Health
Some nurses experience violent attacks at Seattle Children’s Hospital, say they want protection, support
Some nurses at Seattle Children’s Hospital say they feel unsafe at work and have demanded protection.
Police responded to multiple violent incidents in November at the hospital’s Psychiatric and Behavioral Medicine Unit (PBMU), according to the Washington State Nurses Association (WSNA), which represents over 2,000 registered nurses in the state.
On Nov. 7, police were called when patients “turned over carts, used a pole to swing at people, broke windows and held a nurse in a chokehold,” a WSNA press release stated.
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The Seattle Police Department detailed that incident in a blog post on its website the next day, noting that a 14-year-old boy was arrested for assaulting medical staff in the psychiatry and behavioral medicine unit of the hospital.
“The suspect … armed himself with a metal pole, began destroying property and attempted to locate and harm another teen,” the police department’s blog post said. “The suspect then attacked a staff member and put them in a headlock.”
Police responded in November 2023 to multiple violent incidents in the Psychiatric and Behavioral Medicine Unit, according to the Washington State Nurses Association. (Seattle Children’s Hospital/iStock)
Around that same time period, a nurse was “choked, struck in the head 16 times and nearly lost consciousness” after an attack by a patient, according to the WSNA.
On Nov. 17, police reportedly returned to the hospital after patients began throwing ceiling tiles at staff members.
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Some other complaints filed by nurses within the unit were about patients biting staff members, kicking them in the head and attempting to use medical equipment as weapons, the WSNA stated.
“As staff, we know what we need, and that’s security,” Natasha Vederoff, one of the nurses in the unit, told Fox News Digital in a recent video interview.
“We’re asking for people to help our staff feel safe, so that we can do our job and get fair compensation for the work we’re doing,” she said.
Regular staffing shortages have contributed to problems, say nurses at Seattle Children’s Hospital (not pictured). They say capacity has been strained ever since the onset of COVID-19. (iStock)
After Fox News Digital contacted the hospital for comment, a Seattle Children’s Hospital spokesperson sent a statement.
“Our country is facing an escalating youth mental and behavioral health crisis and the demand for services remains alarmingly high,” the Dec. 5 statement to Fox News Digital noted in part.
“This is not a temporary issue. We’re asking for permanent change because the problem is not going to go away anytime soon.”
“The safety, security and well-being of Seattle Children’s patients and workforce is our top priority and we have intensified efforts over the past several months to address this demand.”
The statement went on, “While these critical steps support the immediate safety of our workforce and patients, Seattle Children’s cannot solve this crisis alone.”
“Our country is facing an escalating youth mental and behavioral health crisis and the demand for services remains alarmingly high,” Seattle Children’s Hospital said in a statement sent to Fox News Digital. The exterior of the building is shown above. (Seattle Children’s Hospital)
“This work is ongoing, and we are actively collaborating with external partners at the local, state and federal level to identify and eliminate barriers and find rapid solutions to address the extremely high number of patients seeking care for mental and behavioral health crises across the state.”
‘Vicious cycle’
Regular staffing shortages have been a challenge for some time in psychiatric care, noted Amy Lamson, who has worked in the unit for more than six years — but the problem got much worse during the COVID pandemic, she said.
“We have not been able to catch up in any capacity since then,” she told Fox News Digital in an interview.
One of the factors contributing to the current crisis is the extended time frame of patient stays, the Washington-based nurses said. (iStock)
“It has been a vicious cycle,” Lamson continued. “The less staff we have, the less expertise we have on the floor, and the less able we are to manage unsafe behaviors — and then staff want to leave because they do not feel safe in the workplace.”
There are conflicting statements about the nature of the current nursing shortage.
In a 2022 letter, the American Hospital Association estimated that half a million nurses would leave the field by the end of that year, which would result in a total country-wide shortage of 1.1 million.
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National Nurses United (NNU), however, has released statements that there is not a shortage of nurses — and that, instead, the problem is “a failure by hospital industry executives to put nurses and the patients they care for above corporate profits.”
While there are plenty of nurses to fill jobs, NNU stated that there is “a shortage of nurses who want to work under current conditions.”
Demand outpaces capacity, nurses say
Contributing to the crisis is the extended stay of many patients today, the nurses said.
The hospital’s Psychiatric and Behavioral Medicine Unit is intended to serve as “short-term crisis stabilization” for three to seven days, but nurses report that some children are staying on the unit for months — or even as long as a year — due to a shortage of residential care beds.
