Staff resignations deepen health care problems at New York jail

A New York jail is struggling to provide adequate health care and pay medical workers, even after the last health vendor went bankrupt and a new one took over. Now, nurses are resigning.

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Medical workers say healthcare at an upstate New York jail is in shambles. Supplies and prescription drugs are running out. Some workers are leaving, others are waiting for paychecks. Kimberly Izar from Radio Catskill reports.

KIMBERLY IZAR, BYLINE: Jael Montgomery worked as a licensed practical nurse at the Orange County Jail in New York for about a year. But after the healthcare contractor YesCare filed for bankruptcy in May, she quit. Montgomery says she and dozens of other healthcare workers went weeks without pay, and they’re still missing a paycheck.

JAEL MONTGOMERY: Honestly, I live paycheck to paycheck. Thankfully, I had friends and family that could step in and help me, but bills still come at the same time.

IZAR: YesCare’s bankruptcy has also left jail healthcare workers without pay in states including Alabama, Florida and Pennsylvania. Montgomery says medications and supplies have run low at Orange County Jail. Instead of latex gloves, she’s sometimes resorted to using food-service gloves.

MONTGOMERY: Also, medications like trazodone. It’s a mental health med. That never came in.

IZAR: A new provider, CFG Health, has since taken over for YesCare in some states. Linn Guerrero, CFG Health’s chief legal officer, says they’re trying to ensure employees are caught up on pay.

LINN GUERRERO: We’ve talked about Orange County withholding payment to YesCare and trying to get these people paid their, you know, essentially back pay at this point.

IZAR: The county said in an email to NPR that the medical provider is responsible for paying its employees. Critics say YesCare’s bankruptcy highlights larger concerns. Steve Zeidman, co-director of the CUNY School of Law Defenders Clinic, says a huge challenge in prison healthcare is accountability.

STEVE ZEIDMAN: We’re constantly trying to figure out who is contracting to provide medical care. And what are the qualifications of these people? Is anybody auditing them?

IZAR: New York State oversight agencies have long been criticized for delaying inspections. CFG Health and Orange County Jail did not respond to our questions about oversight practices before the story aired.

For NPR News, I’m Kimberly Izar in Liberty, New York.

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