Health care contract means job loss for Madison Co. Jail nurses
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JACKSON, Tenn. — Nurses who work at the Madison County Jail said they feel as though they have been lied to. With only one month until they are terminated from their jobs, they are more upset with how the decision was made than the decision itself. “They’ve evaded us when they just had to give us some straight answers,” said Ovester Powell, the first nurse ever hired to work at the jail 35 years ago. When Dr. Johnny Bates’ company, Quality Correctional Health Care, takes over at the jail Aug. 1, Powell will be out of a job. So will Chloe Mercer, a nurse at the jail for nearly 10 years. “I”m very passionate about my job,” Mercer said. “I love my job, but at the same time I don’t feel this department is looking at quality of care they’ve been receiving from us when it comes to contract nursing.” Two different times, both in writing and in a meeting, the women said Sheriff John Mehr told them he was not sure whether he would change to contract health care for the jail. On June 15, the county commission approved Bates’ company, based out of Birmingham, to take over. The nurses said they still have not heard from their boss. “The sheriff’s department didn’t have the courtesy to even take the time out to let us know early so we could have time to prepare to find another job,” Mercer said. Mehr said staff can apply and work for Bates, but these nurses refuse. They say they should not have to reapply for a job they have had for years and that they want to work for the county, not a private company. “All I know is as of July 31, I will be terminated from Madison County, and I will have to collect unemployment, which is below poverty level,” Mercer said. A single mother with two children, Mercer said the new company’s 12-hour work day would force her to be away from her children too much. She and Powell said they will receive no severance pay. “They’re making us feel like we’re nobody, and I feel like they could’ve handled it better than that,” Powell said. The commission is scheduled to approve the county budget for a second and final time on Monday. The budget includes the contract with Quality Correctional Health Care. Mehr said the application process for new health care workers at the jail has already been completed.
