Comments

excellent... love the decay

Well, you turn them in, of course, and that second, or you are equally culpable. My poor husband knows that if I ever caught him treating someone badly who lives at the place where we work, I would turn him in to the authorities in a heartbeat. And I am fairly certain that he would do the same about me, or at least I hope he would. That is because if he is the sort of person who would be abusive, then he isn't who I think he is and needs to stop. THEN he needs to get help, but my first aim is taking care of the folks who need protection.

Sounds cold to a lot of people, but that's how it is. I am a psychologist but right now I am also in risk management, and it is my job to make sure people are safe and secure and getting what they need or else I raise hell about it. Doesn't always make me the most popular person around, but I REALLY care about what other people think about me - keeps me up late at night. ;-)

The concern you are hearing from some of us is that people make an automatic assumption that because we work in this field, especially in-patient care, we are all abusive and the taint clings, even though there is heavy duty nonstop (and I mean that literally) policing and training and interventions.

But the irony is that when abuse or neglect does occur, it's not usually because staff are bad people and it's not because the folks we work with are bad people and it's not because institutions are inherently evil. It's because the funding isn't there and the community support isn't there. Generally all the community wants to do is toss rocks; they don't jump up to the plate until a court mandate (and lots of money) comes in. It's not like there are lots and lots people out there volunteering to do this out of the goodness of their hearts. If the community money dried up everyone would be right back in the institutions tomorrow.

And that sucks, because that isn't where they should be, except in rare cases and usually for short periods of time. But that isn't because they are necessarily being abused; it's because everyone has the right to live in the community if the supports are there.

Again, we just want people to give us a break and quit assuming that all places are torture and doom and gloom and that no one but outsiders cares.

I have said this before, but it's still just as true - whatever you focus on you become, so it behooves us all, advocates more than anyone, to also look for the good in people and not immediately seek out the negative, because every one of us has a nasty side to us. It's just that those of us who work in in-patient settings get our fair share of having people talk about our dirty laundry and then they give us their fair share of dirty laundry as well.

Thank God I am on the soapbox, because I have been trying to see if there is any soap left in it to scrub out our dirty laundry.

one of the best hallway shots

disgusting... i love it

Hi Absynthe, I think I have heard a bit about "memento mori"...thank you for mentioning that. Since my grandmother's family was relatively poor I imagine these may well have been the only photos they had of the children who died...it's so sad!

http://www.google.com/search?q=fluoroscope

Of course I needed to know it was a fluoroscope in the first place!

Oh what was his parents thinking? Oh Lordy! Let's see how many times Pete Moss can be beaten on the school playground in a year. Poor Soul.

**bows toward Lynne*** Great analogy, Lynne....SO glad you said "unused"...LOL I think Bill can keep his prize, don't you? What was it, anyway?

Motts---You said "these kind of resemble ovens but I don't remember what the rest of it looked like. " The rest of it......You might have to come back, and take a second look, and a panoramic of it....Maybe if we can see the rest of it....HMMmmmm...

Can we agree that any time one human being has power over another human being, there exists a potential for abuse, and then move forward from there?

Lyric - I find myself kinda doubting, based on his grammar, that sean's comments are based on experience. But you shouldn't make assumptions about everyone who visits the site. Yes, I've seen and done some of the things you ask about. One of the little charmers I'm working with raped his last caseworker. I'm aware that working in the field of mental health is no picnic. And someone really does have to do it.

Think people are mistreated in asylums? At least they are warm and fed. Not like the homeless guy downtown who has lost all his fingers from frostbite. The police feel sorry for him - they arrest him when it gets really cold, hoping to save his life. He has a perfectly good sister who would let him stay with her, but he won't stay anywhere - he can't stand to be inside a building. Because of current laws, his sister has had no luck having him committed, so he's out there today, in the cold, with a lot fewer fingers than he had this time last year.

Then there's Kill Guy. He has a name, presumably, but I don't know it - he screams "KILL!!!" at anyone who speaks to him. Well-intentioned strangers offer him money and he scares the pee out of them. Kill Guy was having a bad day last time I saw him, rocking back and forth on a bench and shouting in his own personal language. I haven't seen him since it got cold. I hope he's locked up somewhere safe - not lying dead in the lowlands next to the icy Nonconnah creek. I know the stories of a lot of the deinstitutionalized mentally ill who live around here but I don't know his story.

My point is, yes, these places served a function. They were and are needed, and they arose, at least partially, from the desire to help the mentally ill. But they also arose, at least partially, from the desire of most folks to walk down the street without bearded strangers screaming, "KILL!!" at them. Both desires have an effect on the way people are cared for.

Involuntary committment may be a necessary evil, but it's still an evil. The mentally ill may be safer locked up against their will than they would be on the street, but they are still locked up against their will. That's sad. It's not unreasonable for people to imagine them suffering. They ARE suffering.

Now: about abuse. There are a few dedicated caretakers who regard their jobs as a calling, but a more typical profile - in my experience, locally - is a divorced women with small children who went back to school because she desperately needed money and someone suggested a degree in something related to health care. Health care, where I live, is the largest industry - 40% of people in this city work in a health-related field! Not all of them can be inspired, kind, loving people. Given the superhuman stresses and temptations of the job, It's no wonder that abuse happens.

Lynne - for the sake of argument, I'm going to take the numbers you suggested: 98% good, 2% bad. That means in a small staff of 50 people, one is bad. Not good odds, if you happen to be completely at the mercy of the staff. What SHOULD people do when they hear stories of abuse? Should they keep quiet so that the innocent workers in the field don't have their names blackened? I would think that a truly innocent worker would be the first in line to denounce abuses and make sure that no one ever forgets them, so they don't happen again.

how do you find all this shit out, Motts?

Wednesday, 09-28-05
By: rich_edwards79


Dinner is served :-/



hahahha lmao

The title wasn't politically incorrect at the time. Not because people then were particularly insensitive, but because the word "retarded" isn't inherently bad. Any word becomes bad when it's said and repeated in derogatory or scornful manner.

Re: Arasine's question

Der tote Spielraum fasten
(German for: "The dead travel fast")

That thing in the hallway looks like some kind of creeping techno-spider, just waiting to pounce on unsuspecting explorers...


That is too funny! It does look a little like a big creature from a B grade horror film.

I'm sticking to air-exchange units.
(Not like that you sickos!)
; )