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Mentally Ill’s needs not met

May 12, 2017   ·   0 Comments

The article on mental health awareness “The Stigma Remains” by Tabitha Wells was so insightfully written that I would like to commend for having the courage to speak in the first person as experiencing a form of mental illness.

She has made mental illness real and present.  By putting into words how an illness like this feels, how others do not understand it, how those unfamiliar with a mental illness are frightened by it yet acknowledging too that others who have not experienced mental illness, the stigma remains, unspoken perhaps, but there.   

Many years ago, my late husband, whose family was from this area, suffered from manic depression which none of us knew at the time nor was he diagnosed until his early thirties.  He died at the  age of 39 and was one of the kindest and warmest individuals I’ve known.

He was ‘happy-go-lucky’, as people said back then, not knowing that his happiness may have lain in his manic highs.  He had a wonderful sense of humour and he was charismatic, he drew people to him.  And he also had two serious episodes with this disorder, the last of which, he did not survive.

In more recent years, I’ve been exposed to mental illness in a milder form through a family member who has since recovered and in expressing my concern through this experience, I have commented in writing and in person regarding Headwaters hospital’s lack of recognition in doing something concrete to accommodate the needs of those in a mental health crisis.

The fact is, there is still no separate entrance, no separate examining room and no separate holding room at Headwaters for those in a mental health crisis who may then be sent elsewhere for treatment.  They are still placed together with those in a physical health crisis in the emergency department at Headwaters.

The reality is that when someone is in a mental  health crisis it can be frightening to witness, it is difficult for the doctors and nurses attending these patients and for the patients themselves who are often unaware of their surroundings only that they, too are suffering.   

To not have a small area separate from the present emergency department is not giving consideration to the medical staff nor the patient in a mental health crisis.   

When Headwaters hospital announced their recent expansion, I wrote a letter again to the hospital asking if there would be accommodation for a separate entrance and separate examining room for those in a mental health crisis into the emergency department and was told no.

While Headwaters is not a mental health hospital in its specialization, still they do not appear to be accepting of or concerned enough that the mind and body are one and an illness in both areas is a legitimate medical emergency.

While respect is given the physically ill patient at Headwaters, the mentally ill patient is not given the same consideration of respect or allowed the personal dignity of privacy given to the physically ill patient.

So my question is why.  And I am given a stock answer and a run-around response in not answering the question directly by the person in charge of the development at Headwaters who obviously is representing the hospital as a whole.

And so, I still ask, why is there not a separate entrance into a small area located beside or near the present emergency department for those in a mental health crisis?

Sandra Small Proudfoot

Mono, Ontario

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