Lamson told Fox News Digital that the increase in injuries began to worsen during COVID, when many outpatient beds and residential facilities closed.
“We’re asking for people to help our staff feel safe, so we can do our job and get fair compensation for the work we’re doing,” one of the nurses (not pictured) told Fox News Digital. (iStock)
“With fewer resources in the community for these patients, there are longer inpatient stays,” she said.
Over the last year, there has been an “exponential increase” in safety events and staff injuries, said Lamson.
Henry Jones, another nurse in the unit, noted that a third of the long-term residential beds in the state have closed since the pandemic, and demand has only gone up.
“It’s simple supply and demand — the demand far outstrips our capacity to provide care.”
“It’s simple supply and demand,” Jones told Fox News Digital. “The demand far outstrips our capacity to provide care.”
Jones said he doesn’t believe the staff would be seeing this level of aggression and violence if the patients’ length of stay matched the design of the unit.
“The more isolated you are, the more likely you are to use aggression,” he told Fox News Digital.
Brayden Schander, another nurse on the unit, told WSNA that the nurses have been forced into this situation.
“If the state and nation are not going to change, Seattle Children’s needs to build a residential facility to meet long-term care needs.”
Jones told Fox News Digital, “This is not a temporary issue. We’re asking for permanent change because the problem is not going away anytime soon.”
Patients are not to blame, nurses say
The nurses in the PBMU emphasized that the troubled youth in the facility are not to blame for the current crisis.
“Our patients have suffered severe physical, sexual and emotional abuse,” Joshua Pickett, a registered nurse at Seattle Children’s, told Fox News Digital.
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The nursing staff expects to see certain unsafe behaviors, he noted, as it’s an “expression of pain” and a way for the young people to communicate their needs.
“We don’t want to demonize these behaviors — the reason we are so invested is because we want to help these kids,” he said.
But “our ability to address unsafe behaviors would be greatly increased if we just had adequate resources to do so,” he also said.
The nurses in the PBMU at Seattle Children’s emphasized that the troubled young people (not pictured) are not to blame for the current crisis. (iStock)
During one of her recent shifts, Vederoff said she had to help hold down a potentially violent child.
“I had to stop myself from crying … knowing that this kid would not be in the situation right now if they had the resources they needed — and knowing that we have failed them.”
Pickett agreed, adding, “All too often, rather than healing the trauma that these kids have faced, we’re just retraumatizing them in order to keep people safe rather than creating an environment that is therapeutic and helpful for them.”
Call for action
Pickett sent a call for action to the hospital’s leadership team on Nov. 17 on behalf of the 44 nurses in the unit.
In the letter, which was shared with Fox News Digital by the WSNA, the nurses described the unit as “severely unsafe” and at a “critical point of failure.”
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“The ongoing deficient and inadequate intervention from the hospital has contributed to innumerable injuries, a diminishing workforce and deteriorating morale,” the letter stated.
“Staff work in a persistent state of fear as they come into each shift expecting violence and debilitating abuse.”
The letter went on, “The level of violence that the unit is expected to tolerate has directly influenced rates of staff turnover and pushed the unit into a detrimental staffing crisis.”
“Our hospital is a lens into what is happening nationally,” said one of the nurses (not pictured) in the unit at the Seattle-based hospital. (iStock)
To ensure the safety of staff and patients, the nurses made several specific demands of Seattle Children’s Hospital, which included:
- Three safety officers present during the day and one overnight
- Additional staffing roles, including a break nurse, resource nurse and safety coach
- Maximum ratio of eight patients to every one nurse
- Double pay for all overtime and mandatory shifts
“Let us not wait for the preventable death of a patient or staff to have our voices heard,” the letter from the nurses said.
“Rather than healing the trauma that these kids have faced, we’re just retraumatizing them in order to keep people safe.”
On Dec. 13, the Washington State Nurses Association, plus some of the nurses from the PBMU and Seattle Children’s leadership, met to discuss the status of the actions and interventions that are in progress.
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Pickett shared with Fox News Digital some of the outcomes of that meeting.
“Mandatory overtime and volunteering to stay over are now both double pay,” he said. “Security will be a permanent fixture on the PBMU and a new role will be created and rolled out by the first week of February.”
“This is a national mental health crisis, and our patients have suffered severe physical, sexual and emotional abuse,” said one of the nurses in an interview with Fox News Digital. (Tetra Images via Getty Images)
Hospital leadership also committed to hiring travel BHTs (behavioral health technicians) and RNs to fill current roles in the PBMU, but Pickett said they are “refusing to create the new nursing and PMHS (pediatric primary care mental health specialist) roles we requested, which were essential to our demands.”
