Feature
Jan 14, 2010
Comments are closed.
Commenting on this item is available only to members of the site. You can sign in here or create an account here.
All contents © Index Newspapers LLC
PO Box 86208, Portland, OR 97286
Comments
Anyway! I say anyway because no one really give a sh#@ about this stuff. The mental hospitals of the country where shut down decades ago and "transferred" to the streets or a local jail or prison near you. The problem in this country is everyone is in a box. We all live near each other, but not "with" each other. The states in this country act no different. They act like everyone else. Like some too cool teenager that's got a rep to uphold. The communication among states and governments is pathetic. Each state "handles" their seemingly "individual" crisis alone, asking for help only if absolutely necessary. This is what no holds barred capitalism looks like. It just didn't happen overnight. This little write-up on the state of mental "care" in Oregon? Lol! Why aren't we running whole sections in the Oregonian on the pathetic state of humanity in our state? It's pretty simple really. We as "individuals" wrapped up in our little consumerists realities are too busy figure out what we want to acquire next with our "hard earned" money in order to smell the coffee. This is but one issue among many, many, many. Quite frankly! my prognosis for this country is shhhit! We've all been cosumerized. In order to affect change we'd have to give up some of our unsustainable cushy life styles. Not gonna happen.
In the end, I think the biggest condundrum we have here is a civil rights question. As long as we continue to provide equal civil rights to the mentally ill to refuse treatment (which I damn well think we need to maintain), there will be a refusal to take the unpleasant drugs which keep them off the streets and out of the jails and hospitals.
You really need to start acting like a news writer and NOT an opinion writer, it's getting REALLY old.
It looks to me like working there would be incredibly stressful, although everyone I met did seem very intelligent and compassionate, so it would be nice to work alongside such folks, even in a difficult setting. Similar to the sense one usually gets in the offices of attorneys—the work may be dreadful on occasion, but it's smart people doing it.
1. Rural and suburban counties all over this state and others, by not providing sufficient mental health and addiction services for their own population, cause a forced march of these forlorn persons to metro areas. Our jails are filled with persons with mental illness both from Portland, and from Amboy, Coos Bay and Wagontire.
2. We voters have repeatedly elected people, both left and right, Democrat and Republican, who have cut mental health and addiction health care. They've cut preventative care. They've cut shelter housing, food stamps, employment services. They've closed clinics, fired counselors, reduced opportunities for people to get well. The mess at MCDC is entirely our fault - we voters. We voters remain ignorant and get what we deserve. But the people at MCDC, both the staff and the inmates, don't deserve our stupidity.
Furthermore, in order to get community mental health services in Multnomah County, one has to have OHP. If someone worked a little while before becoming disabled, he will wind up on SSD which will get you Medicare. However, that will not work for community mental health in Multnomah County unless there is a lot of proof the person is a threat to be jailed or hospitalized repeatedly. But, if there is no evidence of that, people struggle staying on meds and getting any other necessary services. This also goes for people that have been denied SS benefits.
As for Portland Police, it's easy to look at sensationalized media cases in isolation with individual officers making inhumane or impulsive choices.
BUT...I work every day with individuals who are either under the influence of narcotics or floridly psychotic and/or manic. Project Respond can interview them, but the only people qualified to get them out of the community are the Police. I can only recall 2 incidences when someone arrived at the Emergency Room after having been tased. The vast majority of folks are treated with respect and skill by the officers on the scene and--despite their own violence and resistance to intervention--are brought safe and unharmed to the hospital. In fact, IMO people who probably should be brought to jail or detox are brought to the ED instead because the police are so cognizant of the presence of mental illness. So the next time you want to cite police brutality, ask a hospital social worker about the thousands of raving, assaultive folks who are transported without a scratch to the nearest emergency room.
Nobody forced you to write those words (with the possible exception of those voices you hear) it was a choice and I took offense your expression. Similarly I take offense to the Police Department ongoing defense of violent cops and avoidance of accountability. Saying that it was an isolated incident and that 90% of cops are good and prudent is disputed by the cops themselves a large number of whom make public proclamations: “I am Chris Humphreys”. That is frightening.
All the same; Spartacus, unlike you I can’t take the Police Department seriously or support them when they passionately refuse to accept any accountability and continue to support the actions of Humphreys, Nice, and Burton. If the police department delivered on any promise in this case: transparency, accountability, open investigation etc. then I might have a different opinion but the ongoing defense of the actions of these thugs and the self-identification of supportive "I am Chris Humphreys" officers is appalling. The specter of denial and defense by the police department eliminates any shred of credibility. If the KKK handed out Christmas presents to poor kids at Christmastime it wouldn’t change my opinion of the organization as a minister of hate likewise all the public statements and political spin by the department is mere blather without fundamental change including; police and departmental accountability, verifiable oversight, independent review, and general decency. The police behave as though the public is the enemy and that is intolerable. In short; if 90% of cops are so great why do so many identify with Chris Humphreys and defend this violent homicide that continues to drag the whole department down? Seems to me if they were really "sworn to protect and dedicated to serve" they wouldn't spend so much time and effort blaming the public and defending departmental homicidal dead wood.
What I mean to say is that whether or not its "right" that the mentally ill people are in jail - we have to see that the staff could easily work somewhere else, but they choose to work with us. We owe them a lot and they are truley good at what they do.
Your destiny is on the tip of your tongue.
Its a great idea, I hope it works, If you have ever been that close to
doing something you never would....Congratulations.
They really need to be sent away to nice little farms in the country.
You can "flame" away, but I have a real opinion and it's not the same as yours.
