SEATTLE — On Tuesday night, dozens of nurses at Seattle Children's Psychiatric and Behavioral Medicine Unit held a candlelight vigil to address violence at the unit.
Nurses say they don't have enough resources to deal with a growing pediatric mental health crisis and they're fearing for their lives.
Last month, the Washington State Nurses Association sent a letter to the facility urgently requesting more help. WSNA says police have been called over violent incidents and that children are staying there for months because there's nowhere for them to go. The unit was designed to only care for patients in a short-term capacity of three to seven days.
WSNA said police responded after "patients turned over carts, used a pole to swing at people, broke windows, and held a nurse in a chokehold."
Then, on the same day, a nurse in a different part of the unit was "choked, struck in the head 16 times, and nearly lost consciousness."
"We have a lot of kids that are stuck on the unit without safe discharging plans which has really just bottlenecked the entire system," said Lexi Webster, a nurse at Seattle Children's. "Right now, we only have 109 residential beds to serve every child in Washington state, which is very clearly not enough."
Webster said they would like to see more security staff in addition to more healthcare staff.
“Safety officers on the unit, to be able to help with behavior management, de-escalation, and really get to the root of the problem before it gets to aggression," said Webster.
Last month, the WSNA sent a letter to the facility urgently requesting more help in their unit.
“But we need to also put the pressure on leadership not just at the facility level, but at the state level, your lawmakers," said Justin Gill. president of the WSNA.
Speaking of state lawmakers, a couple even showed up to speak at the event Tuesday.
“The state, including me as a legislator, not just the state but your legislators, need to step up and continue to say we are supporting and investing in the entire spectrum of care," said Gerry Pollet, D-46th District.
Nicole Macri, D-43rd District, also took to the microphone, adding, "I will be standing with you as you continue to make sure you have a safe and equitable working environment.”
Nurses are set to speak with hospital leadership on Wednesday.
A few weeks ago, the hospital told KING 5, "The safety, security and well-being of Seattle Children's patients and workforce is our top priority and we have intensified efforts over the past several months to address this demand."
Violence towards nurses and healthcare workers in general has become more common in recent years. Data shows that American healthcare workers now suffer more nonfatal injuries from workplace violence than workers in any other profession, including law enforcement.
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