I know it's been kind of a long time since I blogged....but the comments on Haiku (and previous essays) continue to be so good, I've not wanted to interfere. Thanks to everybody who wrote Haiku...loved 'em. And thanks, most especially, to the Social Work Fairy who wrote to Governor Ritter!!
Since I'm no longer at the madhouse itself, my focus has been on the larger community - where persons with mental health disabilities live after escaping the tender ministrations there.
As I've said, the experience of being allowed to act in my job has been a relief from the forced idiocy that was the requirement of my labors at the madhouse.
Yet, all is not paradise.
I find it is not possible to "act" enough to hold back the tide of need.
The situation at Walter Reed (with which you are all familiar, no doubt) kind of sums it up, I think....and the continuing situation in New Orleans....and the recent example of FEMA's failure to recover its efficacy (as demonstrated by those new, empty trailers sitting 160 miles from those made homeless in Arkansas by the tornadoes)...and Owens giving Hammons that fat bonus as she fled the scene of disaster...
It's a bad picture, bloggers. The fact is that ALL of our big, social services systems are unraveled. None of them is working properly; all of them are in some state of dysfunction. How could it be otherwise when we are spending THIS on the war. Where the heck is all that money coming from? I'm here to tell you that a lot of it is coming from various social services....readers had better pray that they and their loved ones will never need any help of any kind from the society...it's effectively not there now.
This society's resources are going elsewhere.
Like the bees. Did you hear about the bees? Apparently they've become unable to find their way home .... they fly out in the morning to gather pollen.....and are never heard from again.
Our tax dollars are like that.
It's a problem.
A reader in Florida sent me a great article about the mental health system....I'm going to try to figure out how to link it to the blog in case anyone over there wants to read it. It's called "Organizational Stress as a Barrier to Trauma-Sensitive Change and System Transformation." by Sandra Bloom, M.D. in Philadelphia. It's all about us.
What I'm trying to say here...in this rather disjointed way...is that our social fabric is in trouble and its time for us to do something about it....something more than complain to and about one another. We must transform ourselves and our society right now if its to be the sort of place we want to live in. Getting Governor Ritter on board is certainly an important and valuable piece...we can all write a letter like the one the Social Work Fairly wrote...we can all contact our representatives.
Here! Write a quick letter now!!
Governor Ritter
Senator Allard
Senator Salazar
Colorado legislators
The issue is, as I see it, "What sort of community do YOU want to live in?" Is it OK with you to live in a society that spends THIS on a war but can't take care of the wounded the war has made? Or its disabled? or its poor? or its disaster victims? Aren't you tired of knowing that although we spend more (much more) per capita on health care, we have lower life expectancy and higher infant mortality rates than any industrialized nation?
And being tired of it, what are we going to do about it?
Let's talk about solutions...let's read about them, let's think about them...Let us come up with something that would work!!! and then let's make it happen....this is Amerika, damn it! consumerville ...I want to live in America - of the people, by the people, for the people. WE are the people, are we not? Come on, people! There's got to be a better way.
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4 comments:
Thank you sooooo much for the referal to the important article,I am going to the library tomorrow to print it out,as I dont have a printer,and the print is too small to read on my computer........and yes all that you say is like the canary in the coalmine to my way of thinking and feeling.I dont understand the profound impotence of all of society.......for truely there is a lot of information out there.......but no handle to take hold of for individuals which for me feels so disimpowering,and I am on a search now for riseing out of being a victim and taking action.....and looking for a forum,group,community that is outside of the stale air and already defunct institution that has been murdered along with all our other vital signs in this country...........someone the other day said it is only a matter of time before we look like Nazi Germany.............this may sound radical.......but I thought about it.............it isnt so unimaginable,especially when you take away the underpinnings from the individuals who hold up the day to day functioning of the society. One only has to hear or read Howard Zinns,The Real History of The United States to realize we are on a slow or not so slow now slide into the end of this culture as we know it.Even the chairs are starting to slide on the Titanic now..........and we keep shopping,hopeing not to notice the musicians are playing the last notes...............Thanks to you for your activism,I am happy to join the cause,there isnt another one...........and as you say........CMHIFL is only the symptom........ like an abcessed tooth.......or the canary......we all know it,we all feel it.................
I truly do not know what to make of this. For the past two weeks gadde fly's current blog entry has been posted, and now this is the second response! I suppose that this could be because the folks who routinely write here are all out busily writing to elected officials, organizing demonstrations, talking over the backyard fence to neighbors about the problems they see in their world, and generally trying to make positive change. Or, could it be that all the displeasure and rants that usually appear on this blog have simply gone away, and the world is right? There is a third possibility: "We only want to bitch ... leave the heavy lifting to the other guys." I hope its the former, and not the latter possibility that is occurring, though I have my doubts.
