Torture=comfort

Today was the last day of my psychiatric nursing clinicals. We used the time to tour local homeless shelters where we made beds and served lunch. We also visited a mental health day facility and a low income housing hotel.

The experience was interesting for me on a couple of different levels. First, I experienced the perspective of an atheist walking into a Catholic homeless shelter. My first thought....holy shit...are they trying to scare these people to death or help them? As we walked into the shelter, we were confronted with a large crucifix. But, that was not the only one. I should have started counting when we started the tour, but I didn't realize there would be so many!

These were not just normal everyday crucifixes...isn't that scary that one can say "normal everyday crucifix" Yikes. I will attempt to describe one of the most unusual crucifixes I've ever seen. As we walked towards the kitchen, a cross hung on the wall to the right. Now, I had to take a double take because I could not tell what I was looking at. The statue of Jesus had its feet nailed to the cross and its left arm nailed. But, the right arm was not nailed. It hung with the rest of his upper body in a strange, exaggerated slump.

Now, correct me if I'm wrong, but it seems to me that a homeless shelter should be inviting. It should be a safe place where people can come if and when they need to. How is this accomplished by hanging torture scenarios around the building? When I think inviting...torture is not the first thing that comes to mind.

This experience just made me more determined to open a SECULAR shelter in Spokane. People should be able to get the help they need without being bombarded by religion. They should be taught everyday skills to help them get back on their feet instead of being forced to join a prayer group. I hope one day I can do this.

This experience was also interesting because I have a much different perspective than many of the others in my group. My dad has schizophrenia and has been involved in the Spokane mental health system since I can remember. I purposefully did not tell anyone in my clinical group because I wanted to hear their perspectives without bias. It is very interesting to see how things are presented to the medical community versus the way things really are.

One place we visited is called the Carlyle hotel. My dad lived their last year and had his most recent crisis episode there. This most recent episode was the most severe I have ever seen him have. He ended up in a local hospital because he had lost his ability to swallow. This is a side effect which can occur with the medications he needs to take. The thing is...none of the family was notified that he was in the hospital! We did not find out until days later that he was there and that was because a wonderful nurse practitioner called us.

We were presented with a decision about whether to give them permission to tube feed him because he been unable to eat for 7 days. We were also informed that when he was admitted to the hospital, there was no trace of his medication in his system. So, he had not been taking his meds for a while. By the time we knew what was going on and went to collect his things from the Carlyle hotel, many of his belongings had been stolen.

So, today when we went to the Carlyle, it was interesting to see how they present themselves to the community. The social director boasted about their great facility claiming to have an in house psychiatrist, MD, and nursing staff. That's odd, when my dad was their, he saw the psychiatrist they have contracted with, but he left the building for his appointments.

He also told us how great the staff is...in fact, they have one woman in charge of ALL the medications. OK...this is not a plus no matter how much fluff you add to it. One person in charge of hundreds of peoples' meds equals disaster. This could explain some of what happened with my dad....we've never been able to get any explanation from the Carlyle as to what happened.

I listened to the social director blow smoke during our tour. But, afterwards I tried to point some of these problems out to my classmates. I don't think some of these issues occurred to them because they most of them have not had the experience from the other side. It is very frustrating that this is the best Spokane has to offer. It is hard not to lose hope in fixing a broken system when one has dealt with it for so long.