Dear Senator Weiler,

I am writing to ask you to support Healthy Workplace legislation.  

I am a Utah citizen residing in Orem, Utah.  I became involved in trying to move forward this legislation as a result of a family member, and also longstanding dedicated citizen of Utah, being horrifically abused at work in a Utah medical residency program.  She became the target of a campaign by her supervisor to destroy her personally and professionally as a result of her being unwilling to compromise ethics and safety in patient care.  I was shocked that there were absolutely no protections for her, and that even those protections that were supposed to be in place were without any integrity and completely failed.  

I am now the Utah Representative for the Healthy Workplace Legislative Campaign.

The situation above is not at all an isolated incident in Utah.  There are many others whom I have come across, since becoming involved in this effort, whose lives have been devastated by workplace abuse.  In almost every case these targets have been some of our most highly skilled, talented, pro-social, benevolent, and ethical citizens.  In fact in many cases the abuse has been initiated as a result of the target being unwilling to act unethically. 

This prevalent problem is astoundingly costly in terms of financial losses to organizations in Utah.   Furthermore, it poses a very serious threat to public safety which has been both studied and documented, especially in the medical field.  

I would very much appreciate an opportunity to meet with you and further discuss this issue that needs to be addressed by our legislature so that appropriate laws can be put in place.  Please let me know when this might be possible.   

I have been working directly with my representative, Representative Keven Stratton, on this issue.  Please feel free to also contact him with any questions. 

Sincerely,

Denise Halverson

952 E 640 N

Orem, Utah  84097

(801)358-9373

denisehalverson@comcast.net