Senator William T. Stachowski participated in the grand opening of the State University of NY at Buffalo and the Western New York Council on Occupational Safety and Health Safe Patient Handling facility. 

 

“I am very happy to have helped play a part in bringing this state of the art patient lifting and moving lab to UB,” said Senator Stachowski. “Preventing workforce injuries of those caring for our loved ones is a very important issue today. Nursing and healthcare has injury averages the same as freight handlers, and this lab will help bring the number of injuries down.”

 

The equipment for the lab and training center was obtained through a NYS legislative grant. Joining Senator Stachowski were members of the UB Administration, Kaleida Health VP Maureen Caruana, healthcare leaders Gaen Hooley and Terri Schelter,  WNY Area Labor Federation VP Richard Lipsitz, and area OSHA Administrator Art Dube will briefly speak to the media about the importance of this facility and the collaboration between the University, healthcare facilities/unions, and elected officials that made this project possible. 

 

OSHA has documented that the leading serious injuries in Western New York and across the State occur in the healthcare industry  (nursing homes and hospitals).   This is due to the fact that nurses, for example, manually lift an average of 1.8 tons per day.   Over time, lifting and repositioning of patients and residents results in debilitating back and other musculoskeletal injuries that result in high workers’ compensation costs, lost workdays, staff turnover, and indirect costs such as staff replacement and retraining.  12% of nurses leave the nursing profession annually because of these chronic disorders.

 

The majority of these injuries are preventable.  Locally, health care providers such as Kaleida Health and the NYS Veterans Home in Batavia have eliminated the majority of their direct care worker injuries and associated costs through the implementation of Safe Patient Handling programs.  They have invested in ergonomically designed beds, lifting assists and repositioning devices that can be used by healthcare workers as an alternative to patient and resident manual lifting. They have provided direct worker training on the equipment. Within an average of two to three years there is a positive Return on Investment.

 

Most healthcare school curriculum do not provide training on Safe Patient Handling equipment and most healthcare facilities do not have adequate equipment and training.  The new University of Buffalo/WNYCOSH Safe Patient Handling Lab and Training Center is a positive response to this current state of affairs.  It will provide training for all of the nursing, occupational therapy/physical therapy and medical students at UB.  It will be available to other schools as well.  WNY healthcare professionals will get Continuing Education Credits at the Center.  And it will be available for training staff at area healthcare facilities.

 

FOR INFORMATION CONTACT:  Roger Cook, Exec. Director, WNYCOSH or Germain Harnden, Co-Director at 833-5416.