgia Press Educational Foundation.
ATLANTA –– In a nation’s capital seemingly more hopelessly split by violent partisan rhetoric than ever, Georgia Democratic U.S. Sen. Jon Ossoff and Republican Sen. Chuck Grassley from Iowa have introduced a bill designed to help rural communities fight the opioid epidemic.
On Wednesday, Ossoff and Grassley introduced the Rural Opioid Abuse Prevention Act, which they said would help ensure rural communities experiencing a high level of opioid overdoses have the resources they need to respond to the crisis.
The program aims to reduce opioid overdose deaths in high-risk rural communities while raising awareness about local opioid use and substance abuse.
“Like so many Georgians, I’ve lost friends to the opioid epidemic,” Ossoff said. “My bipartisan bill with Sen. Grassley will fund efforts in rural communities to prevent and treat addiction and to save lives.”
“We’ve made some progress in fighting the opioid crisis, but with overdose deaths rising, Congress needs to act,” Grassley said. “Our bill will help communities in Iowa and across the country to prevent and handle any surge in opioid overdoses.
The two senators said their bill would:
Identify current gaps in prevention, treatment, and recovery services for individuals who interact with the criminal justice system in rural areas.
Increase or create new efforts to address the opioid crisis in the community.
Dedicate funding to local governments and organizations with a documented history of providing services to rural communities or regions highly impacted by substance abuse.
Several national health and law enforcement praised the senators’ effort.
“This legislation will help rural communities across the nation receive grant funding to reduce opioid deaths by formalizing the Department of Justice rural responses to the opioid epidemic initiative,” said Alan Morgan, CEO of the National Rural Health Association. “As the opioid epidemic continues to worsen, it is critical that the federal government continues to invest in successful programs that help save lives, particularly in rural areas.”
“The opioid epidemic in rural America is unprecedented in our history,” according to a statement from the Small & Rural Law Enforcement Executives’ Association. “Many lives have been lost and families torn apart. Rural and tribal communities across our country continue to struggle with this epidemic and the COVID pandemic has made the drug overdose epidemic worse.
“Rural and tribal law enforcement are dealing with an increase in overdoses from illicit fentanyl, prescription opioids and heroin. Passing the Rural Opioid Abuse Prevention Act would provide resources to help rural communities combat opioid overdoses and provide alternatives to incarceration.”
“Additional substance abuse and addiction resources are desperately needed in all communities but particularly in rural communities where services and resources are lacking,” the Partnership to End Addiction wrote. “We hope this program will help to reduce the devastation of opioid overdoses on individuals and their families in rural communities.”
This story is available through a news partnership with Capitol Beat News Service, a project of the Georgia Press Educational Foundation.
ATLANTA – Legislators studying the issue of raising Georgia’s mandatory age for school attendance from 16 to 17 were met with tough, complex questions from some metro Atlanta school officials on Wednesday.
“The first question for us is, what is the reason for raising the age for compulsory attendance?” asked Gretchen Walton, compliance and legislative affairs officer for the Cobb County School District. “Our research shows raising the age for compulsory attendance doesn’t increase high school graduation rates. So what are some of the other reasons for doing so?”
“What can you do at age 16?” asked Nicole Holmes, chief academic officer for Cherokee County schools. “What else is out there except fast-food and retail jobs? You can’t join the military. Our own research shows that raising the mandatory attendance age has to be coupled with other programs that support the student. So what is the impact you are hoping for by raising the age?”
The meeting was the fourth of five by a Senate study committee formed earlier this year after state Sen. Lester Jackson, D-Savannah, introduced a bill to raise the school attendance age.
“This is an idea for which we’ve seen support in every meeting so far,” Sen. Chuck Payne, R-Dalton, the committee’s chairman, told Capitol Beat before the meeting.
Payne said the committee plans to file its recommendations for consideration in January, when the legislature reconvenes.
“We can already spot kids who are heading down the wrong path by middle school,” he said. “The question is, what more can we do to get them back on the right track?”
“The goal for all of us is to see every student graduate high school,” said Kevin Daniel, chief of staff for the Cobb school superintendent’s office. “The true challenge is seeing a student who doesn’t want to be there.”
Walton also asked how a new mandatory attendance age would be enforced.
“We have to determine if current high school truancy efforts are effective,” she said. “In Cobb, we have three truancy officers serving 17 high schools. That’s three officers for tens of thousands of students.”
State Sen. Gail Davenport, D-Jonesboro, said she thought every Georgia school district has truancy resources, but Walton said those decisions are left to individual districts.
State Sen. Lindsey Tippins, R-Marietta, said the reason Georgia hasn’t raised the mandatory age before now is because of “too many unanswered questions like these in the past.
