Leaders from hospitals and health systems across Central New York announced the launch of a new collaborative effort, Respect and Heal, aimed at ensuring the safe and respectful treatment of health care workers.

The leaders were joined by a nurse who suffered a concussion during an altercation with a patient and the Onondaga County District Attorney William Fitzpatrick who promised to personally investigate any allegation of violence against health care workers.

The campaign comes at a time that finds incidents of violent, disrespectful and disruptive behavior aimed at health care workers is on the rise.  

"We have been raised as CEOs to protect and serve our patients; now we have to turn our focus on protecting our employees,” said Darlene Stromstad, FACHE, president and CEO of the Mohawk Valley Health System, acknowledging the increased violence health care workers are facing.

Crouse Health President and CEO Seth Kronenberg, MD, said: “Health care is hard; we should not make it harder as a society by subjecting our health care workers who come to work as a calling to be worried about their own safety.”

The most personal reflection on the current health care workplace climate came from Jeremy Donohue, a register nurse with Oswego Health, who had been deployed as an army medic in Afghanistan. Donohue recounted how in trying to provide care to a patient at the hospital, he was struck and suffered a concussion, missing several days of work. He also spoke of how other staffers gave up on their health care careers after witnessing violent altercations.

Others who spoke shared similar concerns and said greater protections for health care workers are needed now, especially as the field faces challenges finding new employees.

Onondaga County District Attorney William Fitzpatrick agreed that stricter penalties for assaulting health care workers were needed. He pledged to personally investigate such cases.

“Here’s my promise to you,” Fitzpatrick said. “From this point forward, every assault case that occurs at a hospital on one of your employees in Onondaga County is personally going to be reviewed by me.”

The CEOs will hold a safety summit next year to share best practices, examining training and staff education with a focus of deescalating difficult situations. Ideas, messaging and tools will also be shared to ensure a unified approach to Respect and Heal regardless of institution size.

Part of the Respect and Health platform addresses federal and state legislation that provides more penalties for individuals who knowingly and intentionally assault or intimidate hospital employees.
Bringing together seven health care leaders to speak in one voice demonstrates a vigorous commitment to fostering a culture or safety and respect that values the physical and psychological well-being of healthcare workers and patients, they said.

The leaders said that the vast majority of patients and families are grateful for the health care staff and the care they offer, but that everybody deserves an environment where caregivers are safe and can focus on healing.

In closing, Upstate University Hospital CEO Robert Corona, DO, MBA, underscored the major themes of the Respect and Heal campaign: “that all staff will be treated with respect, that there will be zero tolerance of any threat and that any violence against frontline staff will be met with the full enforcement of the law.”

Others who spoke at the announcement were Joshua Alexander, chief operating officer, Auburn Community Hospital; Michael Backus, president and CEO, Oswego Health; AnneMarie Czyż, president and CEO, Rome Health; and Meredith Price, CPA, FHFMA, senior vice president, St. Joseph's Health.

Caption: Participating in the announcement of the Respect and Heal campaign against violence toward health care workers are, from left, Darlene Stromstad, FACHE, president and CEO of the Mohawk Valley Health System; Joshua Alexander, chief operating officer, Auburn Community Hospital; Crouse Health President and CEO Seth Kronenberg, MD; Michael Backus, president and CEO, Oswego Health; Jeremy Donohue, a register nurse with Oswego Health; AnneMarie Czyż, president and CEO, Rome Health; Meredith Price, CPA, FHFMA, senior vice president, St. Joseph's Health; and Upstate University Hospital CEO Robert Corona, DO, MBA.