Yale New Haven Hospital employees are calling on the health network to step up to protect their staff and their vehicles. A recent uptick in incidents around designated parking areas has employees concerned.
“Almost every day we are working I am hearing about coworkers with their cars getting broken into,” said Jillian Tiberio, a nurse at Yale New Haven Hospital.
She along with over 1,500 other people are demanding action while dealing with a rise in assaults, theft and robbery in the area staff are designated to park.
“I know a coworker that two-three times, the same person has had their car broken into,” said Tiberio.
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The complaints stem from parking lots the hospital doesn’t own, but employees use them to park. The New Haven Parking Authority owns the lots. NBC Connecticut reached out for comment but has not heard back.
Tiberio says it costs $500 a year to park, and since the uptick, she has taken matters into her own hands.
“I have a wheel lock that I put on to try to deter people from going to my car,” she said.
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According to New Haven police, in the last three months, there have been 17 incidents around Yale New Haven Hospital. Nine were assaults and several robberies and thefts, two of which involved a gun. Not all 17 incidents involved hospital employees.
“They [the incidents] are up but they are still low, especially considering the size of the city,” said Officer Christian Bruckhart with the New Haven Police Department.
Arrests have already been made in one of the recent incidents from June 18. A female employee had her purse stolen and the juveniles attempted to steal her car. Two juveniles have been arrested with more arrests pending.
“We just need some help from the public, keep stuff out of your cars, keep your doors locked; help us help you,” said Bruckhart.
He said they have increased patrols around the lots with assistance from hospital security and they will continue to do so when they have the staffing. But employees are calling on the hospital to do more.
“It’s frustrating because it’s just open lots, we are just sitting ducks, all of our cars,” said Tiberio.
An online petition has already garnered more than 1,500 signatures calling on the hospital to implement increased lighting, gates, more cameras, and patrols in employee parking areas, even if they aren’t the owners.
“We are their employees, and they should be protecting us and giving us safer options for parking,” said Tiberio.
A Yale New Haven Health spokesperson issued a statement to NBC Connecticut that said, “We are very concerned about what happened to our employee recently. We are grateful to the New Haven Police Department for their quick response, and we will continue to partner with them and the New Haven Parking Authority to maintain security around our facilities, city parking garages and lots.”
