PAs Prep Mentally Ill for Life in ‘Big House’

At the Oakwood Correctional Facility in Lima, Ohio, more than 80 psychiatric attendants, all members of the Ohio Civil Service Employees Association (OCSEA)/AFSCME Local 11, work on the front lines with mentally ill inmates.

These PAs, as they are called, work alongside doctors, nurses, psychologists, social workers and about 100 COs at the accredited mental health correctional facility, which houses about 150 inmates on a short-term basis.

“They are the ones that implement the treatment program issued by the doctors,” says William McDonnell, president of OCSEA Chapter 0220.

“We are kind of unique in what we do here,” says PA William Lotz, the chapter’s chief steward. “It’s a hospital environment, but we’re still dealing with inmates” sent there from other Ohio prisons that are less-equipped to handle their unique problems.

PAs are the “primary care staff” who work with the inmates to improve their daily living skills, explains Lotz.

For instance, PAs help the patient/inmates refine their personal hygiene skills, such as showering, shaving and eating right, he explains.

“We’re as close to these inmates as you can possibly get,” Lotz says.

Once the PAs help stabilize the inmates, he says, “then it’s up to the treatment teams [the doctors, nurses, psychologists, social workers and others] to assess whether they’re ready to go back in the maintstream [prison] population.”

The COs at Oakwood, also members of Local 11, also have specialized training to work with the mentally ill.