Nurses at Seattle Children’s Hospital are demanding immediate help from management on the Psychiatry and Behavioral Medicine Unit, according to the Washington State Nurses Association, which represents over 2,000 registered nurses at the hospital.

In the last two weeks, police have been called twice to quell violence – something that is very rare on the unit and a sign of a systemic crisis in pediatric mental health. Forty-four nurses — almost every nurse on the unit, not including those who were on a leave of absence due to injuries sustained while at work — signed a letter to Seattle Children’s management on Nov. 17, urging help on the unit.