Workplace Violence Prevention for Health Care and Social Service Workers Act

Floor Speech

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Mr. COHEN. Madam Speaker, I appreciate Mr. Courtney for yielding to me, and I appreciate him for bringing this bill. He has a long history of now 15 years of looking out for workers, laborers, and their fair place in our country, and I thank him for that.

Over the past 13 months, our healthcare and social service workers have gone over and beyond in their efforts to keep us healthy and free during this COVID-19 pandemic. This bill, the Workplace Violence Prevention for Health Care and Social Service Workers Act, is one way Congress can help keep them healthy and look out for their safety.

This amendment is a simple one. It simply says that Alzheimer's and memory care facilities are added to the type of residential treatment facilities covered by this bill. Alzheimer's and memory care facilities are sometimes overlooked in the definition and should not be.

With our aging population, Alzheimer's and dementia is growing in prevalence. In the United States, more than 5.5 million people now are living with Alzheimer's. The number is expected to increase to 14 million people by 2060. Alzheimer's is the sixth leading cause of death in our country, but third among senior citizens, behind only cancer and heart disease. This increase in Alzheimer's diagnoses means more healthcare workers and social workers will be needed to help patients and their families to try to manage this disease and cope with the effects.

This bill doesn't only help the workers, but it helps the victims of these diseases that put them in the institutions by making it more likely that people will want to go into those professions and not fear for their health.

As anyone who has or had a loved one with Alzheimer's knows that Alzheimer's patients can become aggressive for many reasons. Sometimes it is just the inability to grasp a subject or to remember something or they are hungry or whatever, and they get violent.

That is the reason oftentimes they are put into long-term facilities caring for Alzheimer's patients, and that is going to continue to grow. They have these outbursts of aggression. Healthcare professionals and social service workers need to be protected similar to their colleagues that work in residential treatment facilities.

I appreciate your consideration. I appreciate this amendment being put in the en bloc. Hopefully, we pass it and pass the bill and we look out for healthcare workers and the people who are the beneficiaries of their work. And they will need more and more service providers as the years go on.

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