“Keeping kids in school is going to take a much more comprehensive effort than this,” Tippins said. “Just raising the age from 16 to 17 is going to open a lot more unanswered questions, and the definition of insanity is taking the same approach, year after year, and expecting a different result.”
Jackson said Georgia’s current school attendance law is antiquated, dating back to the 1940s.
“We know if kids drop out of school at 16, the best they can do is maybe get a minimum wage job or eventually become dependent on the state,” he said. “We are in a technological environment now, and we need to prepare our young people is to take on challenges of tomorrow.”
“You can’t drink, smoke, vape, go into the military, get an adult driver’s license or watch an R-rated movie at 16,” added state Sen. Albers, R-Roswell. “But the one thing you can do, that will potentially wreck your entire life, is drop out of school. It’s crazy to think we would not require a kid at that age to be in school.”
This story is available through a news partnership with Capitol Beat News Service, a project of the Georgia Press Educational Foundation.
ATLANTA – The Washington, D.C.-based Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee (DSCC) has announced a new, $30 million investment in nine battleground states – including Georgia – for the 2022 general election.
Besides Georgia, the DSCC’s Defend the Majority program is targeting Arizona, Florida, North Carolina, New Hampshire, Nevada, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin. The organization said this is the largest investment in ground-field organizing it has ever made at this point in the election cycle.
“Early, sustained organizing is how we win elections, and through our Defend the Majority program, the DSCC is building the ground game Democrats need to succeed in Senate battlegrounds across the country,” said Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee Executive Director Christie Roberts.
“Our organizing programs are starting earlier than ever before. We’re taking nothing for granted, and by building meaningful relationships with voters now, we are laying the groundwork for Democrats’ victory in 2022.”
The DSCC said the money will be used to staff field offices and develop training programs; coordinate outreach programs to Latino, Black and younger voters; and hire communications staff who will be focused on defining Republican Senate candidates.
Georgia has several GOP candidates vying for an opportunity to challenge Democratic incumbent Sen. Raphael Warnock. The list includes University of Georgia football legend Herschel Walker, state Agriculture Commissioner Gary Black, businessman Kelvin King, trial attorney Jared Craig, former Navy SEAL Latham Sadler, and author James Nestor.
Walker has been endorsed by former President Donald Trump, while Black has picked up the endorsements of more than 50 state legislators, former Gov. Nathan Deal and former U.S. Rep. Doug Collins, R-Gainesville.
This story is available through a news partnership with Capitol Beat News Service, a project of the Georgia Press Educational Foundation.
ATLANTA – Abortion-rights advocates in the General Assembly have opened up a new front.
Fifty-eight Georgia lawmakers signed onto a “friend of the court” – or amicus – brief filed on Monday in a case before the U.S. Supreme Court involving an abortion law in Mississippi. That was the most signatories from one state among the nearly 900 lawmakers who signed the brief.
The case, scheduled to be heard by the high court on Dec. 1, bans abortions after 15 weeks in Mississippi, nine weeks fewer than the 24-week precedent established by the 1973 Roe v. Wade decision.
The amicus brief was organized by the State Innovation Exchange’s Reproductive Freedom Leadership Council, which describes itself as a “network of state legislators working to advance reproductive health, rights and justice.”
The brief argues the Supreme Court’s failure to uphold the rule of law and precedent would result in disastrous consequences for women seeking abortions, as well as for their families.
“State legislators are the first line of defense against policies that deliberately roll back progress on abortion rights and reproductive health across the country, and the overwhelming majority of the public agrees we must protect Roe v. Wade,” said the organization’s Jennifer Driver. “With this amicus brief, nearly 900 legislators are sending the Supreme Court a clear message: We cannot go back. You must uphold 50 years of legal abortion in all 50 states.”
The amicus brief in the Mississippi case comes on the heels of passage of a stricter abortion law in Texas that bans the procedure after fetal cardiac activity is detected, typically about six weeks.
“Texas is showing us what a world without Roe v. Wade looks like — one where wealthier people can travel to get reproductive care while poorer people are stripped of their rights,” said Georgia Rep. Kim Schofield, D-Atlanta. “We can’t let that happen.”
Last week, Georgia Democrats specifically expressed their concern that a Texas-style abortion bill could soon be introduced in the Peach State.
On Friday, the U.S. 11th Circuit Court of Appeals is set for a hearing on Georgia’s abortion law, which has been tied up in court since it was passed by the Republican-led General Assembly two years ago.
Georgia’s abortion bill – House Bill 481 – known as the Living Infants Fairness Equality Act – also seeks to prevent abortions after a fetal heartbeat has been detected, except in special situations. A U.S. District Court judge ruled it unconstitutional last year following lawsuits brought by the American Civil Liberties Union, Planned Parenthood and the Center for Reproductive Rights.
This story is available through a news partnership with Capitol Beat News Service, a project of the Georgia Press Educational Foundation.
