Workplace Violence Prevention for Health Care and Social Service Workers Act

Floor Speech

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Mr. DeSAULNIER. Madam Chair, my amendment requires that healthcare workers and social service workers are provided with information on available mental health resources, trauma, and related counseling.

It is appalling that those who dedicate their lives to caring for people in need suffer workplace violence at disproportionately high rates across the Nation. In 2018, healthcare and social service workers were four times as likely to suffer a serious workplace violence injury than workers overall.

Between 2013 and 2016, one in four registered nurses and nursing students reported being physically assaulted at work by a patient or a patient's family member. And in 2017, State government healthcare and social service workers were almost 10 times more likely to be injured by an assault than private-sector healthcare workers.

Some, tragically, do not survive these incidents. Yesterday, I spoke about a former constituent, Donna Kay Gross of Concord, California, who was a psychiatric technician at Napa State Hospital in California.

She was brutally murdered by a patient outside the unit where she worked. She chose to go into this field and work as a technician because of a history of mental health in her family, and her mother was at Napa State Hospital.

Her story, unfortunately, is not completely unique. A few years ago here in Washington, Mindy Blandon, a registered nurse, was working in the surgical oncology unit when a patient she was treating became agitated. As Mindy and another nurse approached the bedside, the patient became combative.

At the end of an extended scuffle, the patient strangled Mindy with her own stethoscope. Luckily, Mindy survived with the support of her other staff, but the trauma she went through will forever affect her.

Workplace violence has serious physical and emotional consequences for workers and employers alike. While H.R. 1309 includes provisions for workers' medical care as part of the underlying bill, we must also address the psychological effects of workplace violence. Survivors of workplace violence are at an increased risk of long-term emotional problems and post-traumatic stress disorders which can be debilitating, lead to lost days of work, deteriorate productivity and morale, and sometimes even end workers' careers.

The high turnover that results weakens our Nation's healthcare workforce that is already stretched thin and discourages good people from entering these professions.

I am proud that California has led the way in preventing and responding to workplace violence against healthcare workers, including requiring the mental health service information that this amendment provides.

There is a clear need for these services. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, 18,400 workers in the private industry experienced trauma from nonfatal workplace violence in 2017. Of those victims who experience trauma from workplace violence, 71 percent worked in the healthcare and social assistance industry.

This amendment would bring the Workplace Violence Prevention for Health Care and Social Service Workers Act in line with the California law by ensuring that healthcare and social service workers are provided with critical information on trauma and related counseling for employees after a violent incident.

Madam Chair, I urge support for the amendment, and I reserve the balance of my time.

Ms. FOXX of North Carolina. Madam Chair, I claim the time in opposition to the amendment.

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Mr. DeSAULNIER. Madam Chair, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from Florida (Mr. Hastings), my distinguished friend.

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Mr. DeSAULNIER. Madam Chair, I urge my colleagues to support the amendment, and I yield back the balance of my time.

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