3,181 Comments Posted by Lynne

P.S. I am betting that this particular book is pretty easy to find. I am sure we still have a copy or two where I currently work and I have seen copies of these at all the different facilities I have worked at.

Ooooh! Me too! I have several shelves of old medical books I have collected that I keep at work and boxes and boxes and boxes of vintage books at home that aren't quite so "scientific" but are vastly superior to most books written today. Well, except for the fact that the older books tend to be incredibly moralistic. However, the writing style and the vocabulary are both incredible. At work recently in the old library I found a first edition Gray's Anatomy. Yes, you may well stare, as I believe there were only two thousand copies of the first edition printed. [Beams happily, wishes she owned it personally]

Help me, MinxGirl, help me . . . . . . . (gurgle gurgle gurgle)

Well, actually, I wasn't referring to you or even thinking about you - in the least teensiest tiniest way, and I am not sure I actually called anyone an idiot for ghost hunting - yet - but I do seem to have unintentionally drawn some blood.

I admit I do get concerned about people who are more interested in dwelling on the gory details of the bad times some of these folks had in the past than seeming at all concerned about ways of assuring that they have a good time in their present lives. So if that draws blood, well . . . .

Well, hell, perhaps nothing. If caring that these folks and their staff have a better life and wanting others to think about them while they are still alive so they don't end up having unhappy lives and feeling compelled to haunt abandoned places as round unattractive orbs forever makes me an activist, then I admit - I am guilty. First degree guilty and premeditated and even pre-medicated. I've certainly been called worse things than that, and by better people, but in my warped mind being a mental health activist and a staff activist is a good thing. If you lived in one of these places you sure as hell would be looking for an activist, I can promise you that.

OK - now I'm confused - was that intended as an insult? It's odd, I take that as one of the highest compliments anyone can get, so even though you didn't intend it, I thank you from the bottom of my cold, sterile, ghost-free heart, small as it is. :-)

You're getting pretty good at this, Dr. Sketch! 8`-)

Will B. -

Licensed clinical psych with dual emphasis in clinical child psych and mental retardation, plus years and years and more years of working in various facilities, group homes, schools, hospitals, private homes, blah, blah, blah, blah. :-)

[Sigh . . . . . . . . . . ]

Well, Tony, darlin', we thought it went without saying that we would all dance with you FIRST. Mr. Depp is just a "Johnny Come Lately" to us. ;-)

Well, overall this isn't too bad if it is done by someone who is at the 4 to 6 year developmental level. Lots of little kids draw long ears on bunny rabbits and forget that they don't also have ears at the side of their heads like people do. It's sort of an egocentric thing at that age. The eyelashes are actually a good thing (as are the eyebrows and the curve of the cheeks) - extra detail = + intelligence. The only thing odd about this (other than the fact that this tells me it was either drawn by someone who was very young or who was developmentally very young, which is sad if they were in a psychiatric hospital and especially if this was a seclusion room) is the drawn teeth which sometimes indicate hostility. Of course, if the person was very young or was developmentally immature and was in seclusion, you can certainly understand them being somewhat pissed off.

Anyways, I shouldn't even be engaging in this sort of speculative shenanigans, not knowing anything about the person who drew this. For all we know, one of the staff may have had their child with them at work one day (we have seen in other posts that this was not an uncommon occurrence in the past) and maybe the child drew on the wall and then it got painted over.

P.S. Almost all portraits are self-portraits in some way, and I'm not even a Freudian. :-)

David Ferleger? This guy?

http://www.ct.gov/ag/c...?Q=306650&A=1949
http://www.vor.net/Oct%2028%202005.html
(****Second story****)
http://www.boston.com/...parate_compensation/
http://www.mail-archiv...nn.edu/msg00432.html
http://www.mail-archiv...nn.edu/msg00410.html

Judderman, you actually expect those poor nurses to come into your room when you smell poorly? ;-)

Pneumothorax sucks. Hope you're better. :-)

Not specifically - just for folks who don't walk on their own, so it certainly does include people with spinal injuries. Many of the folks I work with have cerebral palsy or other motor issues. These chairs are nice because you don't have to always sit in the same position (i.e., at a 90 degree angle with the seat parallel to the floor); you can tilt these and set them so that your weight is distributed differently at different angles, and then you have less risk of skin breakdown and pressure ulcers. It's also helpful if you need to be inclined at a particular angle while eating (such as if you have dysphagia and have problems swallowing) - then you don't have to be taken out of your chair, placed in another chair and repositioned, then taken back out and put back in your regular chair. Finally, a number of folks have a difficult time readjusting themselves voluntarily due to their motor limitations, so this makes them more comfortable.

Sometimes when we are training new staff we ask them to try an experiment where they have to sit in a chair or lie in bed and not move for a certain period of time, just as if they had some of the same physical limitations our folks have, such as not having the motor ability to move themselves around or adjust themselves as most of us unconsciously do every few minutes. Often all it takes is 15 minutes before people are extremely uncomfortable because you take for granted your ability to self-adjust for your comfort level.

Anyway, these chairs are grand because they are also lighter weight yet more sturdy. If you've ever helped push someone in a wheelchair for any amount of time and on even the slightest slope you'll very quickly appreciate the changes they have made in these devices over the years.

No, they would not. Violent ward + seclusion room very rarely = unsupervised use of paint of ANY color. :-)

Interesting. I feel like I have already read this before somewhere . . . .

Here:

http://phc-online.com/images/quickie_ts.jpg
http://www.abledata.co...s/images/98A0443.jpg
http://www.avenuemedic...ic/solara_jr_big.jpg