There are also striking differences between this gentleman and most of the people this article focuses on. This gentleman is not homeless, he owns his home free and clear, in a nice area and has just a few dollars in the bank. He, like the homeless people here, has no medical insurance, and the lack of medical care options more likely than not, greatly contributed to his current situation.
The homeless are promptly sent back to the streets with nowhere else to go, no matter the weather, but I'm having trouble getting this gentleman out of costly nursing care and back into his own home.
The real difference here, is that this elderly gentleman has ASSETS that can be attached, to pay his bills. The idea of unnecessary nursing care is outrageous, but when you put it up against how the forgotten people in this article are treated, the contrast is even more striking...the homeless have nothing left to take but their freedom.
As for LMA! (apparently the same person): we're already providing mental health services, just expensively and ineffectively. We could do more with less if we did it through social services instead of through the criminal justice system. And as above, just because you want to do something to somebody doesn't make it what "they need" done to them; no really, the universe doesn't care what you want.
I'm disturbed by your posts' violent rhetoric and self-centered absence of compassion for others. (For anyone who didn't know, "sent away to nice little farms in the country" is a standard American euphemism for the euthanasia of household pets.) Of course, the violently insane show those traits too, which puts your outrage at the existence of "mental freaks" and "flat out crazies" in a rather unsettling light.
WHO DESERVES TO SUFFER FROM MENTAL ILLNESS HIMSELF.
WHAT A LOSER!
*im maddy and im 13*
*reiceezzzz peiceezzzz outttttttt*
:D
Too many "mental health advocates" believed (erroneously, IMHO), that if we just "dumped all of the severely mentally ill people" of Oregon, out into the streets, that would save the taxpayers of Oregon SO MUCH MONEY! WRONG! People with SEVERE disabilities need SAFE, SUPPORTIVE, PREDICTABLE environments, in which to live.
Unfortunately, too many of them have TRASHED one group home, after ANOTHER group home, until there are NO group homes that will TAKE them! Taxpayers have been picking up the COSTS of these trashed group homes, though few are aware of it! Having spent some time working at Dammasch State Hospital, it SICKENS me, to know that some people are considering turning it into a PRISON now, INSTEAD of building the long-term MENTAL HEALTH HOSPITALS we NEED, here in Oregon!
Psychiatric/Mental PROFESSIONAL STAFF do NOT SHOOT their patients! We REALIZE that their brain chemistries are OFF, so provide APPROPRIATE SUPPORT SERVICES and LIMITS, until their thinking is clearer, again! Police officers are NOT TRAINED TO DO THIS!!!!!!! Most of them know nearly NOTHING about mental health, let ALONE severely mentally impaired individuals!
They are SO AFRAID of severely mentally ill individuals, that they scream "I'm SCARED", at the drop of a HAT, IMHO! Until LICENSED, FULL-TRAINED mental health professionals AND SECURE long-term psychiatric hospitals RETURN to Oregon, these inappropriate shootings WILL CONTINUE! NO ONE WANTS to be severely or permanently DISABLED, though some people appear to believe that persons dealing with these illnesses WANT them!
Because Oregonians CHOSE to dump our Mental Health system, in the 1990's, we are REAPING what has been being "sowed" for DECADES, NOW! Some severely mentally ill individuals CANNOT live in group homes! They REFUSE to take their medications, they don't eat/sleep/bathe/groom/etc. themselves, on a regular basis, they get into trouble with illicit drugs/alcohol/prostitution/crime/gambling/violence in our COMMUNITIES, then end up homeless, severely physically ill, malnourished, ignored, overlooked, dead and/or DUMPED INTO PRISONS, which are NOT appropriate locations for people with severe/permanent mental health disorders!
PRISONS/JAILS are INAPPROPRIATE locations to WAREHOUSE ILL CITIZENS! However, throughout history, the GREEDY and CALLOUSED amongst us, have ALWAYS PREFERRED prisons, to hospitals! They are, generally, completely INDIFFERENT to BOTH populations! "Out of SIGHT = Out of MIND" to FAR TOO MANY Americans!
Forcing severely ill people to live homeless lives, is ALSO, inappropriate! If they were capable of making wise, responsible CHOICES, most of them would NEVER have CHOSEN to live on the streets! Yet, most Oregonians have CHOSEN to treat these ill individuals as IF they WERE wise, responsible adults! Wrong choice, IMHO!
One of the FIRST things any hospital mental health RN will DO, is to REMOVE the gun of a public safety officer, the MINUTE that officer arrives on the mental health unit. Been there, done that, countless times! WHY does that occur? Because we DO NOT ALLOW WEAPONS of ANY type to be out of OUR control.
No guns, knives, razor blades, scissors, ropes, lighters, matches, or other potentially hazardous implements are allowed on hospital mental health units! None of the PROFESSIONAL staff wants to end up dead, nor do we want our patients to end up that way, EITHER! That is what WE work to PREVENT!
However, as long as the politicians and general public of Oregon remain INDIFFERENT to the safety of our ill citizens, MORE of them will, unnecessarily, DIE! That is due to the FACT that police officers/prison guards are NOT licensed HEALTH care providers, for the most part! There is a HUGE DIFFERENCE between being a police officer/prison guard and being a licensed health care provider!
If Oregonians, INCLUDING our MD Governor got their PRIORITIES straight, in this state, we would ALL be MUCH better off, IMHO! Stop dumping ill people into our PRISONS or on the STREETS and there will be a REMARKABLE shift in how our entire state looks, feels, and lives! We MUST have stable, reliable, SECURE housing, created for our long-term, unstable, mentally ill citizens. Facts ARE facts, everyone!
Janiece Staton Retired RN, BSN, MSW, MAT