The Recession and Workplace Suicide

During this unsteady recession, employers must have a watchful eye on their employees. There was an article featured on http://www.msnbc.msn.com/ called “Your Career: Workplace Suicides on the Rise” featured on June 1, 2010. There is an increase in workplace suicides caused by a lack of jobs and home life. The government began tracking the statistics and found that workplace suicides jumped 28% to 251 cases in 2008. The employee assistance program counselors (EAP) program who assists many employers with their staff reported that suicides and attempted suicides were their highest of about 8 million after December 2008. These counselors are receiving additional training in crisis to handle the daily suicide calls they are receiving as opposed to once every two weeks. Currently, the suicide rates are up 75% in 2009.

Workers are viewing their co-workers who are losing their jobs. As a result, they are working longer hours which results in not taking vacations or lunches. The co-workers who were friends and were involved socially are now seen as competition, not just to receive raises but to keep their jobs. Employers have to be wary about changes in the workplace which may trigger anxiety. An example was given of an employee who committed suicide after being notified that a new supervisor was being assigned after many supervisors prior were laid off. Employees are even leaving notes blaming the workplace.

Statistically, most of the injuries are caused by gunshots wounds, asphyxiations/strangulations or suffocations by middle aged white males between the ages of 45 and 54. Many are from a duel income family but they often see themselves as the “bread winner”. The workplace are adding pressure to their employees with giving them more work which sets them up for failure by not meeting deadlines. As a result, people are suffering from insomnia which is causing other health issues.

This recession has caused a lot of mixed emotions among employees and employers must be understanding. People are sensitive to what the media are reporting about the economy from job loss, employers freezing salaries or not providing monetary raises. Employers must not forget to say “thank you” for a job well done or at least provide an appreciation breakfast or a lunch. This speaks volumes and employees will feel a part of the team during this difficult time. Please watch the video link below of a woman in New York City who thought about suicide due to unemployment and facing other financial difficulties.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p-GGSPVeQ0s

The Increase of Shaken Baby Syndrome and the Recession

There was an article featured in http://msnbc.com on April 30, 2010 which exposed the increase in the number of children and babies suffering with head trauma. The numbers rose to 55% when the recession began in 2007 which caused unemployment, homes in foreclosure and decrease funding for programs to assist with the prevention in child abuse. The third of the cases are children from age 1 to 6.

Shaken baby syndrome is defined as a forceful shaking of an infant or child for as little as 5 seconds causing the child’s head to rotate around the neck uncontrollably. The violent movement pitches the child’s brain back and forth within the skull, sometimes rupturing blood vessels and nerves throughout the brain tissue. Blindness, brain damage, seizures, and severe learning difficulties are common in children who survive. The fathers or boyfriends were responsible for this injury in most cases. There were budget cuts in child protection workers which is a critical need to monitor families and caregivers.

A 19 month old child in Pennsylvania was a victim of this syndrome when his mother’s boyfriend, Mr. Turner decided to bite the baby when the child bit him. Then he confessed punching the child and shaking him violently. The child had a broken arm and marks on his neck. The baby’s mother, Ms. Shirley testified that she left her child with Mr. Turner while she performed an errand. The child spent five days on a ventilator at the Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh before he passed away as a result of head trauma. Mr. Turner was sentenced to life in prison for the baby’s murder. The disturbing statistics revealed 63% of the children were admitted to a pediatric intensive care unit and about 16% died as a result of their injuries. Researchers reported that 90% of the children were enrolled in Medicaid programs.

Due to the recession, it’s predicted there are going to be a large number of injuries towards children. As the cuts in programs continue, the stress levels among parents are going to increase. Parents should be alert to other services that are available such as parenting and support groups which are conducted online. This is not the traditional counseling arena, but we as professionals have to begin to think outside the box to seek other resources.

A Breakthrough Drug for Retardation Syndrome

The New York Times published an article on April 29, 2010 about an experimental drug which is improving the behaviors found in retardation and autism especially Fragile X syndrome, the most common inherited cause of mental disabilities. Fragile X has mental effects ranging from mild learning disabilities to retardation such as not speaking. In addition, the physical effects include elongated faces, large jaws, big ears, and enlarged testes. It affects mostly affects boys due to one arm of the X chromosome seems nearly broken, with part hanging by a thread. Statistically, 10% to 15% of autism cases result from Fragile X syndrome which was discovered in 1991.
The drug was made by a Swiss pharmaceutical giant Novartis who spent three decades conducting research. A trial was conducted with only a few dozen patients. Dr. Mark C. Fishman, president of the Novartis Institute of Mental Health was notified of the Novartis trial results and stated the drug will not be commercially available and could fail in further trials. For ethical reasons, Novartis tested the drug only in adults but the company believes this treatment may be effective in young children who brains are more likely to respond rapidly when barriers to learning are removed. The Novaris trial which began in 2008 in Europe had the researcher measuring behaviors such as hyperactivity, repetitive motions, social withdrawal and inappropriate speech. Dr. Fishman was reluctant to make this public because he felt more experiments are needed.
The article illustrated that only five researchers in the world were working toward a cure. These numbers are low considering how many children and adults are diagnosed with some version of retardation syndrome. Due to budget limitations, many agencies are faced with eliminated programs to assist with support services and healthcare assistance. It’s an urgent cause which needs immediate attention by the medical and healthcare professionals.

