The following is a firsthand account from a Missouri prison nurse detailing the worsening crisis in Missouri’s correctional healthcare. Their plea underscores the urgent need for intervention and reform.
“Hello, Everyone. It’s been a while.
Believe it or not, I’m still holding on by a thread. I wish I was writing again with a positive update, but, unfortunately it’s quite the opposite.
I truly believed things could not get any worse, but somehow it does.
Patients still are not being treated. Staff are being harassed and retaliated against at an all time high. More and more staff have left.
Emergency Rooms are being left unstaffed, yet administration just keeps running off more and more staff. Yet they seem to cling to the “bad” staff!
Nurses with decades of experience are being pushed to quit, when there is no one to replace them.
They canceled agency contracts across the state and had no one to fill the holes with.
Morals and values are being stripped and we are all waiting for a miracle.
More and more job duties are being added to one person and we are all drowning. What used to be multiple positions are now being filled with one person, with no extra pay incentive, no help, no anything but more and more work.
If we can’t keep up, what does that tell you about the care the residents are receiving? This isn’t okay.
I am calling for the governor to step in immediately. Governor Mike Kehoe, please visit all of the prisons and speak to your healthcare staff. Specifically, speak to your healthcare staff that have been around for more than a couple of years. Go to your medical camps.
Governor, ask them to show you hands-on what their jobs are and how much they’re being asked to do. Ask them to show you what isn’t getting done. Ask them about the retaliation going on by administrators at multiple levels if you even attempt to report anything.
I am begging you, please step in.
Some of you may recall my last letter. All of that still stands true with only worsening conditions.
Sincerely,
Just a Prison Nurse”
