2,712 Comments for Fuller State School and Hospital

This is an adapted prone cart for someone with severe contractures. For people whose bodies are stiff and don't bend easily, you will sometimes have to take a standard prone cart, gurney, or wheelchair and adapt it (which is why this particular one looks home made). Prone carts are normally used for people in the (duh) prone position, but there are some people who normally lie flat on their back but who can sit up some, and this is good because you want to relieve pressure when you can so as not to cause pressure sores. With this particular device you can put the back up so the person can be seated as much as their contractures will allow, and when they need to lie back, it folds down. You can see the push handle at the top that is used to push the cart/chair/bed when it is flat. There are still devices similar to this in use today in many places. I can't find a picture of one on the web that looks like this one, mostly because the ones I have seen like this were made by the local rehab engineer in his/her lab on grounds. However, it is the same idea as is used on this patented convertible gurney:
http://www.freepatentsonline.com/5584082.html

Here are some power and some manual prone carts/gurneys:
http://wheelchairs.com/gurneyspage.html
http://www.miad.edu/gallery/faculty/pmalassigne/pc_electric.pdf

Oh, they are out there. I had one made back in 1990 or so. Baker's Pink, too! :-) I worked with a gentleman who was very strong and used to hurt staff and other clients when he became agitated (which happened quite easily), so we wanted to use a time out room to decrease the injuries to both him and staff when they were trying to get him to calm down after he hurt someone. The first time we tried it, he beat his head against the (solid) wall, so I had them pad it top to bottom. He then tore the padding out with his teeth and hit his head against the wall again, so I had them do some super-dee-duper unrippable padding. Unfortunately, he just started to eat his arms when he couldn't hit his head against anything solid, so we had to take him out and wrestle with him anyway. :-(

But once he understood that we weren't trying to hurt him when he was out of control, that we were just helping him calm down and learn to control himself, he gradually got better and better until I understand he is currently living in a community group home somewhere and doing quite well. :-)

Those of you who are critical of seclusion really ought to go one-to-one with someone who can't control themself and is twice your size and thinks you are trying to kill or hurt them. It gives you a slightly better perspective of the various ways people use to cope with difficult situations. There is significantly less restraint and seclusion used these days, but most of it is because of the psychotropic medications someone was slamming a month or two ago. Again, here is a devil's choice - do you want people drugged or do you want them restrained? Spend a week with someone who is paranoid and needs medication and isn't taking it - you'll have an interesting and new perspective, I can almost guarantee you. :-)

i do not want to know what exactly is running down the door...I really dont.

Straps?? Looks to me like strips of duct tape...yes or no?

Yes, Skye, I think the whole point was to perhaps shine "hope" on patients....

The "corpse grinder" was a joke, I suppose I need to be more clear about these things. Yes it was in the kitchen, didn't know it was a potato peeler, thanks!

The person in the doorway is someone who happened to be standing there when I took the shot... it's a woman btw.

I haven't seen a room with walls made of rubber per se, but they were padded or washable nonetheless. I'm not sure if you're refuting their existence or just saying they weren't where you have worked / explored, but they are out there.

http://www.opacity.us/image1239.htm
http://sminusp.co.uk/Westpark_files/slides/WPk00037.html

It reminds me of ugly student nurse uniforms all nurses wore in the past.

Jill ;-((

How about a potato masher? Lets get real here.

These are not that old, they are electric beds. These came into use most commonly in the late 60's and early 70's. The side rails are used to keep pts from falling out of the beds or to lean against while their linen was being changed.

These were horrible to use as you have to lift the pt onto the scale and move it away from the bed to weigh them. Caused alot of nurses to have bad backs....Jill

I have never seen a seclusion room with rubber walls. when a patient was placed in lds(locked door seclusion) they were placed in there for several hours and if they were in need of relieving themselves they were able to with a number of people to stand watch. and then placed back in seclusion until a cooling down period was effective..

Yes, where the person inside would be harmful to others or themselves, and the walls were often padded or easily washed down.

This room is a seclusion room in that there was only one person in each (the other rooms fit two, or four in bunk beds), and they were not let out of the room for extended periods of time (reason for the sink and toilet).

I guess you could also call it solitary confinement.

in a seclusion room there were never toilets nor sinks .. the room had a mattress on the floor that'a all the window was to observe the patient the bathroom was on the other side of the locked seclusion door.

there is a meaning to know thyself