Help Stop the Elimination of Recreational Therapist Jobs @ Essentia

Essentia Health has announced that they will be eliminating nearly all of their Recreational Therapist positions.   The reasons cited are “budget cuts and scheduling”.  Their plan is to dump all of the existing responsibilities of Recreational  Therapists on the Behavioral Health Techs.   The workers involved, and USW Local 9460, are 100% opposed to this.  Recreational Therapists are highly trained professionals with a bachelor’s degree who perform very important care of mental health patients.  To eliminate these positions and put their responsibilities on the already overworked Behavioral Health Techs – who are not required to have a degree and who have not had the same level of specialized training – is a mistake for all involved.  We shouldn’t be taking risks with the health and safety of patients, just so the bean counters can save a few dollars.  The RT workers have created a petition that they are asking folks to sign to try and save their department.  If you haven’t already, please sign it.  And stay tuned for additional ways to support these workers and help maintain the level of care that mental health patients in our community need and deserve.  https://www.change.org/p/save-our-rt-department