COVINGTON, Ky. — Former employees of the Emergency Shelter of Northern Kentucky are asking city officials to investigate their safety concerns.

One of these ex-employees is Deborah Zepf, who said she resigned over the summer after working for the shelter for nearly three years.

“I’m a retired nurse, 30 years. So after I retired I wanted something to keep me busy and this was a good outlet, thinking I was being helpful and helping people,” she said.

But Zapf said she didn’t receive enough training to handle the situations she encountered at the shelter, plus she had to deal with situations she doesn’t think a female staff member should be responsible for.

“Men overdosing in the bathrooms. Women on staff, we had to go in and take care of that. That was inappropriate, I think,” she said.

Zapf said she didn’t feel equipped to deal with some of the mental health emergencies she encountered, plus she and other staff had to intervene and de-escalate physical altercations.

She said when she brought her concerns to management, they weren’t addressed.

Earlier this week, she went to a Covington commission meeting to ask the city to investigate the shelter.

When asked what changes she thinks need to be made to make the shelter safer, she said “stronger laws.”

“I mean, somebody needs to get a grip on them,” Zapf said.

At the commission meeting, a commissioner asked city staff to respond to these concerns in the next week or two.

The city provided WCPO with a statement that said, “City officials have been meeting with shelter administrators on an ongoing basis to discuss issues and concerns related to its operations and the impact on the surrounding neighborhood.

As a licensed facility, some of the shelter’s operations are regulated by City ordinance, and the City will continue to enforce to the best of its ability those regulations. Other issues may be outside the City’s regulatory scheme and jurisdiction. We will continue to seek more information to formulate our response.”

WCPO also reached out to the Emergency Shelter of Northern Kentucky. They provided a statement in response to these concerns.

“We work day in and day out to keep our promise which is printed on our front door, “We will trust, value and respect everyone that enters our doors.” Like many non-profits we operate on a shoestring budget and are mostly funded by private donations and grants. We receive less than 10% of our funding from governmental entities. However, Kenton County is our landlord and the City of Covington issues our permit annually. Therefore, we have very good working relationships with both and are proud to have been issued our permit every year since the permit process started.

Our staff are trained to work with vulnerable adults and in a shelter setting. Training includes de-escalation, CPR/ First Aid/AED, Universal Precautions, Covid guidelines, mask wearing, Emergency Responses for fire, lockdown, weather, and Naloxone. New hire orientation includes ESNKY history, mission & values, staff professional boundaries, guest code of conduct, email, technology, timeclock system, payroll system, food handler permit, data system (for those that jobs require data collection), accepting material donations volunteer management, use of equipment, keys, assignment of staff locker, and on the job training of internal procedures, community resources, etc. Additional training includes active shooter training, mental health first aid, peer support, boundaries, harm reduction, DEI, LGBTQ+ and any other additional training throughout the year.

Working with people who are in crisis is demanding and can be stressful work. We balance that in several ways. Staff have time away from our guests to meet, collaborate, and work together as a team or individually. We regularly take time to celebrate success and provide recognition. We encourage staff to leave work behind each day. The most important strategy is self-care. Not everyone is suited for this work. We have procedures and policies in place to create a safe work environment for our staff, guests, and visitors. All staff are thoroughly trained in these and are expected to adhere to them for their own safety and that of their co-workers and others present in the shelter.

As to any comments made by ex-employees, employment matters are confidential and therefore we are unable to provide any statements about these individuals or their former work with our shelter and guests. What we can tell you is that their opinions are not based in fact, are heavily biased and do not represent the great work we do at ESNKY. Our community partners, Kenton County, the local police and a host of other community stakeholders stand behind us in the work we do to help the less fortunate in our community.”