A System for Sanity
Reading this you should know I have a bias. I have been in the care of the Provincial
Mental Health System of Alberta…repeatedly.
My thoughts are the observations of a person who has lived with Bi-polar
Affected Disorder all my life. It was
only in 1986 my condition became diagnosed, until then I just thought I was
charming, handsome and really smart.
The System will never work and for my hypothesis I offer
myself as an example. I am probably the
most connected consumer and yet I fall through the cracks repeatedly. Yes I know every new administration says they
will fill the cracks but trust a long time user…there is not enough silly putty
to cover them up.
The System relies on Doctors. It has to fail for them to make a decent
living. This is not a slight on any one
person, rather the profession as a whole in context to mental health. If you follow the history of Doctors they
were a battlefield creation to sew on injured limbs, amputate infected ones and
provide combat surgery. I agree
sometimes my mental illness presents as battlefield wounds but not once has a
Doctor tried to sew anything back on.
Doctors have their place in mental health, as researchers and
administrators for which they excel.
For the mental health system to work we need the charge and
care of nurses. I have visited most of Calgary’s
finest psych facilities and highly recommend the care and discipline of all the
nurses I had, except those that made me go to bed early. Nurses not only know the patients in a way
that the Doctor cannot due to their billing deadlines, nurses do it while
recording every single twitch of the patients for the Doctor to ignore later in
conferences. A psych nurse would release
you but not until the rest of the world is ready for our unique contribution
and, unlike a System that assumes drugs will contain the demons have supports
ready. Nurses connect with the community in a network that promotes the
reintegration of the person to society, giving us the best chance to succeed.
Would it save money?
The estimates I have made during particularly long and lonely stays are
staggering. The current System relies on
a basic charge of about $1000 a day with the move to confining individuals for
longer periods. Add to this the growing influx of new Canadians
to Alberta is using mental health facilities and the numbers are staggering. The System relies on these rates to pay for
Doctors, blood testing and medications. Nurses
provide a more holistic approach, incorporating medications when needed to
treat symptoms and withdrawals.
We, Alberta, are leaders in new and innovative nursing
practices and training which might make others follow our lead and maybe forget
the tarsands. An industry is waiting to
be re-born and nowhere is it more needed than in mental health.
We now have 2 women in the position to make radical change
in the Alberta Mental Health System and I am hoping both see the common sense
in refining the role of nursing. This is
a political no brainer, just ask anyone who has ever been given a straight
answer about their child’s potential.
They get it from a nurse and would be happy to support their
administration.
