Members of the Illinois Nurses Association are taking to the picket line after a nurse was recently attacked by a patient inside Packard Mental Health Center in Springfield.
According to a press release, a staff member at Packard was injured as a result of an attack by a patient in what they are calling unsafe staffing conditions. In response, nurses at Packard Mental Health Center (formerly McFarland Mental Health Center), members of the Illinois Nurses Association (INA), will take to the streets at 10 a.m. on Thursday, October 16, outside the facility at 901 E. Southwind Road, Springfield, to demand immediate action from management and the state to end chronic understaffing and unsafe working conditions.
“Every day we go to work knowing that we may not have enough staff to keep each other or our patients safe,” said Kerstin Huffman, INA Unit President. “This attack was not an accident, it was predictable and preventable. Management ignored the warnings, and now someone’s been hurt.”
Nurses report being routinely assigned to supervise other staff, leaving fewer clinicians available for direct patient care. In a high-acuity forensic setting, this shortfall has created a volatile environment where crises can escalate in seconds.
“In mental health care, safety and staffing are inseparable,” said Marcie West, INA Vice President. “Understaffing and forced out-of-classification work have created conditions that are unsafe, unsustainable, and unethical. “Staff-to-patient ratios are dangerously low,” added Alexandra Schlosser, INA Secretary. “We’re stretched so thin that one emergency can spiral into chaos. Violence is becoming normalized and that’s unacceptable.”
The nurses are demanding that the Illinois Department of Human Services and Packard management take immediate corrective action to:
- Hire and retain qualified nursing and support staff
- End the use of out-of-classification assignments as a stopgap
- Provide adequate safety training, equipment, and support for all staff
- Include frontline nurses in decision-making about safety protocols
“This isn’t just a workplace issue, it’s a public safety crisis,” Huffman said. “If Packard isn’t safe for staff, it isn’t safe for patients or the community. We need real accountability, not empty promises.”
The Illinois Department of Human Services have been embroiled in staffing issues and even in-patient treatment problems for a significant amount of time. Last year, ProPublica and Capitol News Illinois detailed abuses inside Choate Mental Health Facility in Anna.