“Let us not wait for the preventable death of a patient or staff to have our voices heard.”
Seattle Children’s Hospital also provided an update to Fox News Digital regarding the Dec. 13 meeting.
“Last month, Seattle Children’s opened an Emergency Operations Center in response to extraordinarily high mental health patient volume,” a spokesperson said.
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“Since then, countless teams and individuals have collaborated to develop new processes and implement operational improvements.”
“As a result, Seattle Children’s is better positioned to meet future surges and care for all patients who need us, but the work is ongoing,” the statement continued.
“I could make the same amount of money [in another job] and not be hit every day, but I care about this work.”
“Seattle Children’s — particularly the Psychiatry and Behavioral Medicine Unit (PBMU), emergency department (ED) and the groups that support them — is still experiencing the impacts of the national youth mental health crisis. Leaders across the organization will continue to support our workforce, patients and families by listening, advocating and championing youth mental health.”
The American Hospital Association estimated over a year ago, in 2022, that half a million nurses would leave the field by the end of the year, which would result in a total country-wide shortage of 1.1 million nursing professionals. (iStock)
The nurses agree that this is a national crisis.
“Our hospital is a lens into what is happening nationally,” said Pickett.
They believe, however, that steps can be taken at the same time to remedy the safety issues at Seattle Children’s.
“I could make the same amount of money [in another job] and not be hit every day, but I care about this work,” said Vederoff.
“I just want my leadership and my managers in this hospital to show that they value this work, too, and they value me.”
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Feeling lonely may take a toll on older adults’ memory — but it may not speed up cognitive decline, according to a new study.
Researchers from Colombia, Spain and Sweden analyzed data from more than 10,000 adults ages 65 to 94 across 12 European countries and found those who reported higher levels of loneliness did worse on memory tests at the start of the study, according to research published this month in the journal Aging & Mental Health.
Over a seven-year period, however, memory decline occurred at a similar rate regardless of how lonely participants felt.
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“The finding that loneliness significantly impacted memory, but not the speed of decline in memory over time was a surprising outcome,” lead author Dr. Luis Carlos Venegas-Sanabria of the School of Medicine and Health Sciences at the Universidad del Rosario said in a statement.
Loneliness may be linked to memory performance in older adults, a new study suggests. (iStock)
“It suggests that loneliness may play a more prominent role in the initial state of memory than in its progressive decline,” Venegas-Sanabria said, adding that the findings highlight the importance of addressing loneliness as a factor in cognitive performance.
The findings add to debate about whether loneliness contributes to dementia risk. While loneliness and social isolation are often considered risk factors for cognitive decline, research results have been mixed.
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The study looked at data from the long-running Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe (SHARE), which tracked 10,217 older adults between 2012 and 2019. Participants were asked to recall words immediately and after a delay to measure memory performance.
Social isolation and loneliness could play a surprising role in cognitive health among seniors. (iStock)
Loneliness was assessed using three questions about how often participants felt isolated, left out or lacking companionship.
About 8% of participants reported high levels of loneliness at the outset. That group tended to be older, more likely to be female and more likely to have conditions such as depression.
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Researchers found that those with higher loneliness had lower scores on both immediate and delayed memory tests at baseline. Still, all groups — regardless of loneliness level — experienced similar declines in memory over time.
The results suggest loneliness may not directly accelerate the progression of memory loss, though it remains linked to poorer cognitive performance overall.
Researchers look at a brain scan at the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Maryland. (Saul Loeb/AFP/Getty Images)
Experts warn, however, that the findings should not be interpreted to mean loneliness is harmless.
“The finding that lonely older adults start with worse memory but don’t decline faster is actually the most interesting part of the paper, and I think it’s easy to misread,” said Jordan Weiss, Ph.D., a scientific advisor and aging expert at Assisted Living Magazine and a professor at NYU Grossman School of Medicine.
“It likely means loneliness does its damage earlier in life, well before people show up in a study like this at 65-plus,” Weiss told Fox News Digital.
By older age, long-term social patterns may already be established, making it harder to detect when the effects of loneliness first took hold, an aging expert says. (iStock)
He suggested that by older age, long-term social patterns may already be established, making it harder to detect when the effects of loneliness first took hold.
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“By the time you’re measuring someone in their late 60s, decades of social connection patterns are already baked in,” he said.
