Local 685 News and General Membership meeting registration

Have You Tried the New AFSCME 685 Activist App?

In these challenging times, when our voices as Probation Peace Officers are more important than ever, we are piloting a new mobile app that is designed to educate and inform, inspire and activate, and amplify our collective voices in modern new ways.

This app will become your new union hall- with links to trainings, zoom meetings, news and actions. The app is to be used on your smartphone and will help keep us connected anytime and anyplace. Participation with the app will allow you to win points for prizes and discounts online.

BONUS!!!
Sign up by February 15 and earn 250 points and be entered to win a $100 gift card!

In solidarity,

Local 685 Executive Board

Member #1

I am still recuperating from being sick with COVID.

I could not agree that the Department has not developed a plan for contact tracing and notifying staff when they had been exposed. Here is my story.

On Christmas Eve, I can’t explain it, but I just didn’t feel right. On Christmas Day, I started with a cough that came out of nowhere. The cough progressed; I went to bed but had to be at work at 6am. I woke up just not feeling right, but it was too late to call out. I showed up to work but immediately told them I could not stay. They took my temperature and the supervisor said, “You don’t have a fever.” I told him, “I don’t have a fever, but I’m coughing and don’t feel good... I’m leaving!” His response was, “You’ll need a doctor’s note.” My cough and symptoms became worse overnight. The next shift supervisor called me Sunday morning and heard my condition. He stated, “You don’t sound good... have you been tested? I can’t have you come back until you’re tested. I’ll text you a link for COVID testing locations. Contact your doctor and feel better.”

I did not hear from anyone else, not even after I emailed when I received my positive test results early Thursday morning. My condition worsened, and I went to the ER and was there for six hours. At this point I had the “white haze” in my lungs, which the doctor said was COVID pneumonia. I warned and notified my co-workers of my condition. I discovered that co-worker had also become sick about four days after me and also tested positive.

No one contacted me until January, almost 2 weeks after I notified my supervisor that I tested positive and they tried to make it seem as if I was exposed outside of work. WRONG!! Someone exposed us at work, and we had approximately 4 or 5 deployment staff working in our unit on a daily basis due to level 3 minors. Since my illness, every assigned officer in the unit has contracted COVID and tested positive and with symptoms.

The Department did not follow up to see if any staff member or their family members were hospitalized or died. Both my husband and my son tested positive and have developed symptoms. I still have not returned to work. I still have a cough, shortness of breath, and headaches. I hope my situation will help someone else if it’s not too late.

Member #2

While working the early morning hours, just prior to leaving the dorm to go home, several of us night staff received a text from a co-worker. He informed us that he tested positive for COVID, he was feeling quite ill, and he suggested we get tested. I went home to sleep for a few hours. When I awoke, I had chills and body aches.

I called my supervisor to let them know how I was feeling and my concerns about being exposed to COVID by a co-worker. I was told they couldn’t comment or confirm if I was exposed. I asked where to get tested and what the protocols were. I wanted to know what I should be doing. My supervisor didn’t know. I asked to speak to the nurse thinking she may have that information about where the minors were getting tested (we’ve been housing symptomatic minors in the open dorm until their test results are in). The nurse didn’t have any information for me.

All I was trying to do at this point was get a free rapid result test to find out if I had COVID, and I finally found a clinic in Pasadena. My results came back negative, and I was told to report that night; however, I was off the next two nights (my regular schedule). On Sunday, I called out sick and scheduled another COVID test. It came back positive, and I haven’t been back to work since and I’m dealing with brain fog.

I have never been so sick in my life. I felt that neither the County nor the Probation Department cared one bit. I live alone and was quarantining. I couldn’t shop for juice, water, meds...I couldn’t drag myself out of bed for anything. For a couple days I actually thought I might die. I am not kidding. I slept with my front door unlocked in case I had to call for the paramedics during the night. Ask any single woman how scary it is to weigh that danger. The only communication I had from work was two calls. One was a message left on my voicemail at from my supervisor as a weekly check in, and the other was from another supervisor asking if I was coming in to work.

The worst part is the guilt I feel. My younger brother stayed at my house for three nights helping me and left three days later. The following day, he was checked into the hospital with COVID. He’s been in the ICU on a ventilator ever since. He’s not expected to survive. In speaking to my co-worker, he said that everyone in his household got COVID too. All three of his children, his wife, his mother-in-law, and even his mother are sick.

Probation in the News

Gascón amends directive allowing for 16 and 17 year-olds to be charged with more crimes
Click here to read story.

Judge issues injunction barring Gascón’s new directives, says the DA must ‘comply with the law’
Click here to read story.

Man sues Sheriff’s Department because deputies for fail to stop attack during bus ride
Click here to read story.

