FLORENCE, S.C. (AP) - “Welcome to the sticky-note club,” Jennette Canteen said to Suzanne La Rochelle as La Rochelle explained that she had been given a sticky note telling her where her family member suffering from mental health problems had been taken.
La Rochelle and Canteen were two of the three women who spoke at a gathering organized by Florence City Councilwoman Pat Gibson-Hye for the women to discuss the state’s mental health system. The other woman was Frances Davis.
Each of the women described situations that would be nightmarish to most people. One said she had woken up with a family member standing over her and her husband with a knife. The second described her family member trying to abuse a child in her home. And the third described a family member refusing to do something that millions of people do each day to the point of implying a suicide attempt if he had to do what he was being asked to do.
As alarming and frustrating as their family members’ battles with mental health problems must be, the women said they have also been frustrated by nearly every aspect of the care provided to their family members.
La Rochelle said that a psychiatrist determined that her family member needed to be placed in a psychiatric unit and that they needed to find a bed for him.
“This is where the lack of services and funding comes in,” La Rochelle said. “They told me it could be a day. It could be a week or more.”
La Rochelle said that it was implied to her that her family member would have to sit in a hospital emergency room for patients with mental health problems until a bed could be found.
“If you’ve been in those rooms, they would make anybody crazy,” La Rochelle said. She added that in the facility the children and adults are in the same area, meaning children are near adults who could be in a mental health crisis.
La Rochelle said a bed opened up a day after her family member was admitted to the facility.
“I was happy about that but then they told me they didn’t know when transportation was coming,” La Rochelle said. “They said it could be a half hour. It could be tonight. They didn’t know.”
As La Rochelle told her story, Canteen kept nodding along and saying, yes, she had experienced the same things with her family member.
“In 15 minutes, they tell me his ride’s there,” La Rochelle continued. “I asked where’s he going and they give me a sticky tab, a sticky note.”
“Yep, welcome to the sticky note club,” Canteen said.
La Rochelle said that after the situation with her family member was handled, she went to an official at the hospital and was informed the policy for sticky notes would change.
Gibson-Hye Moore spoke about a man who said he felt like he was going to kill someone. She did not say if the man said he was going to kill someone in specific or just someone in general.
She said the man went to a local mental health facility to receive help but was turned away due to lack of insurance.
The man then sought out Gibson-Hye Moore, known for her accessibility and advocacy for those struggling with money. She went back to the facility and was able to help the man get admitted. Gibson-Hye Moore said she felt her sway as a city councilwoman helped with the process.
“It shouldn’t be that way,” she said.
Canteen said her family member had been “bounced around from facility to facility.”
“Every time she’s gone in for help, she’s come out worse,” Canteen said. “The first time she was hospitalized, she came out cutting herself … They have her so medicated that they suppress her. When they don’t know what else to do, they’ll say it’s behavior.”
Davis said she had a family member who had been admitted to a facility, medicated, and let out in a worse state than when the family member entered the facility.
“I recently had a family member that was facilitated,” Davis said. “They sent him out on the street. They sent him to a shelter. It was full.”
She said that when her family member told her about his situation, she called mental health and never received a call back.
Canteen continued to say that when a facility says something is a behavior problem, she’s told to pick up her family member and that if she doesn’t she could be found guilty of neglect.
“They’re always threatening me with being arrested,” Canteen said.
She added that she and the family member have both asked about long-term care options but have been rebuffed each time they do. Canteen also said she had informed the caregivers about a medication that works only to find that her family member is given other medications.
“(She was given) old school stuff that would drop a horse,” Canteen said. “They’ve got her so medicated that we have to go through the weaning-off process to get her right again. It’s just a vicious cycle.”
She said that Davis was right that once the time for treatment is over, their families need to be standing there to pick the person up.
Davis also said that workers around the people suffering from mental health problems should not constantly mention the person’s problems to them.
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