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The Brief

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  • Special Reports
    New 'Imperfect Paradise'
    Mental illness and California's nursing homes
    By  Antonia Cereijido  and Jens Campbell
    Published November 22, 2023 5:00 AM

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    A pink one-story stucco building with flagstone at the bottom of the facade and various bushes growing alone the front of the building.
    Last year, 7 in 10 residents at Hyde Park Healthcare Center, an L.A. nursing home, had a serious mental illness, according to federal data analyzed for an investigation by LAist, APM Research Lab and The California Newsroom.
    (
    Samanta Helou Hernandez
    /
    LAist
    )

    Topline:

    This week on Imperfect Paradise, host Antonia Cereijido is joined by LAist reporter Elly Yu, who breaks down the history and reality of treatment that led to the “warehousing” of mental health patients in nursing homes across California.

    Read the full investigation: California Nursing Homes Are Becoming ‘De Facto Mental Health Centers’

    How do I find the podcast? It's now available from LAist Studios. Check it out wherever you get your podcasts! Or listen to this episode below.

    Imperfect Paradise Main Tile
    Imperfect Paradise: The Truth Inside California's Nursing Homes
    In California, nursing homes have become de facto mental health facilities because there are just not enough places for people to go.

    This week on Imperfect Paradise, host Antonia Cereijido is joined by LAist reporter Elly Yu, who breaks down the history and reality of treatment that led to the “warehousing” of mental health patients in nursing homes across California.

    About the podcast series: Imperfect Paradise is a weekly series about hidden worlds and messy realities here in Southern California and beyond,

    About this episode: We meet nurse Travell Jackson, who gives us a firsthand account of what it’s like to work at one of these nursing homes where the majority of residents have been diagnosed with a serious mental illness. Elly talks to Antonia about how we got here, diving into the history of how the nation and California has approached mental health care and what’s now being done to address the shortcomings.

    Bottom line: You might think of nursing homes as a place elderly patients get care or where someone might go to recover from surgery or an injury. Elly’s joint investigation with APM Research Lab and The California Newsroom found a distinctly different reality in many nursing homes across the state.

    Read the full investigation: California Nursing Homes Are Becoming ‘De Facto Mental Health Centers’

    How do I find the podcast? It's now available from LAist Studios. Check it out wherever you get your podcasts! Or listen to this episode below.

    Imperfect Paradise Main Tile
    Listen • 25:28
    Transcript
    Listen • 25:28
    Imperfect Paradise: The Truth Inside California's Nursing Homes
    In California, nursing homes have become de facto mental health facilities because there are just not enough places for people to go.
    Transcript

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