Two must read articles about the real cost of budget cuts!

[ForensicNeuro]

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http://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/17/u...-E-FB-SM-LIN-ASA-061711-NYT-NA&WT.mc_ev=click

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/06/nyregion/boys-death-highlights-crisis-in-homes-for-disabled.html

In the first one a mental health worker is killed by a psychotic patient because of low staff ratios and budget cuts. In the second one an autistic boy is killed by his mental health worker who was poorly trained with a GED and a criminal history. They thought they could save money by hiring these workers instead of paying highly skilled treatment providers.

(Despite the facility obtaining 1.8 million dollars per year per patient)
"The federal and state governments now allocate more than $1.8 million annually for each of the roughly 1,300 residents remaining in the nine institutions, a number that has steadily risen from $1.4 million in 2007, when Jonathan Carey died. "

 

[thelittleowl]

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/17/u...-E-FB-SM-LIN-ASA-061711-NYT-NA&WT.mc_ev=click

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/06/nyregion/boys-death-highlights-crisis-in-homes-for-disabled.html

In the first one a mental health worker is killed by a psychotic patient because of low staff ratios and budget cuts. In the second one an autistic boy is killed by his mental health worker who was poorly trained with a GED and a criminal history. They thought they could save money by hiring these workers instead of paying highly skilled treatment providers.

(Despite the facility obtaining 1.8 million dollars per year per patient)
"The federal and state governments now allocate more than $1.8 million annually for each of the roughly 1,300 residents remaining in the nine institutions, a number that has steadily risen from $1.4 million in 2007, when Jonathan Carey died. "

I just finished reading the first article you posted, about the woman that was killed by a psychotic patient while working ALONE in a group home. I headed straight to SDN to post about it, and here it is.

I'm just totally moritified. It isn't that I was unaware of budget cuts and I have personally experienced low staff-patient ratios in the workplace. It's that it continues to happen despite peoples' lives being lost and hundreds being injured. After being quite brutally attacked myself, and vowing never to work on an inpatient ward ever again, it doesn't leave much to the imagination when thinking about why people think you are "crazy" for entering the mental health field.

I remember thinking every morning before I clocked in, "Am I going to get hurt today?" I remember feeling totally unable to do my job without the support of other staff. I remember feeling so very alone in advocating for change and the safety of myself and my coworkers.

The system is failing, hands down. It certainly failed these two people in the most horrible, despicable way. How do we move forward and advocate for mental health in the face of fiscal crisis? How do we keep caring and valuable employees safe and prevent these tragedies from ever occurring?

Ugh, it just makes me sick. My heart goes out to their families.

 

[ClinicalPHD5]

really awful and cruel.

so they are charging 1.8 million per patient and then hiring people with GED's that they can pay minimum wage salaries? Audit anyone? Administrators and MD's at the top are clearly pocketing the money while providing the cheapest services possible and creating dangerous work conditions. Unfortunately, i think this trend of hiring the GED over someone with an M.A./PhD will only continue.

 

[Rivi]

These situations will continue to happen if more funding or efficient spending and better staffing are not implemented. Articles like these are all over the place. There was a staff member killed at a psychiatric hospital in California recently. There was a riot at a group home in GA over the past month. It is the same formula: overcrowding, understaffing, and malignant cultures within the hospitals run by individuals who continually find creative ways of ignoring the problem.