By C1 Staff
SALINAS VALLEY, Calif. — Salinas Valley State Prison nurses attended a Soledad City Council meeting on Wednesday to make their voices heard regarding a new staffing proposal.
The Californian reports that the new staffing plan would assign medical staff to a prison based on the severity of the inmate-patients’ conditions.
The plan, approved by the California State Legislature in July 2014, would have the CDCR implement a ratio of one licensed vocational nurse to 100 inmate-patients.
“They’re using a hospital-based system for our staffing and it just doesn’t work out like that,” said LVN Michael Strauss. “We don’t have that kind of system. It’s not even close. This doesn’t fit.”
A spokesperson for the California Correctional Health Care Services said the ratio of LVNs to inmate-patients will be closer to 1:68 once a new of new medical staff are hired.
The proposal would allow the union, SVSP, to hire three new LVNs and 9.5 new psychiatric technicians, but would lose 5.5 registered nurses.
The California state prison system has been left with a sicker inmate population after realignment moved many of the low-risk, who are often younger and healthier, inmates to county facilities.
The spokesperson continued, saying that the new plan is needs-based rather than population-based. The new model was put into place Dec. 2, but CCHCS is still working with several prison unions to iron out some details.
Strauss countered by saying that such a system won’t work at the violent Salinas Valley State Prison, which is the number two most violent prison in California. Such a proposal would decrease staffing in areas, leaving fewer LVNs to deal with bigger populations.
Fewer nurses would also make it difficult to pass out medications in a timely fashion; nurses only have a two-hour window to distribute medications to inmates. Anything beyond that requires a doctor’s order.
CCHCS said they’re waiting on a report analyzing the amount of medical work versus the number of nurses, but are unsure when that study would be available.
Another issue at Salinas Valley is a broken call light system that the nursing staff has been trying to get fixed for two years. Without it, staff members are forced to walk the halls in 15-minute intervals to see if anyone needs assistance. It’s still unclear when the system will be fixed.
One area of support nurses were looking to was Assembly Bill 2155, which was vetoed when it reached Gov. Jerry Browns’ desk.