KSHB 41 reporter Ryan Gamboa covers Miami County in Kansas and Cass County in Missouri. He also covers agricultural topics. Share your story idea with Ryan.
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A late 2024 Kansas Legislative Post Audit (KLPA) reported Osawatomie State Hospital (OSH) was practicing inadequate safety and security measures.
"You got to pray that you're going to be safe when you go to work. I wasn't going to fight it," shared Jamie Reavis, a former mental health technician at OSH.
Early in the KLPA audit, the report outlined the hospital's troubled past with safety and security:
"In 2015, OSH lost CMS certification due to repeated safety deficiencies. These deficiencies included insufficient nursing staff to perform necessary patient status checks and security staff not performing security checks. Further, a staff member was sexually assaulted by a patient in late 2015, which staff alleged was possibly due to lack of staff."
Today, there are two operating hospitals on the Osawatomie State campus — OSH and Adair Acute Care (AAC).
Osawatomie State Hospital is not Medicare certified while Adair Acute Care is.
Fear of being sexually assaulted lived with Reavis each day she showed up to work.
"Being raped," she told KSHB 41. "Because it happened there in 2015."
OSH is under the direct oversight of the Kansas Department for Aging and Disability Services (KDADS). The state acknowledged the recent audit outlined OSH's shortcomings.
"When you put those things together that Osawatomie isn’t safe, certainly there are some things we need to shore up," said Laura Howard, KDADS secretary.
KSHB 41 submitted a Kansas Open Records Request to review the entire audit.
RELATED | Kansas audit flags staff safety, security concerns at Osawatomie State Hospital
State auditors researched the turnover rate from 2022 to the present to conclude whether staff turnover was reasonable at OSH for medical or security staff.
According to public records, from September 2021 to September 2024, OSH's average estimated annual turnover rate among state employees was 37%, which was consistent in the past three years.
OSH had a higher turnover rate, 18%, than Larned State Hospital, 13%, but lower than Parsons State Hospital, 24%.
KLPA reports cannot say where Osawatomie State Hospital's overall turnover rate is higher or lower than its peers because of different reporting methods.
OSH's highest rate of turnover was among mental health technicians; the position saw an average turnover rate of 68% in the last three years.
In 2024, the mental health technician role had a 79% turnover rate.
"It's the most dangerous position," Reavis explained. "You are in there with them ... You're sometimes the only person they see all day."
Auditors surveyed 395 out of 1,220 current and former employees. Of the 32% who responded, two-thirds of respondents said patients have made them feel unsafe.
Verbal and physical harassment were cited as the main reasons patients made employees feel unsafe. But other types of harassment, including sexual harassment, were noted, too.
"There is always going to be inherent pieces related to the population that you're serving," Howard told KSHB 41.
According to Reavis, she made $22 per hour working as a non-contract state employee. With her concerns of safety, it wasn't enough.
"How much money is worth getting beat up all day?" Reavis said.
KDADS said it is working to address wage deficiencies in conjunction with the Kansas Legislature and Gov. Laura Kelly's administration.
"There was a time we couldn't compete with fast food restaurants," Howard explained. "There's been two or three years of significant salary increases particularly targeted to those positions. We also received the ability last year to offer different kinds of bonuses, hiring bonuses and retention bonuses."
Osawatomie State Hospital Superintendent Ashley Byram responded to KLPA's audit on Dec. 6, 2024.
"We are committed to ensuring the safety of our staff and patients while providing high-quality psychiatric care," Byram wrote. "In general, we agree with the audit recommendations and have proposed actions which are consistent with the recommended policy and procedural changes."
READ MORE | To review OSH's superintendent's response to KLPA's audit, click here and scroll to page 35.
Reavis said she saw enough at OSH to know she was done.
"If we had had the correct implementations and the correct plans and the correct care, then it wouldn't have been a bad place to work," she said.
The audit was requested by five Kansas legislators: Rep. Samantha Poetter Parshall (R-District 6), Sen. Caryn Tyson (R-District 12), Rep. Carrie Barth (R-District. 5), Rep. Fred Gardner (R-District 9) and former Sen. Molly Baumgardner (R-District 37).
Only two legislators responded and accepted KSHB 41's request for an interview — another said they were too busy to discuss this issue.
KSHB 41 will continue to dive deeper into issues at OSH.
RELATED | Addressing safety and security at the Osawatomie State Psychiatric Hospital
If you're a current or former employee at Osawatomie State Hospital, KSHB 41 News reporter Ryan Gamboa would like to hear your voice. To contact Ryan, send him an email at ryan.gamboa@kshb.com.
To review the entire KLPA audit at OSH, click here.
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