“Sharpe seems to be in the news all the time,” Secretary Michael Caruso responded Sunday during a legislative interim meeting. He assured lawmakers that employees are being properly screened.
The psychiatric hospital in Weston is operated by the state health department.
In the last six months, multiple Sharpe staff members have been arrested and charged with crimes. All of them were contract employees provided by hospital staffing companies, according to Mike Folio, legal director for Disability Rights West Virginia.
“It is impossible to provide the active treatment you have to provide because you’re so busy cleaning up the messes of these individuals,” Folio said. His organization is federally-mandated to protect people with disabilities in the state.
DHHR is currently under a federal investigation for its treatment of people with disabilities.
Folio said a former employee was one of four people charged in June related to a murder allegedly by a motorcycle gang in Marion County.
In September, former Sharpe employee Keefe Kiser was charged for having a sexual relationship with a female patient when he worked at the hospital. A co-worker complained about Kiser’s inappropriate behavior months before he was let go, and the alleged patient abuse came to light later.
Last week, the West Virginia Department of Health and Human Resources fired Tamra Jo Garvin after they learned of her being arrested and charged with murder. Garvin was charged in an incident unrelated to the psychiatric facility.
DHHR alerted the public only about the arrest of Garvin in a press release about her termination, saying a thorough employee screening process “revealed no cause for concern.”
The health department has faced years of scrutiny for its oversight of Sharpe and treatment of patients with disabilities. This year, a state inspection showed inadequate patient treatment plans at the facility, and disability rights advocates have maintained that the state is “warehousing” patients there with no plans for discharge back into their communities. There have also been staffing shortages — the hospital currently has more than 30% of positions vacant — causing DHHR to opt for nurse staffing companies to fill the positions.
According to a document provided by DHHR, the department currently uses dozens of contract agencies to provide nurses, nurse assistants and service workers at Sharpe.
“Our concern is that Sharpe is spending $58 million a year on contract services, and in the past few months, four of their individuals have been charged with crimes and not providing the services that they should,” Folio said.
Staffing agency employees account for 46.9% of hospital employees, according to DHHR Interim Director of Communications Jessica Holstein. Full-time state employees make up 44.4% of its staff; West Virginia University employees and temporary state employees are also there, she said in an email.
DHHR leaders have said that they’re working on increasing the wages for state workers in an effort to fill vacancies.
The health department declined to provide an interview with Caruso, who was appointed by Gov. Jim Justice to lead the new state Department of Health Facilities. The department was created under a 2023 bill that required DHHR to split into three new departments by Jan. 1.
Holstein said that all employees, including contract employees, “are required to complete a comprehensive fingerprint-based federal and state background check through WV CARES.”
Folio said the screening process isn’t what it should be, leading to multiple employee issues and problems at the facility.
His monitoring also found a state employee at Sharpe was involved in a Clarksburg bar shooting in April that resulted in hospitalizations. No arrests were made.
“They are taking who they can get,” he said.
Holstein said that the WV CARES system “diligently monitors criminal records and promptly notifies employers in the event of any subsequent changes in criminal record information.”
In all instances Sharpe has been made aware of or suspected that an employee violated hospital policies, Sharpe has reported the incident to the appropriate authorities and participated in the investigative process, she continued.
“[Sharpe] addressed the incident with appropriate disciplinary actions,” Holstein wrote in a statement.
State lawmakers, who have been routinely briefed on issues at Sharpe, are likely to introduce legislation in the 2024 Regular Session to address some issues at the facility.
West Virginia Watch is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. West Virginia Watch maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Leann Ray for questions: info@westvirginiawatch.com. Follow West Virginia Watch on Facebook and Twitter.
