Violence against healthcare workers is rising at an alarming rate. Just over a week ago, the entire country witnessed the ICU at UPMC York held hostage by a gunman with zip ties. Staff were struck by bullets, and an officer lost his life in the process. Within the same week, a nurse in Florida at HCA Palms West was beaten so badly by a patient that every bone in her face was broken, leaving her with unimaginable lifelong trauma. Both scenarios are just some of the horrible events facing healthcare workers across the country in the recent headlines. 

At Jersey Shore University Medical Center, we see large and small incidents of workplace violence on a daily basis. JSUMC has implemented wanding in the ED and given staff crisis prevention training, but most staff do not feel these measures are enough to keep us safe. We need more aggressive measures to ensure safety across the hospital. Healthcare workers should be able to come to work and perform their duties without fear of harm. Patients and community members deserve to be treated in a safe hospital. 

To protect all of us, the undersigned demand that JSUMC place metal detectors at all entrances and have a Neptune police officer stationed in the Emergency Department at all times.