One aspect of the novel is a weekly's publication of a special report on a psych center's reduction of its population. Below is a fictional straight news story by one of the characters:
Excerpt from a story by Holston:
“Demands mount at Crisis Center - last resort for help”
By Reginald Holston
Courier special correspondent
When life falls apart for a mental patient,
or the system does, the last resort is often the Crisis Center.
Anyone spinning in the whirlpool of a mental
crisis - those who are suicidal, in extreme depression, with a psychosis
erupting, or suffering extreme anxiety -- may show up at the agency’s doorstep.
By its formal name, it is called Emergency
Mental Health Services, located at Oquaga General Hospital. Its other nickname
is EMHS.
“We
are the key entry point for the unattended patient,’ said Dr. Pierre Dejardin,
the center’s director. “We see the same patients over and over again, know
their names when they come through the door.”
Some are violent, some are so injured its
hard to tell where the mental illness begins and the injury ends, and others
have illnesses that need medical intervention. It’s up to Dejardin and his
staff to “deal with it,” he said.
Last year, more than 3,000 patients arrived
at the center and almost half of these needed inpatient care, according to the
agency, which is part of the state’s mental health system. And though he and
his staff are state employees, they are sharply critical of the state’s policy
on deinstitutionalization.
“We have 21 beds on the fifth floor of
Oquaga General,” Dejardin said. “We have to try to send some back to the very
institution that put them out on the streets to handle the overflow. Does that
make sense?”
Further, he said, with the state policy
accelerating, the already overwhelming situation is getting worse ....
No comments:
Post a Comment