Is this really so hard?

[Deserted]

A bit of background: Here in Desert Hell we have a hospital called Thunderbird Hospital (technically Banner Thunderbird Medical Center, but nobody calls it that). It is the only hospital in the area called anything remotely resembling "Thunderbird Hospital". (It's on a road called Thunderbird Road, and there is at least one other hospital on the same road, but it's not referred to as "Thunderbird Hospital", nor are any of the non-hospital medical offices on that road.)

Thunderbird Hospital has a mental health unit, which includes full mental health emergency facilities. I don't have any idea what those might be, but they have them.

Also, the "customer" in this story is a mental health clinic; the passenger is not the customer.

(End background.)

Yesterday I was at Thunderbird Hospital, trying to find a passenger. This woman was a mental health patient whose clinic was across town -- I assume she had a meltdown or something similar, and I was her ride back to the clinic afterward. (For purposes of this story, we'll say that the name I was sent was "Sandra Gilbert".)

My information didn't include which unit or entrance she was at, so I started with the main entrance. The info desk there couldn't find her in the computer system, so I went to the Emergency Dept. No dice there either... let's try outpatient services (which is also the entrance to the mental health unit)... nope, not there either.

At this point, I called dispatch trying to get a phone number for the passenger. (A number is usually included, but not always.) The dispatcher found one for me... but it was to the clinic, across town. Well, better than nothing. I called and eventually got connected to her case manager. One specific part of this conversation really sticks out:

him: Which hospital are you at?
me: Thunderbird.
him: Which one?
me: How many do you think there are?

He had no immediate information, but said he'd make a call to find her, and took down my cell number. A very few minutes later, he called back and told me to find a case worker in the mental health unit named "Judy Montoya", and she'd get me to my passenger. Sweet, thanks, off we go.

The mental health unit had no idea who the hell I was talking about. They had no patient named "Sandra Gilbert" and no worker named "Judy Montoya". A "Judy", yes, but not "Montoya", and she wouldn't be involved in discharging a patient.

At this point I gave up. By this time I had spent 40 minutes looking for this woman, and while it was an okay fare ($21), that 40 minutes could've been better spent. I went back to my van, where a hospital staffer was waiting. He asked if I was looking for "Sandra", and informed me that she was at the main entrance. I returned there, and lo and behold, there she was.

It turns out that the mental health clinic sent her maiden name ("Sandra Gilbert") to Big Green Cab Co, while the hospital had her listed under her married name... "Sandra Montoya".

[Nunavut Pants]

*headdesk*

[skeptic53]

"You killed my father, prepare to die" jokes commencing in 3, 2, 1....

[Deserted]

"You killed my father, prepare to die" jokes commencing in 3, 2, 1....

Yeah, I chose that name for a reason.

One thing I forgot to mention... "Sandra" was really, truly off the deep end. The kind of looney toons that makes Daffy Duck step away in horror. The sanest thing she said to me was that she was a vampire (in broad daylight, guess she was a Twilight vampire and not a classic one) who was still recovering from her most recent resurrection. Most of her nonsense was just that, nonsensical. And she twitched.

If that's how she was when the psych ward mental health unit decided she was safe to send home, I can't imagine what her meltdown must have been like.

(At least she didn't argue with herself, like the guy I drove today. That was... unnerving.)

[peach2play]

Wow...you know...she probably knew her name better than the hospital did.

[marlovino]

I'm still trying to figure out who Judy is.

[Irving Patrick Freleigh]

I'm still trying to figure out who Judy is.

She ain't Lisa.

[WishfulSpirit]

Emergency mental health facilities are usually locked rooms where patients can be kept from hurting themselves or anyone else until their condition can be stabilized. They're basically single hospital rooms without anything someone could use to cut or hang themselves with. Unlike what you see in the movies, they aren't usually padded. Anyone out of control enough to harm themselves on regular surfaces is usually kept mildly (or not so mildly) sedated until the anti-pychotics (or whatever other drug treatment they need) take effect.

I've done a stint in the loony bin, but not in the locked area. I was battling basic depression rather than a condition with psychotic features, and while the regular Behavioral Health hospital rooms still had "no offing yourself" features, the doors were open. The unit itself was locked so you couldn't just run off, but unless you weren't lucid or threatening others you had freedom of movement within the ward and could go sit in the day room in the middle of the night if you wanted too.

And being delusional isn't of itself enough to keep you in the ward if you don't pose a threat. Inpatient treatment is just for stabilization, they try to get people back to the community as quickly as possible. My city has some supervised apartment complexes with social workers on site. It's kind of like the old halfway house system, but having your own place, with someone to call on and check up on you if you need it, is a LOT better than being warehoused with other crazy people. Hummm...wonder why that is?

[Deserted]

Wow...you know...she probably knew her name better than the hospital did.

...maybe.

I'm still trying to figure out who Judy is.

"Judy" is on staff in the mental health unit. (No idea what her job is.) "Sandra's" case manager at her clinic pointed me her way, but since he gave the wrong last name (using the patient's name instead of the staffer's) nobody was sure who I was talking about.

Emergency mental health facilities are usually locked rooms where patients can be kept from hurting themselves or anyone else until their condition can be stabilized.

(snipped for brevity)

Wow. Thanks for that info. My now-former roommate had a meltdown a few months back, and the police (!) took him to a non-hospital facility that matches your description to a "T".

This place has at least 2 sections, one which is fairly clinical, and one that has an almost hotel-like vibe. The clinical setting is for new arrivals and those that need constant supervision, while the other one provides individual rooms with closing doors and a bit of privacy.

While I was visiting him on his second day there, a kid (early 20s?) had a full-on... well, "meltdown" feels inadequate here... explosion? Anyway, it was so bad that I was very quickly ushered out of the facility proper, back to the lobby area. He was yelling so loudly I could hear him outside. The next day, my roomie told me that the kid had been downgraded to the clinical area.

My city has some supervised apartment complexes with social workers on site. It's kind of like the old halfway house system, but having your own place, with someone to call on and check up on you if you need it, is a LOT better than being warehoused with other crazy people. Hummm...wonder why that is?

Desert Hell has both kinds. Sadly, I believe traditional halfway houses outnumber apartment-style facilities quite a bit. (I'm not positive, but that's the overall feeling I get.)

[WishfulSpirit]

Police are trained to bring anyone who appears to be mentally ill enough to be a threat to self or others to a facility for an evaluation. Police officers have the authority to impose an involuntary 72 hour mental health hold to allow someone to get basic stabilization treatment, but they'll also bring someone in if he or she asks (as I did). Anything beyond those three days, if the patient doesn't want to stay for treatment, requires a court order. The escort to the hospital and the hold is NOT an arrest, it's a medical transport and a hospitalization.

Note for anyone who may need help: going in voluntarily and cooperating with the shrink's advice is always your best bet if you feel you can't keep yourself or those around you safe. In the United States patients have the right to treatment in the least restrictive setting appropriate for their condition, have the right to a legal advocate, and have the right to make their own treatment decisions or to designate someone to make their treatment decisions for them if they aren't able to.

If you have a mental health condition, or think a hospitalization might be possible at some point, be prepared. I have "meltdown" paperwork in a folder we keep by the front door. It has contact phone numbers for doctor, my work and my family members (you aren't allowed a cell phone in the ward but you ARE legally entitled to phone calls), a list of my conditions and medications (everyone should keep one of those around), a printout of the rights of mental health patients, and a notarized form listing my husband as my 1st choice medical surrogate and my mother as his backup.