An emergency room employee is recovering in a Pittsburgh hospital after he was violently assaulted at work.
A patient at UPMC Altoona is now facing aggravated assault charges, accused of seriously injuring a patient care technician Saturday.
Court records and a GoFundMe page identify the tech as Travis Dunn.
According to court documents, police were called to the hospital and found Dunn on the floor of the emergency room, unconscious, with his coworkers rendering aid.
Police said a patient, Bradley Lloyd, hit Travis repeatedly in the head. He was flown to Presby for emergency surgery and suffered a brain bleed, fractured skull and other serious injuries.
“We are so sorry that this happened to you. It should have never happened,” Jamie Balsamo said through tears. “It could be any one of us on any given day.”
Balsamo is an RN at UPMC Altoona and the SEIU Healthcare PA chapter president. She described the last few days as traumatic, heartbreaking and angering. She said the union has been fighting for safer working conditions for years.
“We tell them someone is going to get seriously hurt if we don’t implement these things, and here we are,” she said.
A GoFundMe account for Dunn raised over $10,000 in the first three hours it was live. It had surpassed $22,000 at the time this article was published on Tuesday evening.
UPMC told Channel 11 Tuesday evening that Dunn will receive full pay and benefits while he recovers and will not need to use PTO. The hospital system also said workers’ compensation is “immediately in place,” and there is a “priority process in place,” for insurance claims and the employee will see no out-of-pocket expenses.
There are full statements from UPMC and the unions at the bottom of this story.
11 Investigates exclusively surveyed over 500 healthcare workers from across Pennsylvania earlier this year. Of those surveyed, 93 percent said they felt afraid at work due to concerns about violence. Sixty-four percent said they had at least one physically violent encounter within the last year.
“I don’t work in the emergency department, but I’m very close with a lot of them, and I know the abuse they take there,” Balsamo said. “I know some of the other assaults that have happened, and I know a lot of them have left because of that… They couldn’t take the anxiety walking in every day wondering how badly they were going to be abused.”
This weekend’s assault happened three days after nurses protested outside the hospital, saying staffing levels have reached crisis level and calling on UPMC to make changes. The nurse’s union is currently in contract talks with UPMC.
The nurse’s union, SEIU Healthcare PA, said that since UPMC took over in 2014, staffing levels have decreased and ER wait times have increased.
SEIU Healthcare PA and AFSCME Local 691, the union that represents health care professionals and support staff, released a joint statement Tuesday afternoon.
On November 1, a patient care technician at UPMC Altoona hospital was violently attacked by a patient in the emergency room and suffered a fractured skull, brain bleed and other serious injuries. Altoona healthcare workers represented by AFSCME Local 691 and nurses represented by SEIU Healthcare PA issued the following joint statement:
“We are horrified by the attack on our coworker at UPMC Altoona, and we express our deepest heartfelt sympathy for him and his family. We are hoping that our coworker makes a full recovery, and have launched a GoFundMe to help support him. We encourage everyone throughout our community and our commonwealth to contribute.
“Unfortunately, we were appalled by this attack, but we were not surprised. For many years we have been strongly calling on UPMC to implement greater safety measures and safer staffing levels to help prevent such attacks from taking place. Our pleas became more urgent when the deadly attack occurred earlier this year at UPMC Memorial in York. But our proposed solutions have been met by resistance from UPMC.
“There is a mental health crisis in our region and across the country, and hospital workers are on the front lines. We are the ones who regularly bear the verbal and physical abuse from patients who too often do not have adequate mental healthcare and support. When we are severely understaffed, it aggravates patients’ frustrations and leaves us unable to adequately de-escalate dangerous situations or respond to them when they happen.
“Since UPMC’s takeover of our hospital, the total number of full time employees has decreased from 2,198 to 1,451, according to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS). During that time, the number of ‘patient days,’ or days that patients spend in the hospital, held steady at around 82,000 per year, according to CMS.
“To meet our patients’ needs while keeping everyone safe, Altoona hospital workers are united in our demand to UPMC to immediately implement the following urgent measures to prevent another violent attack:
- A full and transparent investigation into the incident, including how and why current safety protocols failed, and what measures could have prevented it.
- A clear, enforced zero-tolerance policy for violence or threats against healthcare workers—by patients, visitors, or staff.
- Posted signs in every area of the hospital that assaulting a healthcare worker is a felony.
- Panic alarms installed in every patient care area.
- Metal detectors installed at all patient and visitor entry points.
- Enhanced security presence and faster response times, particularly in high-risk areas such as the ER, and during off-peak hours.
- Mandatory de-escalation and workplace safety training for all staff, with regular refreshers.
- Comprehensive support for affected employees, including paid leave, trauma counseling, and legal or workers’ compensation assistance as needed.
- Direct involvement of frontline employees and union representatives in developing and implementing safety improvements.
“As Pennsylvania’s largest healthcare provider and private employer, UPMC should be leading the hospital industry in setting the highest safety standards. UPMC has made hundreds of millions of dollars in just the first half of this year, and has many billions in revenue, cash and investments. UPMC executives have the resources to invest in ensuring that Altoona and all their hospitals are safe for healthcare workers, our patients and families. It is our sincere hope that this terrible tragedy moves UPMC to listen to us and bring about long-needed change.”
In response to the demands, UPMC released the following statement to WPXI:
“The recent incident at UPMC Altoona was a tragic and deeply distressing event. There was no gun involved, and no weapon was detected by our magnetometer or other screening systems. This was a violent act by a patient in crisis — a heartbreaking example of the challenges health care workers are facing nationwide as workplace violence in health care settings continues to rise.
“Everyone deserves to feel safe at work. We have taken significant, ongoing steps to strengthen safety and security across UPMC hospitals and facilities. We have engaged top national security experts to assess and advise on enhancements, held meetings with employees and physicians to hear their concerns and ideas, and implemented hundreds of improvements — including advanced education and training, active drills, panic buttons, secure rooms, reduced access points, and enhanced facility entrance technologies.
“When any member of our UPMC family is injured, our first priority is their health, recovery, and well-being. We stand with them and their colleagues, and we remain unwavering in our commitment to providing a safe, secure environment for everyone who works, receives care, or visits our facilities.”
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