77 Comments Posted by Pookie,former patient

Pedro,
OMG I sooooo remember Elaine, she was a tall big lady and she was mean to us kids, she thought she was the queen....and yes, Ward A was on the left side of the gym,Ward was on the right side of the gym and that is the ward I was on....

Boiler 1220
I don't know,I think he left a comment,but,now it's not here, maybe he took it off, was pretty sure it was a Marvin....

A William,
first of all, I don't know who you are, second of all, it is not illegal to post people's last names on here or on any social media site for that matter. I know this for a fact, it's a field I work in. Everything is public knowledge. Hippa is for Dr's,Nurses and the medical field only, and that is that they can't talk about patients in any public area's or even to each other unless they themselves are taking care of the same patients. As for the patients that were there, yes, I will say that we shouldn't say their last names as they may not want people to know they were there, but,it's not against the law to put their last names on here,it's just decent of us to not put them on here. Trust me, feel free to check on the privacy laws yourself, nothing is sacred anymore, no one's life is private anymore, you can even get people's social security numbers now on the internet. Lets just all be polite and respectful of the patients that there there, not the staff members, cause they were very abusive to us, physically, mentally,emotionally and verbally, and sometimes, even sexually, not to mention they drugged us all the time.

Hi Pedro,
Ward A was across from Ward D,the same floor the gym was on, I say it's the 2nd floor, but,honestly,if we include the basement then it's the 3rd floor. I don't know what the staff names were on your Ward, I was on D, and their names were,Willy,Suzanne,Melody,Joanna, Harvey, Jack,and a few other's but,I can't remember their names.

Hi Marvin,
Good Morning, Were you a patient at Gaebler? if so when?

Hi Jan,
How are you doing? I hope well. The name of the African-American Cafeteria lady was Manuella C,she was amazing, and she really did care about us kids and what we ate. Here's the funny thing about her, when I got of Gaebler and then went to an all girls Catholic school for a couple years then was able to go back home in High School, I might a really nice kid,and we were boyfriend and girlfriend and he brought me to his apartment to meet his family and OMG his mother was the cafeteria lady there, she second I walked through the door she said OMG I know you, you were at Gaebler, and I said yes I was and I remember you too, I never told my boyfriend that I was ever at Gaebler and now I had to tell him, it was a very surreal moment, I thought he was going to leave me but,he didn't, we stayed together for over a year and then I broke up with him, but, his mother was always so nice, it was just so weird,I mean, honestly, what are the chances that a staff member from their would be the mother of a guy you were dating? or to even see a staff member ever again once you got out of there? just very odd, but,sadly she passed away years ago. I don't know where any of the other staff members went after the building closed down in 1992,but, I pray that the mean ones got Karma and that the nice one's are still alive and doing well. Well, I must go for now, have a great day xxxxxx

Jan Pinkowitz,
I am so glad that there is the website/forum for us patients of Gaebler. I saw a lot of bad things there, things that a child should never have to see or endure. As for my family, my oldest daughter has been sick since the day she was born and there are no cures and she has lived longer then all the Dr's and Specialists said she would and same for my youngest daughter, she has lived longer then they said she would too. I don't dwell on their health crisis, instead I take my anger about it and do lots of research and call other Dr's and get them to do things that they didn't even know about. They are a blessing to me and my husband, without them, I am nothing, my whole life for the past 23 years 2 months has been taking care of my daughter's,working and taking care of my husband with his COPD that he was just diagnosed with. I also take care of my mom and was taking care of my dad everyday until he passed away 4 years ago. I always have a smile on my face, I will do anything for anyone and I do, and I just am so glad for everyday that god lets my daughter's wake up. I think when people dwell on the bad, then, they will never live, they will never have a good life, and for all that I went through at Gaebler and now go through with my family, I always made a promise to myself that when I got out of Gaebler and had children of my own, that they would and will never be placed in a place like that. thank you so much for your kinds words and prayers for my family, it is much appreciate it.....

Flushed, I am so sorry they deleted your comments and memories, and I don't believe for one minute that your stories weren't true, people just seem to find it really hard to believe that things like this went on behind closed locked doors, that place was worse then jail. OMG!!!! just makes me so angry that someone who doesn't even know you or us could be so mean and nasty....I pray people like that,never have to experience what we did and I pray if they have kids that they don't ever do to them what our parents and the dept of mental health did to us.....

