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Aww, I love to hear stuff like this, Lynne. It's so sweet.

I tell ya, awyper, if we were ever to get the money back we have put out to make sure our folks got the little extras (when we could afford it), we would all be rich! 8`-) But honestly, it's worth it every time to know they have what they need or they have a few little goodies that's a special treat for them.

I have staff who know that their favorite person loves a particular type of cologne and they make sure that they are always well stocked. Other staff bring in extra warm sockies or pretty colorful blankets or treats that they know the person loves. Staff decorate like the dickens when the holidays come and make sure there are parties and fun activities, just like in the community. Sometimes we have a holiday open house and invite anyone from the community who wants to come, and other times we take some of our folks out to community get-togethers.

I have one group of staff who can't seem to ever get access to recreation money for the holidays, so they spend out of their own pockets and put on Halloween spook houses and Christmas parades. I am trying to bring a little Chanukah into the scene as well, but for this part of the country they don't know what a dreidel is, so what are ya gonna do? I'll try to slide some culture in without them knowin' this year, though. ;-)

I have met very few staff and teachers (I used to be a special ed teacher billions of years ago) who haven't put out a nice chunk of change over the years so their students/clients/residents/patients would be able to get something they really needed or really wanted.

And it's sweet when community people remember to send goodies these folks' way as well. That's why I get such a kick out of the Hell's Angels-type motorcyclists who put on a yearly drive to take stuffed animals to kids in hospitals and other items to people in need.

Yes, the Dollar Store, the Dollar Tree, Everything For A Dollar, Family Dollar, and Big Lots are the places I haunt for goodies for myself and my folks. God bless them! ;-)

Motts,
Have you ever thought of wearing snow shoes in the interiors? Big , long feet might give you more security to venture without poking through fragile floors!!! I think your images are amazing ---- you have my loudest, and most quiet applause........

Exactly.....lol

wow- yall are so effing into this stuff huh?

Neither. I had a dream about mushy stairs last night and a collapsing porch.

Institutions rarely received much in the way of money for equipment, so frequently they ended up with some pretty shoddy equipment. Most state institutions have to go through a pre-specified vendor, and the best way to get a contract to be a vendor is to have the lowest price. If "lowest price" always meant "quality," that would be a good thing. However, for some strange reason, "lowest price" often actually means "junk," and you get what you pay for.

I have seen equipment on living areas that burglars wouldn't steal if they were starving because they couldn't find anyone dumb enough to unload it on. So if something is left behind that doesn't mean that it was necessarily valuable in the first place.

Besides, after all the smearing that people do about direct care staff, isn't it nice to think they didn't rob the place blind?

Every large institution, from universities to hospitals, has tons and tons of equipment that is moved around as newer equipment comes in to replace it. At the place I work we have hundreds of extra beds, couches, chairs, tables, etc., for replacement purposes, and after awhile, unlike many places, our purchasing department organizes a sale through the state to sell off equipment we no longer use. However, we still have buildings and buildings full of unused equipment because you never know when you might need some of it again.

When institutions downsize and, in some cases, close, the furniture is moved to uninhabited areas of campus as the clients are moved together to save space and better utilize existing staff. It is the responsibility of the state to decide what to do with the extra beds and tables and chairs and equipment, but for some odd reason in many places once they have closed a place, the higher ups at the state level seem to have forgotten that the buildings are still full of equipment such as this. In some cases, such as the picture where it shows all the old typewriters stored, there is probably not much of a market. As well, there are legal issues involved in taking equipment that was purchased for a specific use and figuring out who is supposed to take the time to set up a sale to get rid of it and what becomes of the money received.

After one place I worked at had closed, they decided they were going to make it into a junior college, then they talked about a halfway house, then they talked about a minimum security facility for teenagers. Last I heard it is still sitting there full of furniture. Another facility became a Homeland Security training grounds and I am sure they use all the beds and blankets and such for their use when the people they train stay there.

So don't take the fact that there is still lots of furniture sitting around as some sort of sign that it meant something evil. I am positive that there are many other places around the country with less of a reputation that are abandoned that still have lots of equipment left.

With little money provided for staffing from the state, the staffing ratios were usually very poor - sometimes 15 or more clients to one staff. Remember that many of the folks who lived here had functional skills at the infant-toddler stage. Remember also that with little consistent attention because of the low staffing ratios, people had to learn to engage in some exciting behaviors to get attention. As well, people with central nervous system problems often have impulse control issues.