Probation Officer becomes a Florist
A Philly probation officer for 13 years, she turned over a new leaf and became a florist | We The People | News Break
Click here to read story.

Can I Vent?

By Stacy Ford

I am not sure if anyone knows this, maybe it’s just me, but we are in a pandemic. A pandemic where people are dying. Oh, I’m sorry, let me spell out what a pandemic is, my bad. Pandemic- is an epidemic of an infectious disease that has spread across a large region, for instance multiple continents or worldwide, affecting a substantial number of people. There we go.

With that being said, the CDC has laid out some simple guidelines to keep all of us safe. (ALIVE) WEAR A MASK OVER YOUR NOSE AND MOUTH (not over the chin), STAY 6 FEET AWAY FROM OTHERS (I was in the grocery store the other day and this couple was all on me. I had to remind them of the 6 feet rule. They looked at me like I was crazy as if I said something wrong), AVOID CROWDS (restaurants, bars, large family gatherings), WASH YOUR HANDS OFTEN (with soap and water for at least 20 seconds), COVER COUGHS AND SNEEZES (always cover your mouth and nose with a tissue when you cough or sneeze or use the inside of your elbow), CLEAN AND DISINFECT (clean and disinfect frequently touched surfaces daily), MONITOR YOUR HEALTH DAILY (be alert for symptoms).

That seems easy but apparently, it’s not because some people are having a hard time follow those guidelines. I know in our area offices and institutions the 6 feet rule may be difficult but work around that, the best you can.

COVID 19 infections are at an all-time high in our department. From the area offices to the camps and halls, our employees and clients are ill. I get a ton of calls from my 685 sisters and brothers who work in the camps and halls with concerns about what protocols to follow when youth and officers are showing COVID like symptoms. Yesterday, someone called me from an institution saying another officer sneezed and they were concerned that officer had the COVID virus. The caller wanted to take off from work and get a COVID test. Another officer called and felt that the department wasn’t doing enough in informing officers when someone was infected in a timely manner. A caller called and stated that he worked in the quarantine unit at his facility. I asked if he was given an N-95 mask, gown, gloves, face shield? He responded by saying “yes, but I ain’t wearing all that.” Humm, o…….k!

These are real concerns that we have to address. This pandemic is real, and I think we all need to do a better job in taking this seriously. We all must do our part by staying safe and keeping our loved ones and co-workers safe. In the spirit of staying safe, may I suggest a few things we can all do to keep US safe and healthy. Be responsible. We must all be more responsible in our actions away from work. Be mindful of the activities we are involved in. You know the large family gatherings, the small back yard parties, the eating out at the in-laws (party) hanging out in Vegas, just going on about business as if things were normal. Things are not normal!

Some of us are not wearing a mask or washing our hands. That’s nasty! Wear your mask. Change your mask, wash your mask, get a new one for heavens sakes, my gosh! Wash your hands for Pete sakes. Wash them again. Don’t rinse your hands, wash your hands. There is a difference between rinsing and washing.

The department must do better as well. Clean these facilities. Our facilities need to be deep cleaned as often as possible not only when there is in outbreak. If it were up to me, area offices would get a deep clean every other night. But it’s not up to me. I don’t make that decision. But don’t think it hasn’t been brought up because it has. The camps and halls need a deep clean every few days. The department can do better in doing that. Communication is horrible when it comes to letting officers know that someone at their work site has been infected with COVID. They can do way better on this one. Usually, the department go over and beyond when it comes to implementing policies and procedures that are only suggestions. Why not now? It seems there are no extra precautions taken with this COVID pandemic. They are doing the basic. More needs to be done.

Face shields and gowns should be offered to everyone in the area offices, camps and halls. It should be mandatory but it’s not. How do we run out of protective gowns? How is that? There should be someone assigned to do inventory at each facility on all PPE and if the inventory is low, get that order in. What’s happening now are we running out of stuff and then placing orders. Which means we don’t have what we need when we need it.

If an officer has been exposed to a positive COVID person, that officer should immediately be placed on quarantine. Not wait until a COVID test comes back positive, by then everyone else is now infected. I’m just saying, you know me, always have something to say. LOL

That was my pollical statement. Let me put it in these terms. Stop being nasty, wash your freaking hands with soap and water as often as possible. Wear your mask and the PPE that the department has offered you. Stop hanging out on your days off with strangers. As with the department, stop being cheap and worrying about spending money. Spend the money to keep your employees safe and alive.

Keep this in mind, some of us have pre-existing conditions. Some of us are care givers for our parents, grandparents or other loved ones. Some of us, just don’t want to be SICK. How’s that! Let’s do the right thing and follow the CDC guidelines and stay healthy. As a matter of fact, let’s go over and beyond what’s required.

Be Safe

Love you

Until next time