VTPOLI

Report: Racism pervasive at Vermont psychiatric hospital

April McCullum
Burlington Free Press

A new state investigation has found that African-American employees at the Vermont Psychiatric Care Hospital have been subjected to offensive comments and racial epithets by coworkers and patients.

The 25-bed Vermont Psychiatric Care Hospital in Berlin.

The conduct included requiring a black employee to work with a "racist patient" who made her feel unsafe, and comments from other staff members about how the same worker must have used "the welfare bus," according to the report.   

The employee, Ismina Francois, a mental health specialist at the Berlin hospital, filed a complaint in fall 2016 with the Vermont Human Rights Commission that prompted an extensive investigation and the 35-page report.

The five-member commission voted unanimously Jan. 25 to find reasonable grounds to believe the Department of Mental Health illegally discriminated against Francois, who is African-American, by failing to address harassment at the hospital. The finding would allow the Human Rights Commission to file a lawsuit against the state if there is no resolution.

Read the full Human Rights Commission report here.

The state Attorney General's Office has argued the harassment was not severe enough to be considered illegal discrimination. The state mental health commissioner said staff at the hospital have now developed a "code of civility."

Francois did not respond to a message seeking comment last week.

The report states the Department of Mental Health failed to follow up on several complaints of discrimination. Hospital employees were not required to attend diversity training until October 2016.

"Ignoring the urgency and necessity of training created a permissive climate for patients to verbally attack African-Americans and put them at risk for bodily harm, with little or no support," Human Rights Commission staff wrote in a report. "The same climate allowed staff to make unfettered and unchecked racially motivated statements."

The Vermont Psychiatric Care Hospital in Berlin was constructed following flooding from Tropical Storm Irene and is seen on Aug. 26, 2016. The new hospital replaced the Vermont State Hospital in Waterbury, which was deemed unusable after the storm.

The Vermont Psychiatric Care Hospital, which opened in July 2014, treats patients who have been involuntarily committed for mental illness and who might be violent or unable to control themselves.

During a night shift Aug. 1, 2015, Francois was assigned to care for "a racist patient with acute dementia who was dangerously agitated around African-American staff," according to the report, despite her request not to be paired with the patient because she felt unsafe.

The patient had a swastika tattoo, frequently used racist slurs and had lunged at Francois in the past, according to the Human Rights Commission report, citing an interview with Francois. The patient became "extremely agitated," and Francois left her post after about 40 minutes.

Francois also complained about a series of comments by coworkers, including a charge nurse who used the phrase "colored people," a traveling nurse who described an African-American employee as "nappy," and an associate mental health worker who sang a rap song that used an epithet. Francois said coworkers and administrators at the hospital routinely mistook her for another African-American employee.

In August 2016, a coworker said Francois "probably got dropped off by the welfare bus," according to the report. The employee was disciplined with a written reprimand, according to a January letter from the state Attorney General's Office to the Human Rights Commission. Robert Appel, an attorney representing Francois, shared the letter with the Burlington Free Press.

Then in September 2016, Francois and another African-American employee were talking about lunch when a coworker blurted out a comment about fried chicken, the commission report states. The employee received a verbal reprimand, according to the Attorney General's Office letter.

Bor Yang, an administrative law examiner for the Human Rights Commission who investigated Francois' complaint, interviewed past and current employees at the hospital and found other incidents of racism.

Jeffrey Rothenberg, the hospital's former CEO, told the Human Rights Commission that traveling nurses from across the country were surprised that patients were allowed to use racial slurs.

"Mr. Rothenberg also knew that there were on-going issues about native white Vermonters who had had very little interaction with non-whites working alongside staff members who were refugees," the report states. "When patients yelled racial epithets at their African-American coworkers, white staff members were confused on how to show support."

Vermont is one of the whitest states in the nation, according to the U.S. Census Bureau, with about 1.3 percent of residents identifying as black as of July 2016.

Mental health specialist Tim McCants, who is African-American, was working for what was then the Vermont State Hospital in Waterbury in 2007 when he found a racial epithet written on the windshield of his car. The state has no record of the incident being reported or investigated, Assistant Attorney General Melanie Kehne wrote in the letter to the Human Rights Commission.

In September 2017, an employee called another unit and asked to speak with McCants by saying, "Put the little black man on the phone." That employee is being disciplined for this and another incident, according to the Attorney General's Office letter.

A patient room is seen inside the 25-bed Vermont Psychiatric Care Hospital in Berlin in July 2014.

The Vermont Psychiatric Care Hospital required employees to attend diversity training in October 2016. Several African-American employees who attended that first training session found it to be superficial and "useless," and Francois said she was asked to work in small groups with the coworkers who had made discriminatory statements against her.

The state has argued, through the Attorney General's Office, that the incidents "are not sufficiently severe or pervasive to create an abusive work environment at VPCH."

"Further, the record does not show that the inappropriate comments and conduct of a few of her coworkers interfered with her ability to do her job," Assistant Attorney General Melanie Kehne wrote to the Human Rights Commission.

Mental Health Commissioner Melissa Bailey said staff at the hospital have now "developed a code of civility to hold each other accountable for appropriate behavior." She added in an email that the hospital is working to integrate diversity training into the curriculum for new staff.

Bailey declined to comment further on the specific allegations contained in the Human Rights Commission report, citing pending litigation.

"It's very clear that the commissioner's office and the leadership at the hospital take these accusations very seriously and are looking at every aspect of policy, procedures and any kind of HR-directed changes that we need to make," Bailey said in a telephone interview last week.

Francois and the Department of Mental Health now have about three months to reach a settlement before the Human Rights Commission considers bringing the case to court. The commission would not represent any party in court, but any lawsuit would be an attempt to protect the public interest.

Contact April McCullum at 802-660-1863 or amccullum@freepressmedia.com. Follow her on Twitter at @April_McCullum. Support investigative journalism in Vermont by downloading our app or subscribing to the Burlington Free Press.