Weiss, who was not involved in the research, added that loneliness may coincide with other health conditions, and noted that participants who felt more isolated also had higher rates of depression, high-blood pressure and diabetes. The link, he said, may reflect a cluster of health risks rather than a direct cause.
“While they can go hand-in-hand, it’s not clear that loneliness contributes to dementia,” a psychotherapist says. (iStock)
Amy Morin, a Florida-based psychotherapist and author, said the findings reflect a broader pattern in research on loneliness and brain health, and that the relationship may be more complex than it appears.
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“The evidence shows there’s a link between loneliness and cognitive decline but there’s no direct evidence of a cause and effect relationship,” she said. “So while they can go hand-in-hand, it’s not clear that loneliness contributes to dementia.”
Morin added that loneliness, which can fluctuate, may not be the root of the problem, but rather a symptom of other underlying mental or physical health issues.
Researchers suggested screening for loneliness be incorporated into routine cognitive assessments as one way to support healthy aging. (iStock)
She said staying socially and mentally engaged is crucial for overall brain health.
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“It’s important to be proactive about social activities,” Morin said. “Joining a book club, having coffee with a friend, or attending faith-based services can be a powerful way to maintain connections in older age.”
The researchers also suggested screening for loneliness be incorporated into routine cognitive assessments as one way to support healthy aging.
Fox News Digital reached out to the researchers for comment.
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Research continues to uncover new details on how fasting may help extend life.
A new study published in the journal Nature Communications investigated how intermittent fasting can boost longevity in small worms often used in aging research.
Researchers from the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas compared worms that were fed normally to those that underwent a 24-hour fast in early adulthood and were then fed again, according to a press release.
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The scientists measured a variety of factors, including stored fat, gene activity related to fat metabolism and lifespan.
The results showed that the life-boosting benefit did not depend on the fasting itself but on the body’s behavior after eating again.
Experts say sustainability is key when choosing a long-term weight-loss strategy. (iStock)
Study lead Peter Douglas, associate professor of molecular biology and a member of the Hamon Center for Regenerative Science and Medicine at UT Southwestern, suggested that these discoveries “shift the focus toward a neglected side of the metabolic coin – the re-feeding phase.”
“Our data suggest that the health-promoting effects of intermittent fasting are not merely a product of the fast itself, but are dependent on how the metabolic machinery recalibrates during the subsequent transition back to a fed state,” he said.
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“Our findings bridge a gap between lipid metabolism and aging research,” he added. “By targeting aging, the single greatest risk factor for human disease, we move beyond treating isolated conditions toward a preventive model of medicine that enhances quality of life for all individuals.”
Lauri Wright, director of nutrition programs at the University of South Florida’s College of Public Health, called this a “high-quality” study that adds an “important nuance to how we think about fasting and longevity.”
Intermittent fasting typically involves limiting meals to an eight-hour daily window or fasting every other day. (iStock)
The benefits of the refeeding phase after fasting were “especially interesting,” Wright, who was not involved in the study, told Fox News Digital.
“The researchers showed that longevity was linked to the body’s ability to turn off fat breakdown after fasting, allowing cells to restore energy balance,” she reiterated.
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“From a scientific standpoint, that’s a meaningful shift because it suggests fasting is not just about burning fat, but about metabolic flexibility.”
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Fasting may support longevity through triggering metabolic switching, enhancing cellular repair and stress resistance and improving markers like insulin sensitivity, research shows.
Limitations and cautions
Although this study provides “important insight” on the power of refeeding, Wright noted that the findings should be approached with caution, as the study was done on worms and cannot always be translated to humans.
“Additionally, it explains how a process might work in a controlled lab condition rather than real-world eating behaviors,” she added as a limitation. “Finally, the study is short-term and doesn’t give us the long-term translation on lifespan outcomes.”
The review found intermittent fasting was barely more effective than doing nothing, according to the study authors. (iStock)
Wright cautioned that fasting is “not a magic solution for longevity, and how you eat overall matters more than when you eat.”
“I advise, first and foremost, to focus on diet quality, including a variety of fruits and vegetables, healthy fats and minimally processed foods,” she said.
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For those who are considering fasting, it’s better to stick with a moderate plan — like a 12- to 14-hour overnight fast — rather than going to extremes, Wright said. After fasting, she recommends focusing on well-balanced meals.
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Several groups of people should be cautioned against fasting, according to Wright, including those with diabetes who are on insulin or hypoglycemic medications, those who are pregnant or breastfeeding, anyone with a history of eating disorders and older adults at risk of malnutrition.
Anyone considering intermittent fasting should consult with a doctor before starting.
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