Fourteen Days

Time goes by very quickly for some of us. I realized it has been over a week since the last news of Pembroke Hospital.

In fact, it has been two weeks. Fourteen days have passed since the last news item covering Pembroke Hospital was posted.

But what does that mean? Is it a good sign, or a bad one? I don’t know.

Anyone reading the coverage by reporter Chris Burrell of the Patriot Ledger must realize Pembroke psychiatric hospital was being watched not by only one agency but five agencies, and these agencies were going to suggest what was wrong and the for-profit psychiatric facility administration was to fix it or else.

Well, having heard nothing more since the 4/9/16 Ledger articles, I wonder: does this mean all is fixed? Or is nothing fixed?

Further, does Pembroke Hospital still have the right to accept patients, yet fail to treat them properly? How does that make sense? 

How about the nurse who nearly lost an ear, requiring stitches, and suffered gouges to her face at the hands of a patient? It was written that this patient had assaulted three other workers. What, if any, protocol has been put into practice for identifying and managing patients who require more assistance and monitoring than Pembroke Hospital has to offer?

I also wonder: Does Pembroke Hospital hire mental health workers who are also expected to act as security personnel?

Are the patients really getting help?

What is the current status of staff protection? Did the nursing staff receive panic alarms? Did the hospital hire trained security guards? Are the front doors now locked, so not everyone or anyone could simply walk into the facility?

Another thing that bothers me:  code carts. I’ve worked as a nurse for over 37 years, 17 of them in the emergency room, and code carts are always used in an emergency; by the team assigned and of course by the physician who runs  the code. Does Pembroke Hospital have trained personnel to do this? Is there a medical physician on staff 24 hours a day? Is the psychiatric physician trained to intubate a patient who may require it?

Could it be that code carts in a psychiatric hospital are not the same as those in a general hospital?

Like cardiac care or pediatric intensive care, for example, psychiatric care is highly specialized. It takes a great degree of training and diligence; anyone working in this field should be rewarded and protected, not punished.

Sheila Wilson R.N.BSN MPH

President stophealthcareviolence

www.stophealthcareviolence.org