HCA Meet & Confer Updates: March 21, 2024
Dear OCEA member,
As you may know, when there are significant changes to your working conditions, OCEA has the right to meet and confer to discuss the potential impacts to your job. These meetings are a critical part of enforcing your rights as a union member and allow us the ability to bring your voice into the process. Here are updates from two recent meet & confers OCEA participated in at HCA.
Children & Adult Merger | Feb. 27, 2024
The purpose of this meeting was to gain clarity on the merger of the Adult and Children's CAT and express concerns with the roll out of the current dyad model. Attendees included Huda Bayaa, Amber Churchin, and Anny Bishop. HCA Human Resources staff and Management representatives from both Children and Adult CAT were also present in the discussion.
We confirmed that a full merger has not occurred, however clinicians are cross training due to the requirement to go out in pairs. We expressed the following concerns: (1) there is no clear timeline on when this is supposed to happen; (2) there is a lack of training and an unrealistic expectation to learn the other specialty in just 3 months; (3) we are doing a disservice to the community because clinicians spend their entire careers learning how to treat a specific population; and (4) the potential loss in clinicians once this is made final. Management was receptive to the feedback and expressed interest in retaining some specialty division, but they do not know what that looks like yet. Management is working on a timeline for their training plan and should have more information to us by the next time we meet.
Our next meeting on this matter is scheduled for April 9 at 11 a.m.
Mobile Crisis Services Benefit | Jan. 31, 2024
The purpose of this meeting was to express concerns related to the new directive to only use law enforcement strategically and the resulting various safety concerns. We discussed the information contained in the risk assessment tool and inquired about management’s tracking and response to safety incidents.
Attendees included Max Nguyen, Gloria Dialynas, Anny Bishop, Jesse Martinez, Kathy Raphael, Katherine Lasure, Ashlee Weisz, Hector Varela, and Margaret Peterson. HCA Human Resources and Management representatives from CAT also attended.
We received updates in early March on some of the items we discussed:
Debriefing
Beginning March 6, Program added a “debrief” as appropriate to each of the CAT staff meetings. Program also tapped the Disaster Response team to set up a training on debriefing with the Service Chiefs team to ensure they are up to date on the latest best practices, etc. That training is scheduled for March 21.
Chorus Mobile Application
Program is evaluating the Chorus mobile app with their Data Analytics Team to see if they can add the “star” and comments for high profile or high use clients like what is seen on the laptops/PCs.
Adding Notes to the EHR
While new code is being developed to do this, the Service Chiefs have worked with office support to add the FINs (Financial Identification Number) to IRIS and scan in the clinical notes to the client’s chart. Program will remain in touch with the IRIS team as to the timing of the new code so that this is automated.
Non-Violent Crisis Intervention (NVCI) Training
CAT Managers are following up with the NVCI trainers to ensure all new staff being onboarded get the in-person training at onboarding and that refresher trainings are being offered to existing staff as schedules/time permit.
Code 3 Emergencies
To avoid putting staff in certain situations, CAT Managers are currently working with individual police departments to ensure when there is a Code 3 emergency—such as a mass casualty event or active shooter event—PERT staff are let out of the vehicle into a safe location where they can then be picked up or Uber back to CAT suite.
Please note, adding history of violence and triggers to the comments section in the Chorus Dispatch tool as suggested may require a larger discussion since clinical information should not be housed in Chorus.
If you have any questions about this update, please contact OCEA Operations Manager Veronica Rodarte (vrodarte@ocea.org) or Michelle Rubio (mrubio@ocea.org), and please continue to read your OCEA updates.
In Solidarity,
OCEA
Publication Date: March 21, 2024
