DANBURY, Conn.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--HealthBridge Management Health Care Centers spokesperson Lisa Crutchfield today issued the following statement regarding further actions taken by the company in connection with the December 11 order by the U.S. District Court for the District of Connecticut judge to grant the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) 10(j) petition for injunctive relief in the case of members of the New England Health Care Employees Union, District 1199 SEIU striking against five Connecticut HealthBridge Centers:
“HealthBridge managed health care centers today filed a notice of appeal with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit. The centers separately filed in U.S. District Court for the District of Connecticut a motion to stay the implementation of the order.”
“We are acting in the best interests of our residents. Their well-being is paramount to us.”
“We continue to believe the decision to grant injunctive relief unnecessarily short circuits the established venue – the ongoing NLRB trial – in which this issue should be resolved, and we continue to be confident that we will ultimately prevail in this matter.”
“More importantly, implementation of an injunction returning the striking SEIU members to the workplace would expose residents to the very people who sought to do them harm during the July 3 walkout. The acts of criminality committed against our residents by some of those going out on strike on July placed our residents in serious jeopardy, and we find it unfathomable that these individuals would be returned to care for our residents before those responsible are identified and prosecuted.”
When the union walked out July 3 in a strike action, in three of the five affected Connecticut HealthBridge Management Health Care Centers multiple criminal acts of sabotage were committed against Center residents. Residents' wristbands were removed and discarded. Names on patient doors and wheelchairs were changed. Stickers indicating how residents could safely be fed were removed. The names of residents in Alzheimer’s and memory care units were switched. The perpetrators took these actions deliberately, with the clear knowledge that they would put residents at severe risk of receiving the wrong medications, improper dosages of medications, or foods they should not eat.
Those criminal acts are the subject of an ongoing investigation by Connecticut’s Chief State’s Attorney.