'Patients just get violent' | Louisville healthcare workers describe attacks on the job, calling it a crisis

'Patients just get violent' | Louisville healthcare workers describe attacks on the job, calling it a crisis 
ABC WHAS-11, Louisville, KY; by Shay McAlister, Joseph Garcia, Phillip Murrell, and MIchelle Zelli; 5/8/25
Right now Louisville’s nursing community is facing a crisis, saying they are under attack while on the job.  Since March, police have been called to three different Louisville hospitals after a nurse was assaulted. ... The three incidents of violence against nurses sit on a map of hundreds of crimes reported at or near Louisville hospitals and nearby parking garages over the last year. According to LMPD’s crime data portal, 17 assaults were reported at Norton Hospital, 10 at Jewish Hospital, and 28 at the UofL Hospital parking garage over the last 12 months. ... “Many healthcare professionals that are harmed don't report it, and they don't report it because they don't think anybody will listen. And then there are others who think that it's part of the job. It is not part of the job,” CEO of the Kentucky Nurses Association Delanor Manson said. In 2023, Manson worked with lawmakers to formalize language requiring healthcare facilities to track incidents of violence and implement violence prevention strategies. It's a crisis for the career field. ... Hosparus leadership [hospice and home health, Louisville-based] recently invested in a technology called KATANA. It’s a personal safety device that attaches directly to a smart phone. It works both as a trigger alarm, if nurses pull the trigger attached to the device and it has an app option, that offers additional safety features.