My sister had a mental health emergency over the weekend and checked into a crisis center. It was pretty bad, but when I saw her last, she was actually in very good spirits, because she thought she was going to go to a safe place where she could step away from her stresses for a few days and get professional help.
Well it turns out this place was more of a prison than a treatment center. After making her wait four hours Sunday night before admitting her, they wouldn’t let her bring any of her belongings, including clothes. They wouldn’t even let her have magazines or the stuffed animal she brought for comfort. They wouldn’t accept her medication that my mom brought last night, but they assured her that they had an on site pharmacy that would provide all of her prescriptions.
Despite all of this, she still agreed to go through with it because she was desperate for help. Well she didn’t get help. In fact they seemed to do everything they could to make things worse. Despite telling her they had vegetarian options, that was apparently limited to just salad, apples, and ice cream, which was all she ate all day, and wasn’t even allowed to eat in her room (which is next door to a constantly screaming drug addict). It’s unclear if she saw any therapists or doctors at all, but if she did it was only briefly, and there was nothing for her to do all day except coloring books and crayons. There was a problem filling the prescriptions they promised they would get for her, so she went through all of this without her meds. She wasn’t allowed to call home until this evening, which is why we’re only finding out about this now. My mom is trying to contact them to get the medication issue sorted out, but the receptionist has her on hold while they try to find a nurse. We can’t go see her until tomorrow, because visitation is only allowed from 4:00-5:00 Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Sundays (and only one person is allowed to visit).
Since she checked in voluntarily, she is allowed to check out any time, but two things are stopping her. First, despite everything that’s happened she still hopes that they’ll actually make time for her tomorrow and give her professional help. Second Medicaid will only pay for it it she spends at least three days in the awful place. Our parents would be willing to pay it, but knowing her that would distress her almost as much as having to pay out of pocket for it herself.
I’m so anxious about what’s going to happen that I don’t know how I’ll sleep tonight, and if it’s this bad for me, I can’t imagine how it is for her.