TEWKSBURY, Mass. — At Tewksbury State Hospital, for the third time in less than a week, staffers are dealing with violence.
Friday morning, police say, a staffer was assaulted in an unprovoked attack.
Police say a patient punched the staffer twice in the face.
On Thursday, police say, a patient smashed a hospital window before barricading herself into a bathroom.
Those two incidents just days after a man, who was visiting his brother at the hospital, was charged with pushing a chair into a pregnant nurse while the brother was having a health emergency.
Police and union officials say all of this happening shortly after hospital policies changed which ban hospital security from using handcuffs, pepper spray of collapsible batons.
“There is an epidemic of violence at this facility,” Tewksbury hospital nurse Ryan Wilkins, a union official, told me.
Wilkins tells me the nurses’ union is calling for an emergency meeting between state leaders and front-line workers, but he says the request is falling on deaf ears.
“We largely feel that we’ve been left out to dry here. It’s disheartening, it’s disappointing, and it’s scary altogether,” he said.
State officials insist they are keeping the lines of communication open, adding that until recently, Tewksbury Hospital was the only state facility that still allowed security staff to use defensive weapons.
The Office of Health and Human Services released a statement on the matter.
“The safety of patients, staff and the Tewksbury community is our top priority,” the statement said. ”We appreciate our partnership and ongoing discussions with town officials, Tewksbury State Hospital leaders, and unions to make sure staff have an appropriate range of tools available to keep themselves and others safe.”
The patient involved in the most recent incident will be charged with assault and battery on a health care worker.
The patient will be summoned to appear in court.
In a statement, the Tewksbury Police chief said the state Executive Office of Public Safety and Security is reviewing Friday’s incident.
This is a developing story. Check back for updates as more information becomes available.
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