Jan Pinkowitz, no apologies necessary. I just can't believe that we as kids had to endure such horrible treatment. I don't know how the Dept of Mental Health sleeps at night, I am sure if this was one of their kids, they would never have put them there, it was jail with physical, verbal,mental & sometimes sexual abuse. Not to mention the drugging that us kids got. They drugged us to keep us calm, I was so scared there, all I did was be calm and shut my mouth and do what I was told cause they for sure instilled the fear in me. My staff members on Ward D were, Jack,he was such an Ahole,Melody with the hook hand,she was so mean to all of us, she would swing her arm/hand hook at us like to scare us and verbally abuse us, Harvey, who just loved to egg us kids on to be secluded, thrown to the floor and then thrown in the seclusion room,he almost kid my boyfriend there,he beat him so badly that Willy the staff member who was actually nice to us kids called his parents and told them what happened and said come get him, so they came and got him, had to go to court and Harvey got into trouble,I am not sure what kind of trouble,but,he made it out that the kid he beat was being out of control, my boyfriend was sleeping at the time, he woke him up out of a sleep for the fun of it. Suzanne was the other staff member who was really nice,her and Willy were a couple, we called Willy Pickle,they truly cared about us kids. Don't get me wrong, I have a lot of great memories there, I met the bestfriends in the world,and I still talk to a handful of them, and I see a couple of them. I am glad that closed that place down in 1992,but,not happy that they tore the building down, Boiler and I went in there together a few times before it was taken apart and torn down, my husband and I went in there all the time since I live in Waltham, it was just so nice that I could come and go as I pleased and didn't get locked in the building,a bedroom, the shower room or the Ward. It was freedom, and I was just so happy to say FU I made it out of here and you didn't break me. I wish the City of Waltham would have done something good out of that building for troubled kids, like a day center place and have children that were actually there be staff members, cause I honestly believe that us children can really only understand what a troubled child goes through, no drugs, no locked doors, just a center to help kids and make them see and understand that they are not bad. But, the building was just incased in so much Asbestos that they felt it was cheaper to tear it down, now there is nothing there but, the water tower, it looks strange. I often walk through the woods, go to Rock Meadow where the swing set still is and swing on the swings with my youngest daughter and husband,it's just so surreal...Thank you for saying you hope things improve for me, sadly,I have to say they won't, but, I am not dwelling on it, I just thank god for everyday they let my daughter's wake up and let me share another day with them and let me husband wake up so he can aggravate me another day lol he is the best, and I am very fortunate to have him all these years. Thank you for your prayers, I can never have enough of them.....xxxxxx.....

John, you are very welcomed about Kim's last name and the video, I did my best to get as much video's and pictures of Gaebler before it got torn down, I was in there a couple dozen times and did my best, it was very dark in there, so it was hard to do....I am so glad you are still around and doing good, that makes me happy to hear that, I hate when I hear about some of the kids who were not as fortunate as us to get past it, not get over it or get over what we went through,just get past it so we can live a happier life then we had in that hell.....

Jan Pinkowitz, Hello there, I didn't purposely not respond to you on here, I honestly never saw you leave me a comment on here, it was an oversight on my part, that's all, it was done to be mean at you, that is not the type of person I am or ever was either. I am truly sorry for your horrible time at Gaebler and the drugging and abuse you got, no, you did not deserve it, none of us did, it was horrible to say the least. I will never understand how any of these social workers,so called Dr's got away with the treatment of us children, that is what we were, we were children and led to believe that we were horrible and bad and we deserved the treatments they gave us, I never had Mike in the cafeteria be mean at me, I don't know if he was there when I was there 82-84, I can't remember any of their names, the only one I can remember is Manuela Carrion as she was 1 of the cooks there and was so nice to me and the kids. She truly cared about us kids. thank you for the website, I will check it out, I do have a lot going on in my life right now, so if I don't get back to you, please don't take it personally, I have 2 chronically ill children with no cures, a sick mother and a husband with COPD, and I work, I will try and check on here more often, once again I am truly sorry....

Patrick ward e 82-84, No I am not Michelle LaCroix, my maiden name was woods

Patrick, you are very welcomed,let me know if you have any trouble getting your records, I will try and help you if I can.....

Patrick, that is great that you and Sandy were together, she really was a great girl, and I know Mike Ingram because he was on my Ward D when I was there, he has such cool hair lol Yes, Tricia Grant was a wild one, we were bestfriends at St.Anne's aka Germaine Lawrence School for girls in Arlington,Mass, I hated that she left and got put in at Gaebler, we wrote to each other all the time when she was there, when she got out, we lost touch. I honestly had the best of friends there, there is no friends like those friends and that is because we all understood each other and we all went through hell there with each other. I do stay in contact with Danny, he was the love of my life since I was 11 years old, and yes, I am married now with 2 daughters and my husband is amazing,but, you never got over your first true love, and my husband knows all about Danny and has actually talked to him,and I have seen him several times in the past couple of years. I hope you are doing well, after being at Gaebler I have become very closed off, I don't trust easily and I never seem to be able to believe things that people say, that I am atesting to being at Gaebler, because we were lied to on a daily basis, verbally mentally,physically and even some sexual abused. I am for sure a strong person, I will not let anyone walk all over me, being there was hell,but,like I said,I made the best of friends and I do talk to 7 of them. I have a fb page, and I have video's and pictures of Gaebler on it, my name is Michelle Woods-Person,if you are on it, friend request me and you can see my pictures and video's, hope to chat with you soon......

Patrick, it is very easy to get your paperwork from Gaebler, well, for me it was, I did it in 1991 just before they closed in 1992, I wrote a letter and had it notorized, but, now that the place is gone, I am sure all the records are gone as well, you can try and go through the Dept of Mental Health of Mass, they have to have them, it's the law, but, then again, the law was broken millions of times on the children at Gaebler. Gaebler tried to say I wasn't there when I wrote them directly, so I went through the Dept of Mental Health, they are for sure archived, but, they are supposed to have them....