WEDNESDAY, MARCH 30. 2005
NEWS
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
SOCIAL WELFARE
3A
New safety advisory group to meet
BY NATE KARLIN
nkarlin@kansan.com
KANSAN STAFF WRITER
Mental health agencies have spearheaded a statewide safety advisory committee that will meet with a consultant for the first time next Thursday, following the death of social worker Teri Lea Mathis Zenner last August.
"We couldn't have foreseen it," he said. "We don't know what we could've done to have a different outcome."
David Wiebe, director of the Johnson County Mental Health Center, which employed Zenner at the time of his death, she he wished he could have prevented her death on August 17. Bu nothing about Zenner's client suggested dangerous behavior.
Zenner, a graduate student at the University of Kansas, was killed during a scheduled client visit at a client's home.
The client, 17-year-old Andrew Ellmaker, has been charged with Zenner's murder.
The Johnson County Mental Health Center, along with the Wydowette Center
for Behavioral Health Care, brought the committee together.
Seven months later, the advisory committee received $24,000 from the state to fund the project, Wiebe said.
Zenner
Laurie Curtis, a consultant from Vermont was bird to
Curtis, who developed a similar safety manual for the state of Illinois, will have her first meeting with the advisory committee next Thursday.
assist the development resource materials for a supervisor's safety tool kit, Wiebe said.
The safety tool kit would cover safety issues and provide resource materials and discussion guides to the state's 29 mental health centers.
The kit would allow social workers to have 15 to 30 minute discussions per day or per week with team leaders, Wiebe said.
"Rather than focus on one-time training, we really want to set the stage with dealing with safety issues." he said.
The Johnson County Mental Health Center created an internal安全委员会 that will identify issues and develop strategies that pertain to the center.
The committee has developed several self-defense courses, client risk factors and photo ID badges. Wiebe said.
This was be the first committee at the center with sole responsibilities of safety, Wiebe said.
The team leaders from the 15 teams that work in the community will then decide what will be taught to prevent specific incidents. Wiebe said.
The groups are broken into two areas: adult clients with severe illness and children with severe emotional disturbance.
The center has considered the buddy system approach to safety, but accompanying a worker in every situation would be near impossible. Wiebe said.
There are about 150 case managers who help perform the 1,000 community outreaches per week at various locations.
To help alleviate any further confrontations, the center has also offered self-defense training classes and cell phones to its workers. Webe said.
"This is not a problem they can fix in a day," he said. "It will take a while."
Matt Zenner, Teri's widower, said he appreciated the center spending seven months developing its plan rather than rushing through the procedures.
He said self defense was important for social workers to know, but that didn't mean using martial arts to beat somebody up.
Zenner wanted to enforce the importance of recognizing little objects around the house that could be used effectively.
Teri Zenner's death was not common at the center, but safety issues are becoming popular in today's culture, Wiebe said.
"Bottom line is we have changed in terms of the culture and how we pay attention to and address the safety," he said. "It's something that will always be a part of our culture and our organization."
— Edited by Jennifer Voldness
Widower lobbies for safer standards
BY NATE KARLIN
nharlin@kansan.com
KANSAN STAFE WRITER
In-home workers need panic buttons after murder of student during visit
Matt Zenner doesn't take credit for anything he has accomplished for social workers during the past seven months.
He directs praise to his wife, Teri Lea Mathis Zenner, a KU graduate student in social welfare who was murdered while on a visit to a client's house in August.
ON CAMPUS
Zenner has worked since August to protect not just social workers, but all professionals who make in-home visits, including nurses and teachers.
"I don't want another person to live through what I've been through," he said.
After seven months, the presence of his accomplishments has spread as far
Since August, he has requested a review of the state's safety policies, a creation of a statewide safety manual and to equip all personnel who work in home environments with a panic button.
as a mental health center in Pennsylvania. Zenner said newspapers in 40 states had recognized his efforts. Earlier this year Zenner traveled to Washington, D.C., with Dennis Moore, (D-Kan.), to lobby for nationwide safety changes.
He said he believed all three goals would be met.
Though Zenner has made positive strides in the field of social work following the tragedy, Teri's death still affects him.
Each time he walks into the Johnson County District courtroom and sees the man who murdered his wife, a minor at the time of the murder.
he relives the painful memories of that tragic Aug. 17 afternoon.
For the past seven months, Zenner and his daughter, Alayna, have managed to cope on a day-to-day basis.
"I have yet, to this date, found anyone who has had this happen to them." Zenner said. "That's the toughest part."
Zenner has been counting down the days until the jury decides the killer's sentence. On that day, Alayna will accompany him to the courtroom for the first time, he said.
Until that day comes, he and Alayna will be unable to completely put the tragedy to rest.
Like most children, Alayna has healed quickly, but Zenner doesn't think she has grasped the full picture, he said.
She understands that Teri will not
come back, but memories and wishes for her return emerge in conversation on a daily basis. Zenner said.
Even after the sentencing, Zenner will not give up on trying to prevent a similar occurrence.
Despite his emotional suffering, Zenner returned to work after several months off. He said it was the only way to keep his mind off the situation.
As far he has come since Aug.17, Zenner said his plan was only halfway finished.
He said he would spend the rest of his life keeping other social workers safe despite the pain each day brought.
"This is something that I pushed on a routine basis. I'm not going to let it go away," he said. "This is something that will never end."
— Edited by Austin Caster
$\diamond$ Ecumenical Christian Ministries will sponsor a University Forum featuring Richard Gwin of the Lawrence Journal- World, who will share stories and photos of Cuba beginning at 12:30 p.m. tomorrow. Call 843-4933 for more information.
The Multicultural Resource Center will hold a dedication for its new site just north of the Kansas Union at 3:30 p.m. tomorrow. For more information, contact the MRC at 864-4350.
- Student Union Activities will screen the film "CSA: Confederate States of America" by KU professor Kevin Willmott at 7 tonight at Woodruff Auditorium in the Kansas Union. Call 864-SHOW for more information.
- The Center of Latin American Studies will sponsor a Merienda Brown Bag lecture by Gerard Behague of the University of Texas-Austin on "Afro-Brazilian Religious Music: The Feast of lemanja, Goddess of the Sea" at noon on Thursday at room 318 in Bailey Hall. Call 1864-4213 for more information.
- ◆ The KU Memorial Unions will sponsor a lecture by U.S. Rep. Jim Ryun from 12:30 to 1 p.m. Thursday at Alderson Auditorium in the Kansas Union. Call 664-4651 for more information.
- Student Union Activities will sponsor a screening of the film "Ocean's Twelve" at 7 and 9:30 on Thursday and Friday nights at Woodruff Auditorium in the Kansas Union. Tickets are $2 or free with SUA Movie Card. Call 864-SHOW for more information.
NATION
Rev. Jesse Jackson prays with Schiavo family
PINELLAS PARK, Fla. — As Terri Schiavo entered her 12th full day without food or water, the Rev. Jesse Jackson prayed with her parents yesterday and joined conservatives in calling for state lawmakers to order her feeding tube reinserted.
The former Democratic presidential candidate was invited by Schiavo's parents to meet with activists outside Schiavo's hospice.
The Associated Press
A touch of Irish in downtown Lawrence
Red Lyon Tavern
944 Mass. 832-8228