jdtallfem
Posts: 180
Joined: 10/8/2006 Status: offline
|
Well in the late 70s and early 80s I worked in the CA State Hospital system as a Rehabilitation Therapist, which means I actually took the patients on boat rides and other outings like you saw on "One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest." And Labotomies were outlawed by then. But staff cutbacks, thanks to Raegan, were dire, and dangerous, resulting in a 35 percent injury rate on the last unit I worked, making it so dangerous I finally quit. Talk about putting people in straight jackets and soft ties, I did it daily, and it wasn't for S/M B&D pleasure, believe me. Through the years I worked with all patient populations from mentally disordered sex offenders to the last group I worked with and the most unstable, the dual diagnosed, developmentally disabled with penal code tendencies who were also often psychotic. Many of them had extra chromosomes and thus were over 6'7" tall, the big guys as we called them. We did not have the miracle meds back then either. I watched these people go off into the streets becoming "homeless," and thought, what a great solution that was for the community. Especially with their hair trigger violent behavior problems. Even now, I often wander the streets and have on occasion been "hugged" or "eyed" by an ex patient who "remembers me" who then stands back (because it's been twenty five years )and says "sorry, must have been a mistake" mumbles, and moves on. And it's sad. Because I never could implement the rehabilitation therapy and the ground cutting techniques I learned, thanks to the inadequate staff and funds the state allowed. Meanwhile many of these victims become our future inhabitants of jails, because if their meds aren't regulated properly they do break the laws enough time to end up in one sort of institution or another. And society pays for it, one way or another. Rather than having them become a part of society, even if in an institution, having them work, and having them pay for part of their treatment, something I always advocated, which always fell on deaf ears.
|