A Message from LRH Executives for Workplace Violence Prevention & Awareness Month
In healthcare, safety is something most people associate with patients – their treatments, their outcomes, their well-being. However, another side of safety deserves equal attention and that is the safety of the people providing that care.
As Workplace Violence Prevention and Awareness Month comes to an end, we, the leaders of your local hospital, want to take a moment to speak directly to our community about an issue that is often underrecognized, especially in rural areas like ours. Workplace violence in healthcare is not just a problem in large cities or major medical centers. It happens here and more often than many people realize.
Our nurses, providers, other clinicians, and administrative staff come to work each day to serve this community with compassion, professionalism, and dedication. They are also your neighbors, friends, and family members, and yet, like healthcare workers across the country, they can face verbal threats and even physical harm while doing their jobs. This is not acceptable.
In the past 12 months alone, our organization recorded nearly 90 reported workplace violence events, and we know that number does not tell the full story. Incidents often go unreported, even as we strongly encourage staff to speak up.
Of the events that were reported:
- 55% involved hostile or abusive language
- 11% included threats of harm
- 25% were physical assaults
- 6% involved sexually inappropriate behavior
We want to be clear: we maintain a zero-tolerance stance on workplace violence in any form. Every member of our workforce deserves to feel safe, both physically and emotionally, while caring for others. Preventing workplace violence is not something healthcare organizations can do alone. It takes all of us.
It takes awareness that these situations do happen here, even in a close-knit rural community. It takes patience and understanding during what can be stressful or emotional healthcare experiences. It takes accountability for our words and actions. And it takes a shared commitment to treating every person with dignity and respect – patients, workforce members, and visitors alike.
This year, our Workplace Violence Prevention Committee selected a theme that reflects this shared responsibility: “Our safety matters – together, we prevent workplace violence.” Those words are not just a message for our staff. They are a call to our entire community.
We are committed to ongoing education, training, and prevention efforts within our organization, we are committed to supporting our staff, and we are committed to fostering an environment where safety is never compromised. We ask our community to stand with us in that commitment because when we protect those who care for others, we strengthen the health and well-being of our entire community.
Respectfully,
The Executive Team of Littleton Regional Healthcare
Robert Nutter, President & Chief Executive Officer
Koren Superchi, Chief Operating Officer & Chief Nursing Officer
Dr. Richard McKenzie, Chief Medical Officer
Jennifer Griffey, Interim Chief Financial Officer
