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Public commenter cites NYSDOH survey about ACC incident; chair curtails staff criticism
Summary
During public comment, a speaker read portions of a newly released New York State Department of Health survey alleging care failures at ACC connected to a March 21 incident. The chair intervened to stop demeaning remarks about staff; a county participant noted that the DOH survey is a public document.
A member of the public used the Legislature’s public-comment period to read from a newly released New York State Department of Health (NYSDOH) survey concerning an incident at ACC on March 21.
The commenter said the DOH survey reported that “a CNA, quote, bear hugged a resident to the floor and then carried him to his room before 3 witnesses,” and that the director of nursing had been cited for not investigating the incident and for administering medication “which had been allocated to someone else to subdue the resident.” The speaker said the survey concluded facility staff had not been trained adequately to care for patients with psychiatric disorders other than dementia.
The chair interrupted and reminded the room that public speakers should not demean county employees or agency staff. The chair said, “We are not going to talk about staff whether they are hours or agency. We are not going to demean our staff.”
A county participant responded that the speaker’s statements were drawn from a public DOH document and said, “This is not a debate. This is not a debate. I will not tolerate any demeaning,” while also noting the DOH report is publicly available. The original commenter then said they would “dismiss my public comment.”
No legislative action was taken during the meeting based on the survey; the item remained as public comment on the record and attendees were directed to the DOH’s publicly posted materials for details.
