Department of Human Services Commissioner Lucinda Jesson has ordered a review of the death of a woman at a state mental hospital in Rochester, as well as a "systematic evaluation" to determine why suicides have increased at such facilities.
In addition, the state is rolling out a new, computer-based training initiative for state staff designed to raise awareness of the symptoms of people who may be at risk of suicide, according to a memo obtained by the Star Tribune.
Staff at Minnesota's seven, 16-bed community behavioral health hospitals, including the one in Rochester, will be required to undergo the training by Aug. 14, the memo said.
The community behavioral health hospital in Rochester, at 251 Wood Lake Drive SE, provides short-term, acute inpatient psychiatric services, according to its website.
Natasha J. Stewart, 26, of St. Paul, was found dead on June 22 after she hung herself with a bedsheet from a door in her hospital room, according to hospital and county officials, the Star Tribune story says.
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The death comes four months after a patient at a mental-health and addiction treatment center in St. Peter also hanged himself with a bedsheet.
Suicide attempts at state-operated treatment facilities in Minnesota total about 30 to 50 a year, but deaths by suicide are rare, according to the Star-Tribune article. The two deaths this year mark the first suicides at state-run mental facilities in the past four years, according to state records.
Officials at the state's largest nurses union said inadequate staffing at the Rochester hospital likely played a role in Stewart's death, according to the Star Tribune story.
"Patients do not receive the one-to-one care they deserve, even when they indicate they are having suicidal thoughts," said Rick Fuentes, a spokesman for the 20,000-member Minnesota Nurse Association, which represents several registered nurses at the Rochester hospital where the suicide occurred.
In 2014, the state recorded 44 suicide attempts at state-operated facilities, up from 34 in 2013. So far this year, there have been 25 suicide attempts — three since March — and two deaths, according to the Star Tribune.
"Our hearts go out to the patient's family," Jesson said in a prepared statement. "All suicides are tragic, but this death is especially troubling because it is the second apparent suicide in our facilities and the third attempt since March."
According to an obituary, Stewart graduated with honors from Rochester Community College in 2012 with a veterinarian technician degree. She was committed by a judge as mentally ill in October of 2014, according to court records.
