WORCESTER -- In the words of David Foley, "things are not going well" at Community HealthLink in Worcester.
Foley is president of Local 509 of the Service Employees International Union and said low wages have resulted in not enough staff, which means not enough treatment beds to serve some of Worcester's most vulnerable residents.
The organization is an affiliate of UMass Memorial Health and provides services to the homeless and people suffering with substance use and mental health challenges.
Low wages and former "chaos" in the detox program are why it has been closed for the past 16 months, said Foley. Detox and two other programs at Community HealthLink -- Transitional Support Services and Clinical Support Services -- temporarily shut down last year after a surprise state inspection.
Foley said he was told by Community Healthlink that detox would reopen in June, but, he said, it hasn't because of substandard wages. The other two programs reopened earlier this year, Transitional Support Services in the spring and Clinical Support Services in July.
Foley said Community HealthLink is trying to fix mismanagement issues that have plagued the organization. Soon after the state inspection, President Tamara Lundi left the organization. No reason was given for her departure. Roughly 80 employees were laid off and dozens of treatment beds were taken offline.
Even with efforts to fix internal management issues, Foley said until wages increase, there won't be enough workers to reopen the detox program. "Even if you fix the management issue, if you can't get people to jobs in direct care, then you're never going to open these programs up. There will always be issues, because you won't be able to retain workers."
Foley hears detox is 25 workers short for a program that was looking to reopen 24 beds, roughly half the number before the unannounced inspection by the state. Meanwhile, only three employees laid off last year have returned to the detox program, according to Foley.
UMass declined an interview request and a request for information on salary, staffing and the number of beds online at Community HealthLink. In a prepared statement UMass said that it plans to reopen the detox program by the end of this year.
"Community Healthlink (CHL) continues to make substantial investments in Clinical Support Services (CSS), Transitional Support Services (TSS), and Detox, to ensure these programs align with the organization's high standard of care and meet all regulatory requirements," the statement reads.
It continued: "We have successfully reopened both TSS and CSS and are working diligently to fill open positions in Detox so we can open that program by the end of 2024. Many members of our staff who were impacted by the temporary closure of these programs either remained with CHL in other roles or returned to our organization to fill open positions in one of the three programs."
Staffing challenges also plague the two reopened programs, said Foley. The union believes only 10 to 15 beds out of 30 in Transitional Support Services are open. Before the inspection, the program had 40 beds, and Foley said five former employees returned to the program. The rest are new hires.
In Clinical Support Services, Foley said he's been told only five out of 32 beds are open in a program that had 46 beds before the state inspection. He added that three former employees returned to the program.
It's no surprise that when Community HealthLink reopened the three programs that there would fewer beds. Stephanie Manzi, vice president of substance use disorder services at Community HealthLink, said in December that there will be 34% fewer beds, with a total of 86 compared to 131 before closure.
Manzi explained a 34% decline is necessary to refurbish space to give clients more room for group and private individual counseling sessions.
Local 509 is bargaining with Community HealthLink for a new two-year contract, said Foley. The union wants a minimum of a $20 hourly wage for direct-care workers, with a 20% wage bump in year one and 15% in year two. Community HealthLink is offering salary increases of 4% and 3.5% over the two-year period, said Foley.
As Foley sees it, Community HealthLink has two choices -- raise wages or Worcester will suffer the consequences.
"Community HealthLink can decide to raise wages so they're competitive to fill vacancies and open the beds. Or it can not do that and continue to face the same staff shortages that lead to bed shortages that result in underserving the community of Worcester," he said.
Contact Henry Schwan at [email protected]. Follow him on X: @henrytelegram.