Nurses and support staff at McFarland Mental Health Center in Springfield are trying to draw attention to staffing shortages that they say are putting workers and patients at the facility in danger.
More than 10-percent of nursing jobs and 20-percent of nursing assistant and mental health technician positions are vacant, and the unions representing those employees say the state is not moving quickly enough to fill them. As a result, they say the staff on hand is being forced to work mandatory overtime, leaving them exhausted and potentially affecting the quality of care.
AFSCME and the Illinois Nurses Association held an informational picket Wednesday to put pressure on the state to address the situation.