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Lead Poisoning: Gone but Not Forgotten

There was an article on April 21, 2010 featured in the http://www.nytimes.com which describes a mother in Staten Island who has a child who was tested for lead poisoning. The results show that he had double the level of lead than the federal government considers cause of concern about poisoning. This issue has decreased throughout the years that it was almost considered a thing of the past. There are jurisdiction that do not have lead hazard laws which require landlords to check exposed lead based paint if children are living in the home. The compliance in New York City is lacking despite a comprehensive law which was passed in 2004. There was a survey among 120 tenants in Bushwick, Brooklyn which reported 59% of landlords has not followed any of the law.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) http://www.epa.gov will design a regulation that requires renovation and remodeling contractors to be certified in techniques for containing lead dust created during work. As a result, contractors are aware that the cost of renovation projects will increase in cost. This rule would apply to homes that were built before lead paint was banned in 1978. Governor David Paterson is researching ways to incorporate lead inspections into requirements for building permits and state assistance such as money for weatherization projects. The boroughs with the highest amount of lead in the soil are Brooklyn, Staten Island and Queens. The Department of Housing Preservation and Development (HUD) reported there were 31,463 violations in 2009 and the cost of repair reached $6 million. The Center for Disease Control (CDC) http://www.cdc.gov has prevention tips on how to protect children from lead paint, especially those under the age of 6 years who are at risk. It is estimated that 24 million housing units have leaded paint and lead contaminated house dust.

To illustrate this topic, the video "Lead Poisoning in Kids" was provided by the show How Stuff Works on February 20, 2009. It was aired on the Discovery Channel.

Healthcare Professionals and Client Violence in the Workplace

Let's begin by defining workplace violence which is a threat, verbal abuse, physical assaullt or a homicide against workers. OSHA (Occupational Safety and Health Administration)http://www.osha.gov/ reported that healthcare and social services are the most at risk in any type of environment. Some of the risk factors are: weapons, the increase of mentally ill patients released from hospitals without followup care, long patient waits in emergency rooms, drug abuse, low staff, isolated work areas, and lack of training in how to recognize and handle hostile clients.

Employers have protocal in place such as handbooks detailing the procedures if one should encountera violent situations. Employees are undergoing safety education by utilizing the buddy system. This term is used when co-workers leave a facility in pairs to minimize the chances of an incident occurring to them.

On http://www.nyc.gov/ there was an article posted on February 27, 2007 where Mayor Bloomberg discussed that his office would work towards assaulting an ACS social worker a felony crime. This protection was granted to teachers, police officers, and transit workers.

Last year, my agency organized a safety workshop on how employees could keep themselves safe when working in an unsafe neighborhood. I expected the agency to provide additional training on how to defend oneself from a hostile client. This brings to mind--will an employee be reprimanded if he/she physically defend oneself from such a person or will this be a conflict of interest since we are hired to provide supportive services.

Medical Crisis and Healthcare Reform

There was an article posted on http://www.cnnmoney.com/ on March 17, 2010 written by Parija Kavilanz which focused on the medicaid issue faced by a pediatric practice in Georgia. A doctor had to refer a child to a pediatric orthopedic surgeon who would take Medicaid. The process took a long time and the injury healed on its own.

The Medicaid problem is causing doctors from taking new patients or dropping them. The reinbursement payments are low so businesses have closed. As a result, doctors are viewing more patients. Staff and doctors at this practice were laid off due to low income who are immigrants and refugee who have special needs.

For comparison, Medicaid payments are lower than Medicare. Medicare charges $100 for an elderly person's visit. Doctors are reinbursed $76, but if a child on Medicaid has the same illness the reinbursement is $50. There are differences between the two. Medicare rates are set by Congress and Medicaid allows the state to pay whatever they want. Doctors are concerned the budget crisis will cause more reinbursement cuts. I can relate with this article, when one of my patients was unable to locate a dermatologist for her daughter with Medicaid in New York City.

This brings up the controversey of healthcare reform. What concerns me are the penalties for people who do not get medical coverage both individually and for business owners. What if someone is not able to manage the financial responsibilities? I do not agree with this proposal. I favor how the managed care companies will not be able to discontinue coverage for someone with a pre-existing condition. At least this action will save many lives.

Census 2010: Extended Families Reaches A High

According to the census analysis, the extended family is increasing due to delayed marriage, immigration, foreclosure and job loss due to the economy. During 2008, the beginning of the recession about 2.6 million more Americans lived in multigenerational household than did the year before. There is an increase of a family members 65 years and older. Many them do not want to be a burden to their children, but often they are left with no other alternative. The populations represented in these statistics are Black, Asian, and Hispanic Americans than Non-Whites.To date nearly half the 49 million Americans living in extended families are made up of two adult generations with the youngest being 25 years old.

As the recession deficit continues to rise, the extended family under the same household will be a growing trend. This is a unnerving reality in which we are moving backwards instead of forwards. Today's society is a reflection of many years ago when our parents experienced the Great Depression--unfortunally it's our turn. To read this article in it's entirety go to http://www.nytimes.com/ which was written by Mr. Sam Roberts and published on March 18, 2010.