Teri Zenner.Photo:Courtesy Brianne Zenner
Courtesy Brianne Zenner
“I remember seeing an image of her coming out of that house in a body bag,” Zenner, now 44, tells PEOPLE in this week’s issue, “and thinking, ‘She’s not going to be just another dead person that everybody feels sorry for and then forgets about. We’ve got to do something to make sure this never happens again.’”
Matt and Teri Zenner.Courtesy Brianne Zenner
That’s troubling news to the hundreds of thousands of social workers across the country who find themselves on the frontlines — and often alone — caring for some of the country’s most vulnerable, and, occasionally, violent individuals.
For more on Matt Zenner’s fight to honor his slain wife’s memory,subscribe now to PEOPLE,or pick up this week’s issue, on newsstands Friday.
The statistics are equally worrying.
Matt Zenner and his sister, Brianna.Lawrence (Kan.) Journal-World
Lawrence (Kan.) Journal-World
In 2018, a Bureau of Labor study described how social workers were nearly five times as likely to suffer a serious violent injury — ranging from sexual assault to murder—while on the job than people working in other sectors. And earlier this year, a survey of more than 1,100 social workers revealed that nearly 60 percent of the respondents had experienced at least one incident of client violence.
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Despite the dangers — and the deaths — those trying to secure protections for these workers have little to show for their hard-fought efforts on a national level.
Andrew Ellmaker.Lawrence (Kan.) Journal-World
“Making sure they are safe on the job is not only the right thing to do,” says Wisconsin Sen. Tammy Baldwin, who has been spearheading legislation on this issue since 2019, “but also essential.”
Engaged and now living in Texas, Matt remains hopeful that the legislation he helped champion in Kansas will one day get passed on a nationwide level. “I’ll do whatever I can to keep bringing awareness to this issue,” he says. “Social work was Teri’s passion. She just wanted to help others.”
source: people.com
