Where Not To Go, Ever: California Mental Hospitals
California mental hospitals are becoming increasingly dangerous zones. During an Assembly committee hearing in Sacramento on Tuesday, safety issues at the Golden State's mental hospitals were examined. Accounts of "faulty alarm systems, daily assaults and an increasing number of patients with criminal histories" were testified to lawmakers, reports LA Times.
The Select Committee, corralled by Assemblyman Michael Allen (D-Santa Rosa), probed solutions to violence at California's five psychiatric facilities. He boiled down the situation for lawmakers.
"All you need to know is that last year we had over 8,000 aggressive incidents and over 5,000 injuries," said Allen, a former psychiatric nurse. "Every one of those incidents is a tragedy in its own right."
More than 90% of current patients have been arrested or convicted of crimes. Cliff Allen, interim Director of California Department of Mental Health, noted the necessity to reconsider staffing ratios, create special units for the worst aggressors and improve the safety of the grounds. Department officials testified their process, though slow, in hiring more security and direct care staff.
Dr. Patricia Tyler, a Napa psychiatrist, said staff members wrote memos to top mental health officials expressing grievances about safety lapses and also included possible solutions. These letters were written before the death of Donna Gross - a Napa psychiatric technician who was strangled by a patient ten months ago while on the outside grounds where alarms apparently do not function. No actions were taken as a result of the letters.
Division of Occupational Safety and Health Chief Ellen Widess said the agency had cited three state hospitals in the last year: Napa for an inadequate injury prevention plan and faulty alarm system, Metro for failure to recognize known safety hazards and Atascadero for an assault that left a staff member with head trauma.
The Department of Mental Health as appealed the citations, resulting in the deferment of all ordered corrections.
