State officials say a “no-breaks” message to employees at the Colorado Mental Health Institute at Pueblo has been revoked.
Staff at the institute contacted a Pueblo newspaper numerous times over the weekend to complain about the administration. Employees say administrators told them no breaks would be allowed in any units that were under-staffed.
The hospital’s acting superintendent, Kim Nordstrom, revoked that no-breaks rule Monday afternoon after hospital administrators discussed the policy with the Colorado Department of Public Health & Environment.
The hospital has been struggling with a staff shortage this year – serious enough the federal Medicare program threatened to stop payments to the institute in June unless more staff was hired.