COLLINS, N.Y. -- Corrections officers at Collins Correctional Facility in Erie County responded Sunday morning to a call of an inmate attempting suicide.

New York State Correctional Officers and Police Benevolent Association Western Region Vice President Ken Gold said they quickly responded and began life-saving measures.

"While they were doing that, slowly but surely, different members as they were doing chest compressions or whatnot, started feeling light-headed, dizzy. One officer actually had to be relieved from what he was doing to go vomit," Gold said.

The union said while everybody including the inmate survived, 11 officers and a nurse were transported to Erie County Medical Center. Those involved believe they were exposed to a substance and multiple officers were treated with the opioid reversal agent Narcan.

"To this minute they still don't know what they were exposed to," Gold said.

NYSCOBPA said the incident is a microcosm of what is happening in the state prison system. It said staff is dealing with the highest levels of overtime and violence they've ever seen.

"It needs to stop because at this point, we keep saying it, someone's going to die," Gold said.

Republican lawmakers gathered with the union and corrections officers in front of the facility Wednesday to call for change. State Assemblyman David DiPietro said the trends are directly correlated to policy put forward by a Democratic majority prioritizing inmates instead of safety.

"I'm on the Corrections Committee and I'm dumbfounded and astounded at the idiotic moronic issues and bills they put up in Albany," DiPietro said.

They said the governor should declare a state of emergency to return prisons to the lower staffing levels they used during the COVID-19 pandemic, guarantee regularly scheduled days off and suspend the HALT Act; a 2021 law that restricts long-term solitary confinement. The Assembly's ranking Republican on the Corrections Committee, Joe Giglio, said it was never necessary.

"When you take away progressive discipline then there's no responsibility for your action and so what that does is elevate the risk," Giglio said.

In a statement, Gov. Kathy Hochul's Office said Hochul respects the extraordinary work of corrections officers and has raised salaries, increased location pay and provided paid parental leave. Additionally, the office noted she passed legislation allowing the use of body scanners to help reduce contraband.

Hochul has discussed ways to deal with short-staffing including raising the maximum age for recruitment and closing prisons but the union says those aren't the answers.

Meanwhile, the Department of Corrections and Community Service said it is grateful the officers and nurse involved at Collins were treated and cleared for medical release and all but two have returned to duty. It said, as the investigation is ongoing, it has no further comment.