When I have been at work I have covered for short periods of time where all the staff had to go do things and I was the only one on the floor with 15 folks I didn't know. These people have very intense needs, so if one client hits another and hurts them, in order to assist you have to ignore the other 13. Then bad things can happen because you are only one person. If someone else has a seizure while someone is trying to eat a latex glove while a third is trying to leave the area to go find cigarette butts to eat (not an unlikely scenario, by the way), how are you supposed to decide where the priority is when you are still trying to separate the first two who are literally at each others' throats?

You can't exactly blame the staff for being only human and being able to be only in one place at one time. You could blame Pennhurst, but they got their money from the government. You could blame the government, but they got their money from issues voted on and agreed to by the taxpayer. People who don't vote or don't support social services are your bottom line. And they generally only get involved when things go to hell in a handbasket and things become front page news, such as happened at Pennhurst. And then, only as long as their attention span lasts, which is until the next scandal hits. How many people who bitched about what happened at Pennhurst are out there making sure the same thing doesn't happen in the community? I can tell you. It's a damn sight smaller than those who were all agog and screaming when it first was publicized, as if it couldn't have been predicted from the pitiful amounts of money provided for services for folks with intellectual disabilities.

As far as why there was a physical medicine hospital on grounds, you have to remember that most institutions were originally built far away from towns because the "normal" people didn't want people who were different living near them. You can't blame that one on staff either. When you have a lot of folks who have central nervous system damage who live together in one place, the medical staff who work there become pretty skilled in dealing with issues that the general medical community sees very little of, such as the multiple anticonvulsants usually necessary to control a seizure disorder such as Lennox-Gastaut syndrome, issues with syndromes such as Down, Prader-Willi, Cornelia de Lange, etc.

When you take a client who lives in an institution to a "town doctor", for years we would get stared at, pushed to the back of the line, or they would order tests or medications that made absolutely no sense, given that they weren't familiar with the medical conditions that folks who live in places such as this are more likely to have. That is, IF you could get a physician from the community to see one of our folks. Often, as is still the case today, they couldn't even get a first appointment to be seen.

Having a fully equipped hospital on grounds makes it easier to deal with the multiple cuts, bruises, nicks, etc., that occur at a higher rate with folks who have problems with motor skills and have a high rate of injuries from falls, from seizures, etc. As well, the number one cause of death for people with intellectual disabilities is pneumonia, because so many of our folks are unable to walk independently and end up with pulmonary issues, just the same as folks who live in nursing homes. Therefore, it makes sense to have someplace for people to go when they are very ill where they can have people who understand concepts such as an order for prn pain medication DOESN'T mean you have to wait for the person to ASK for pain meds, because many of our folks are nonverbal.

I worked with a gentleman in an institution who showed one day by the very slightest signs that something was terribly wrong, signs that most people would ignore but his staff knew meant something was wrong. We hollered and hollered for help, and when they came to do the exam it turns out his stomach had perforated. Yeah, you BET that hurt. I went to visit him at the hospital (this was in a large urban city on the West Coast) two days later and found him tied to a bed, thrashing about in pain. When I asked about pain meds, the nurse told me they were to be given prn and he hadn't asked for any, so he hadn't received any.

JHC! >:-( Regular hospital, my broad behind!

Things are changing, but I am still reluctant at times to take my folks to "real hospitals" because they don't always seem exactly eager to see us coming. People in the community hoot and holler about how terrible institutions are, but as soon as you try to get a license for a group home or supported living you have every "responsible citizen" in the world playing "not in MY back yard" and screaming about property values.

Bottom line - it ain't the staff, it ain't the institution, and it's not the families who sent their loved ones here because no one would pay for home services - it's the culture that supported this when it didn't pay for adequate services and when it allowed people to live like this because they didn't care enough about them to pay decent wages.

And remember, "culture" = you and me.

ok..so the picture isnt nailed it is cemented to the wall,so someone wanted it to stay for good(it must have had that much meaning)..does it mean that at pennhurst you can be free from what holds you captive..or..does it mean it is a messed up hospital that doesnt let parents see where their kids live..it is a picture that shows people being held against their will to work and be enslaved like penn hurst

i wonder what happened in rooms like this since they were made to not exsist

ok im confused...if people are watching these patients why are they getting hurt...and if the did get hurt why wouldnt you take them to a reg hosp. not a room...

its funny how in some pics things are left behind...all that heavy equipment..they had time to take that 3 floors up and out of the building but they didnt have time to take a fan..or a projector?..think about it

things had to be really bad at penn hurst for them to leave valuable things behind..i wonder why they were in such a hurry to shut the place down..why leave things behind if they are useful?..makes me wonder what really went on

i can just imagine how many little feet walked down those steps