HONOLULU (KHON2) — A worker at the Hawaii State Hospital described their work situation as severely short-staffed and dangerous. They said the faulty construction at the new building is just the tip of the iceberg.
Problems at the Hawaii State Hospital are much worse than people realize according to a long time employee who asked to remain anonymous
“It’s horrible,” the worker added. “Morale is horrible. The staffing is despicable. The conditions we’re working in are horrific.”
They said lawmakers are focused on fixing faulty construction in the new $160M Hale Hoola building when things are much worse in the older buildings.
“The structure of the building, what we have to work in is not safe,” the worker explained. “We don’t always have the supplies we need to take care of our patients.”
But they added that the staffing shortage is putting everyone at risk.
“We’re compromising patient safety and staff safety in order to make the numbers work,” the worker explained.
Mark Linscott, the Hawaii State Hospital Administrator, said they have 240 vacancies that the leadership team is working to fill.
In a statement, Linscott said “in order to meet standards, we must augment staffing with agency or temporary hires to staff for census, acuity and assure the highest quality of care for our patients.”
The worker said those people aren’t qualified to do those jobs.
“The staffing is not trained well enough to be in places they are,” the worker explained.
They said inadequate training dealing with mentally ill patients and insufficient staffing is a recipe for disaster.
The 2022 State Hospital Annual report shows the number of times patients assaulted staff between 2016 and 2021 jumped from 76 to 234.
In 2023, Tommy Carvalho, a patient at the hospital, was indicted for murder, accused of stabbing nurse Justin Bautista to death.
The worker said they are afraid what happened to Bautista could happen again.
“It’s going to happen again. It’s just a matter of time.”
KHON2 sat down with the House Health Committee Chair Representative Gregg Takayama.
“They need to work through the union and to work with managements on bringing the problems to their attention. I think that’s number one,” Takayama explained. “And it’s when their complaints fail to reach satisfactory response. Then I think then you need to resort to other means.”
But Takayama said it’s a process they don’t get involved in.
The worker said they’ve tried to ask for help.
“Going to the higher ups, it falls on deaf ears,” they explained.
According to Linscott, administrators meet with staff regularly and that there were a total of 74 employee grievances last quarter. But they did not explain what they were for.
Linscott said 71% of the grievances have been closed, which leaves over 20 unresolved.
In a statement the Hawaii Government Employees Association (HGEA) said:
“The unsafe working conditions and severe staffing shortages at the state hospital are decades-long problems that have been subject of numerous grievances and prohibitive practice complaints by HGEA. Despite the appalling conditions our members face, they show up every day with the best interest of their patients at heart. Perhaps after years of ignoring the complaints of these healthcare professionals, lawmakers and state officials are finally ready to listen and do something?”
“A lot of us who work there absolutely do not agree with how the money is being spent and things are being done, but we’re trying,” they said. “We really are.”
But they said, they need help.