emt036 (![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small} emt036) wrote,@ 2005-06-08 21:03:00 |
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My Visit to the Mental Hospital
Socks, real shoes and pants... Three things I thought I wouldn't have to wear for a while. I was doing pretty good too, since for the past five months all I have only worn shorts, t-shirts, and sandals. Such is the life of a Caribbean med student. :-) Today however, we did a "community visit" to the national mental health hospital as part of the Behavioral Sciences course, and we at least had to look the part of med students. :-)
The mental hospital is named Mount Gay, the same as a brand of rum. (Coincidence?) It was built with monetary assistance from USAID, but funds are lacking to properly maintain it. All of Grenada's "chronically psychologically ill" are housed here, however the lack of funding has turned it into more of a revolving door situation, with the average length of stay being 90 days. After that, the mentally ill are "reintegrated" with society in a Community Mental Health program. The only problem is that funding is also lacking for this - Grenada should have 100 community mental health workers for the size of its population, but has only 6. Hence, many patients with mental health problems are not properly managed outside of the hospital, and they end up being brought back to Mt. Gay by the police.
The facility itself is the traditional type of lock-down unit, with different wards for males and females. (Instead of being painted white as in the movies, the buildings here are a more colorful pink.) There is a community/TV room, a medication room, and a room for individual/group psychotherapy. The sleeping wards are full of foam mattress, some on bed frames, and some on the floor to deal with the overcrowding.
During our stay, we saw a few different patients, mostly schizophrenics and drug-abuse-induced psychoses though. It was interesting to see these patients in a setting other than 4-pointing violent psychs with leather restraints. Despite being CAOx3 (knowing who they were, where they were, and the date/time), they clearly had an altered view of reality. One gentleman claimed to be the Prime Minister of Grenada, and that he had sired children with Princess Anne of England. A woman claimed that all of the visiting medical students were related to her. She could clearly relate all events prior to the onset of her illness, but thereafter her reality became warped.
While interesting, I was glad when the visit was over, and the orderly unlocked the gate to let us out. (Hey, you never know.) :-) The visit did increase my exposure to the mentally ill, but I think that just solidified my desire to steer clear of psychiatry as a career. While the patients do receive treatment and medication, so few of them ever truly get "cured." However, many do benefit greatly from treatment, so I am grateful to those with a predilection towards this vocation.
Socks, real shoes and pants... Three things I thought I wouldn't have to wear for a while. I was doing pretty good too, since for the past five months all I have only worn shorts, t-shirts, and sandals. Such is the life of a Caribbean med student. :-) Today however, we did a "community visit" to the national mental health hospital as part of the Behavioral Sciences course, and we at least had to look the part of med students. :-)
The mental hospital is named Mount Gay, the same as a brand of rum. (Coincidence?) It was built with monetary assistance from USAID, but funds are lacking to properly maintain it. All of Grenada's "chronically psychologically ill" are housed here, however the lack of funding has turned it into more of a revolving door situation, with the average length of stay being 90 days. After that, the mentally ill are "reintegrated" with society in a Community Mental Health program. The only problem is that funding is also lacking for this - Grenada should have 100 community mental health workers for the size of its population, but has only 6. Hence, many patients with mental health problems are not properly managed outside of the hospital, and they end up being brought back to Mt. Gay by the police.
The facility itself is the traditional type of lock-down unit, with different wards for males and females. (Instead of being painted white as in the movies, the buildings here are a more colorful pink.) There is a community/TV room, a medication room, and a room for individual/group psychotherapy. The sleeping wards are full of foam mattress, some on bed frames, and some on the floor to deal with the overcrowding.
During our stay, we saw a few different patients, mostly schizophrenics and drug-abuse-induced psychoses though. It was interesting to see these patients in a setting other than 4-pointing violent psychs with leather restraints. Despite being CAOx3 (knowing who they were, where they were, and the date/time), they clearly had an altered view of reality. One gentleman claimed to be the Prime Minister of Grenada, and that he had sired children with Princess Anne of England. A woman claimed that all of the visiting medical students were related to her. She could clearly relate all events prior to the onset of her illness, but thereafter her reality became warped.
While interesting, I was glad when the visit was over, and the orderly unlocked the gate to let us out. (Hey, you never know.) :-) The visit did increase my exposure to the mentally ill, but I think that just solidified my desire to steer clear of psychiatry as a career. While the patients do receive treatment and medication, so few of them ever truly get "cured." However, many do benefit greatly from treatment, so I am grateful to those with a predilection towards this vocation.