What have you all been doing in the past two weeks to make your and my world world a better place? The lead response above states a fear that our society is headed toward fascism. A necessary attitute in a society moving into fascism is complacency. Once you have arrived at a facsist state, a sense of powerlessness is required to maintain it. Powerlessness breeds frustration. Out of that frustration to direct your anger at 'the powers that be', the sense of agitation is turned on one another. The masses fight amoungst themselves, and the 'leaders' go about their merry way, above the fray.
So, how to defeat this? First, understand that the person standing next to you is in the same state as you, but may be acting in a manner that breeds more agitation in you and others. Talk to them, don't attack them. As Red Green says, "I'm pulling for ya. We're all in this together". When you are powerless you need all the allies you can get. Powerless people have a wealth of enemies. Economics dictate that you need to turn your resources, in this case a surplus of enemies, into allies. Talk to your enemies, don't berate them. Talk to the guy whose behavior is agitating you, and together you may be able to direct your frustrations into effective channels of change.
Second, question authority. Keep questioning authority until you get what can be reasonably referred to as an answer. Question and response is the basis of conversation. Try having one.
Third, be clear about what you envision is needed, but maintain an open mind. This assertiveness can lead to compromise. If the compromise is furthering the betterment of society, then it is a worthwhile outcome. Make change.
All of this is action. Read, learn, talk, ask, listen, do. Don't bitch, moan, sit on your thumbs, attack you neighbor, etc. That is powerlessness, or to be more PC ... victimization.
If you find a giant turd on the floor of your living room, don't moan and bitch. Clean it up, and let others know that big turds on the living room floor don't benefit anyone. Teach others why this is so! But don't just let that big turd sit there ... the smell only gets worse.
This is just the muzings of a mind under the influence of an early morning. There must be more that can be done. Different ways and means that I'm missing. Please enlighten me further. I'm listening; are you talking?
The Social Work Fairy
(not a subsidiary of "The Man")
Looks like many people are leaving. Maybe the State is starting to feel what private sector has for years. If pay does not equal crap staff are supposed to put up with they move on to "greener pastures". Good for those taking the leap, not staying here for years working in a broken hospital with no vision, goals or true value within the Mental Health community of Denver.
Here is an idea our "all knowing" adminstration.
Better incentives for working, beyond a crappy certificate. Don't get me wrong I like certificates of achievement for doing a job well done. Of course this was when I was in elementary school. Sorry, but money is what pays the bills not toilet paper with my name on it.
How about some new blood I'm fairly young, but I'm tired of hearing about the old days. Today is today and yesterday has passed. Let get some work done now. You can either sit on your ass waiting on retirement or have an impact on our patient now. If you are not going to work please go find something else to do with your life and free some positions for people who want to work.
I'm so sick of these lifers sitting on the units, complaining, fighting and not getting a damn thing done besides running away new staff.
More incentives for new hires with education.
No promotion for clinicians/nurses that do not further education or do actual workshops related to their job(beyond CPI).
No priority given for transfer should be based on education, proven patient impact and verification that the person transfering is not a prioblem staff. The main people I see that create problems on units are those that have been a damn clinician for 50 years and sit around complaining. Why are you complaining? What other employer would allow you to stay in the same CNA type direct care job without no promotion potential or ambition. Any other facility would toss you out on your ass after five years of nothingness displayed here, not allowing you to collect a retirement check for complaining, and generalized not living up to your potential in life. Thats a loser basically!
I blame a "good ole boy" system.
Lack of training or rewarding well trained staff.
Failure to promote the most qualified people, not just the brown nosers.
Give "walking papers" to those that are just HERE.
Reward the quality staff with payraises and priority in transfers.
You cannot pay some clinicians 20 bucks an hour and new ones 14 bucks an hour, then actually to expect new hires to continue to stay here. Do those in HR actually believe educated new hires will stay at a place where they are paid less than another that sits on their ass complaining and new hires have to do all the work.
That is why they can only get new hires thats average age is 50, what young upstarts would waiste their time here. Instead you have new hires that need a cane and Nitroglycerin heart patches to get up for work.
I am not saying there are not good staff that have years in here. The problems is that many bad staff have been allowed to stay here and grow like cancer destroying the moral on the units, becuase of no accountability or admin playing favorites.
I honestly do not care, I do expect to be here much longer. I want to do more with my life than be a step above a CNA and just two from a janitor.
I would tell others at my other job to not come here as others had told me when I hired on here.
We're at war! Our borders are broken....we have an invasion going in this country by people that want to over take our social structure and the ignorance and treason of the policians like Salazar are helping it along. What have I been doing? Calling the Governor, emailing elected officials, attending townhall meetings, and reading and educating myself regarding the emergency state that our social services are in, not to mention our schools, and our neigborhood streets. "Comprende?"
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