PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) — A Multnomah County Health Department employee has sued the county and her former bosses, alleging retaliation after she spoke out on unsafe workplace conditions brought on by her team’s excessive case loads, understaffing, underfunding, as well as requests to falsify health records, the suit says.
According to the civil rights suit, Katie Cleone Cecil was the lead worker on a team with the county’s Behavioral Health Division (BHD). A significant part of her work involved the county’s Forensic Diversion Program, which aims to steer individuals with mental illness, neurocognitive disorders, or developmental disabilities away from jail and towards community-based programs and services, according to Cecil.
Oregon AG files lawsuit over alleged insider deal in Morrow County
But in 2023, after a U.S. District Judge for the State of Oregon granted an order speeding up admissions to the Oregon State Hospital so they spend less time waiting in jail, Cecil’s suit states this escalated her work. Prior to the order, she claimed her team was already overworked, underfunded, and conducted around 168 consultations. By 2023, that number increased to 504.
In September 2022, the county received a $1.7 million grant from the state to expand diversion programs of this nature. However, the suit claims these funds created a separate “Bridge Team,” which never got off the ground, adding even more work for Cecil’s team, as “severely mentally ill individuals were released from OSH, flooding the local communities,” and creating an unsafe work environment…