AGENCY TESTIMONY
CHS policies and procedures for staff hiring and training
1:01:40
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65 sec
CHS implemented robust processes for employee background checks and security screenings after becoming the direct provider of correctional healthcare in 2016. The organization has strict policies regarding the hiring and retention of staff with histories of sexual abuse.
- Established new background check and security screening processes in 2016
- Implemented a policy against hiring or retaining anyone with a history of sexual abuse
- All CHS staff are required to complete Prison Rape Elimination Act (PREA) training
- Staff are mandated to report any allegations or knowledge of sexual abuse or harassment
Jeanette Merrill
1:01:40
Beginning in January 2016, CHS became the city's direct provider of cultural health care as a new division of New York City Health And Hospitals, ending a decades long practice of contracts, most recently with Horizon, a private, for profit correctional health care company, that the New York City Department of Investigation, DUI, determined had significant breakdowns and acute failures in its employee screening and hiring practices.
1:02:04
CHS immediately implemented new robust processes for conducting employee background checks and security screenings.
1:02:11
CHS established as policy that it will not hire, continue the employment, or retain the services of any person who may have contact with patients, who has engaged in sexual abuse in a prison, jail, or other institution, or who has been convicted of, or civilly, or administratively a dedicated for committing sexual abuse in the community.
1:02:29
All CHS staff are required to complete prison rape elimination act training, career training to report any allegations, knowledge, or reasonable belief concern any incident of sexual abuse or harassment towards a patient regardless of whether the alleged perpetrator is another patient or a staff member.
