4,537 Comments for Pennhurst State School

Hey Motts, i have a question, do you have any good pics of the bus that was ripped open by some kind of monster?

This is one of my fav rooms, you gotta make sure to watch your step though, lest you never make it out.

haha, jackasses

Well, for the first part, the only reason there is anything about the military is because of the power plants ONLY... i go quite often, and there is only patrol cars that run by every now and then, all you have to do is take a camera and some shit, and tell them you are there for pictures for a documentry or a web site, all they can do is tell you to leave

Well said Surly Girl. My sister was in various state institutions (west coast) from '76 to '86. I visited her many times in that period and remember her various surroundings very well. Looking back, I can say the care was exceptional. In those years my sister was ages 13 to 23 and was far better off inside the bin than outside. She's been out and living on disability for more than twenty years now and seems to be managing well. From the first day I went and met staff, management, docs, (I was about ten years old), I have had the utmost respect and admiration for these in-
credible people. Surly Girl, I sincerely share your wonder (and anyone else's) of what it was like back in the day. How appropriate the good doctor popped in here :-)

The lovely and surly Surly Girl wrote, "if you stop believing in the basic humanity of people, what have you got left? "

Poking, whining, and self-righteousness? ;-)

Just a guess, mind you.

i work in the local authority funded sector of this sort of work (on a very small scale compared with places like this) and even after three months (and i just work in the office) the job has blown my mind. to see the staff continuing to try to engage with and make a difference to their charges, even in the face of sometimes violent protests, makes me wonder what it must have been like in the overcrowded days of the huge US state institutions.

in the short time i have worked at my place i have already seen huge positive changes in some of the people being cared for. it's often a case of one step forward and two back, but it's progress nonetheless.

yes, bad things happened in places like this. awful, unforgivable things. but so did good things. if you stop believing in the basic humanity of people, what have you got left?

*shuts up*

Lynne, I had to read the "horticulture" remark three times before I "got it". Har, Har ,Gufaw and Snicker! Me thinks yer comical side is sweet, lassy!

Flaming?

Maybe.

However, I must say that through all of these posts Lynne and Big Ed have remained consistant and steadfast in spite of the ignorance and accusations. They have defended their professions gallantly.
But mark my words dear people, "If you keep poking, even the sweetest dog will bite"

indigent whack jobs :-(

Big ED wrote: "Bad days make you want to eat your own liver. "

Before someone else gets to it first. ;-)

People who do this work, for years on end, realize what you have to do is the best you can do to get through the day. It's not a battle every day, but stuff happens that makes you shake your head and wonder why do I do this... Most folks start out thinking they can change the world, and end up having the world change them. I've said this before, State hospitals don't get the easy ones. We get the ones who have burned every possible bridge, and are out of other options. We take in the indigent wack jobs. We are sent criminals by the court for evaluation. We get dump jobs from other facilities. So with this mixed bag we have to do our best to keep everyone of them safe, fed, and cared for in the most humane way possible. You wouldn't believe how hard that can be some days. Bad days make you want to eat your own liver. Good days just leave ya saying phew, made it.

Almost makes you think that ALL people, even staff, might be human, eh? I have always wondered why anyone would do this sort of work, and am shocked and impressed by the good care that the majority of staff, under what could best be described as combat conditions on a bad day, give to the majority of patients/clients/ individuals. Staff endure high stress, low control, low pay, low respect, bizarre/regressed behavior, and always the ever-present threat of being sniped at by self-righteous outsiders who don't have a clue and would probably react MUCH more harshly if their own pure selves were in the same situation. Until you have been bitten, had urine and feces thrown at you, had your hair pulled out in clumps, and had to dodge flying pieces of very large, very heavy furniture, there isn't a person alive who can predict how s/he will react. As always, the shock isn't that abuse occurred/occurs - the shock is that as little of it happened/happens given the constraints under which staff are forced to work and the people who live in these places are forced to live. Change the system and you'll probably get a change in behavior. Sit at your computer and call people names without getting off your butt and all you do is help maintain the system. Get out there and help or please quit whining and groaning.

Or at least, to quote Ashleigh Brilliant one more time, "If you must keep groaning, please try to do it in a rhythm I can dance to." :-)

Put in simple terms abuse in state institutions happened. Why? Up until the last decade or so State facilities had to hire anybody who would work for the crummy money the state pays. They didn't do CORI checks on perspective employees.
In the last 30 years I've worked with alcoholics, gambling addicts, dopers, ex patients and others. People who would work for low pay. The states don't attract the really good psychiatrists, psychologists and other professionals. Until recently the states have become more competitive in pay, and benefits. When I started I was bringing home under a 100 bucks a month. Would you take the chance of getting your head beat in for under 100 bucks a week? In 30 years I've made more than a few trips to the emergency room as a result of "activity" on a floor. It's a dangerous job, in which you are asked, nay required by laws, to put aside your normal responses to aggression and take it until help arrives. You can 'nonviolently' defend yourself for sure. You have to sign forms that these are the only techniques you will use to parry and defend yourself against aggression. The techniques are sometimes useful, some times not (they don't encompass every scenario, even the most likely one, the sucker punch). I've seen the transition from rockem sockem days to the more comfy pillow days (which are far superior to the old days).
It breaks down, to back in the day, money and taking who you could get for low pay to a more consumer oriented approach these days. Although the occasional loo loo sneaks through and the joint makes the papers again with shocking tales of abuse and misconduct worthy of a bacchanalian orgy.

Abuses happened. They still do, not on any sort of huge scale anymore. The people who are workers (sadists) and patients (the nobly afflicted) are both human beings with all the wonderment that comes with both.




Shit happened, happens, will happen.

Hey some of the stuff here is original