personal website reveal an out of control and increasingly dangerous environment for staff and patients alike at The Arizona State Hospital.
NEW UPDATE: 4:00 p.m. Okay. I was just informed that this latest escaped patient was apprehended by police within about 24 hours. I hope he is alright. Maybe, in this case, ASH administrators thought twice about covering the incident up, at least to the extent that they meaningfully communicated with Phoenix police about it, something they graphically refused to do in the case of Jesus Rincon Murietta in May, 2011, leading in time to April Mott's gruesome death in late August, 2011.
But it is of concern to me that decreases in security staff are leading to so much carnage at ASH, for as with any other like issues. the consequences of such matters lands squarely on top of the heads of ASH patients. It is far too taken for granted that mentally ill patients are violent and/or dangerous, but in truth, a high number of ASH patients are as peaceful as I am, and far from suited to defend themselves against the violence of the more dangerous patients. It is safe to assume that if staff are frightened at this time, that any number of mild mannered patients are experiencing excess emotional and psychological trauma- not to mention physical violence- that directly detriments their general well being and most likely throws their respective lives into such disarray that their chances of stabilizing and reacquiring a meaningfully healthy state of mind are that much more shot to hell.
But it is of concern to me that decreases in security staff are leading to so much carnage at ASH, for as with any other like issues. the consequences of such matters lands squarely on top of the heads of ASH patients. It is far too taken for granted that mentally ill patients are violent and/or dangerous, but in truth, a high number of ASH patients are as peaceful as I am, and far from suited to defend themselves against the violence of the more dangerous patients. It is safe to assume that if staff are frightened at this time, that any number of mild mannered patients are experiencing excess emotional and psychological trauma- not to mention physical violence- that directly detriments their general well being and most likely throws their respective lives into such disarray that their chances of stabilizing and reacquiring a meaningfully healthy state of mind are that much more shot to hell.
FRIGHTENED JULY 12, 2012
I FINALLY HAD TO QUIT. MY REG UNIT WAS GOOD BUT THEY KEPT FLOATING ME OVER TO THE BAD CIVIL UNIT. I AND OTHERS KEPT GETTING ATTACKED IT'S LIKE OPEN SEASON ON TECHS THERE NOW AND THEY DO NOTHING. TOO MUCH FLASHBACKS AND TERROR FOR ME TO STAY. SORRY TO ABANDON YOU -THE FRIENDS THAT I LEFT. THERE ISN'T ENOUGH STAFF AND NO MORE SECURITY GUARDS TO HELP.
LAST WEEK ANOTHER AWOL AND DIDN'T HE TRY TO KILL HIS DAD BEFORE GOING TO ASH?? WHERE ARE THE STAFF AND GUARDS? (END OF PASSAGE)
That, of course, is the staff report that triggered my initial concern over this latest major clusterfuct in direct relation to the shortcomings of The Arizona State Hospital's current management team. Patients, in the first place, do not "escape" from contemporary mental health facilities nearly so regularly as we have seen in the last two years at ASH (three escapes, to date, one leading to a brutal murder in Phoenix). And in the second place, the staff at ASH are any patients' best recourse in terms of recovery and basic well being as mentally disabled persons, and staff technicians at ASH work more closely with the patients than any other form of staff at ASH. In short, if the staff at ASH are unable to do their jobs because of administrative shortcomings, than there is no way they are going to be able to meaningfully care for the patients in their charge. Bottom line. Herein, and as I have been trying to make clear since I started this blog, yet another ingredient in the applicable recipe for disaster, wherein patient abuse at ASH and directly related staff concerns all blend together and leave the patients right where they have always been: Lost between the cracks of an inefficient, ineffective network of highly inept and fundamentally selfish administrators/clinicians.
IN CLOSING: I am willing to characterize this latest snafu at The Arizona State Hospital as a close call. But "close calls" in Arizona's only long term public mental health facility are not acceptable, for we are talking about people's lives here, and the willingness of ASH clinicians and administrators to carry on with their substandard mental-medical practices is nothing short of a ticking time bomb. Since I became a member of ASH patient community, in January, 2011, I have witnessed one critical snafu after another, leading to deaths in the greater Phoenix community, criminal cover ups of clear clinical malpractice, and absolute complicity in the context of highly illegal drug trafficking within the facility itself. Meanwhile, even as I write, the patient abuse that I initially sought to see addressed based on my own experiences at ASH is ongoing, and with all aspects of the horrifically shortsighted conditions at ASH in mind, it is only a matter of time before the next tragedy befalls someone in some way connected to the basic presence of these highly inept public servants in our midst. It is that simple. This is criminally descriptive of matters that we simply cannot allow for:
The doctors and administrators at The Arizona State Hospital are maintaining substandard mental-medical health conditions as a matter of standard practice and they are getting away with it.
Please take some time to do your part in supporting and defending the rights of Arizona's most seriously mentally ill patients at The Arizona State Hospital. See my April 30, 2012 "Resource Ideas" article, write or otherwise contact your elected representatives, or directly communicate with me in terms of how we might work together in addressing these issues today. Patient abuse is inhumane. Bottom line.
paoloreed@gmail.com
July 12... I don't know what bad civil unit you are referring to but I work at ash and like any other job there are no perfections. There is no abuse here. The nurses are actually cordial to the clients and staff have to float to fill in open positions in order to assist the patients.
ReplyDeleteI work Palo verde and float the iron wood and desert sage a lot. As providers we have to do what is best to keep the hospital safe for clients and staff. So to post this non sense is nonsense.
I myself am SMI, what exactly is going on in ASH?!!? You are very vague. I have never had any problems with any doctors or staff mistreating me in any way. I also have never been to ASH. You are scaring me! What is going on?!!!?
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DeleteASH is representative of public mental health facilities, across the board. By that, I mean state hospitals. I spent extensive time in AZ facilities other than ASH, and while there were- as the above ASH staff states- "imperfections," only at ASH did I witness and experience the deplorably substandard conditions, staff misconduct, and other like wrongdoing that does in fact arise at ASH on a daily basis. It is common knowledge, in effect, about how far below standards places like ASH are, it is an integral aspect of history, in fact. Anytime you have highly at risk and vulnerable persons relying on some proportion of care providers lacking in basic scruple, morality, and outright intelligence, problems can and do arise. There is nothing to fear, per se', just don't allow licensed medical providers to violate your rights, and you will be fine. But that can be hard than it sounds. That is what my blog is about.
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