# Too Weird



## clapping_tiger (May 19, 2003)

Has anything really weird like this ever happend at your school?

(Ok bear with me on this)Today a lady came in off the street headed straight to the bathroom and then left. It stunk up the whole place, and the smell did not go away. It was so bad people were complaining. So the head instructor went into the bathroom, and walked out right away, looking quite distressed. He  went back in and came out with a plastic bag, and took it outside. I went over to find out what was wrong and here is what he told me. There was a pair of pants and underwear in the garbage with a full load of crap in them, and crap smeared on the walls, and you believe that. No one knows who the lady was or have ever seen her around before. Quite strange huh??? Anything like that ever happen to any of you?


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## chufeng (May 19, 2003)

Thank you for that bit of information...
...but, HIPAA requires that I not discuss patients I've encountered.
Sorry!!!

:asian:
chufeng


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## Aikikitty (May 19, 2003)

That's really weird and disgusting.  Our dojo is in an rented building with other businesses.  The 2 bathrooms are in the hallway.  Almost 3 years ago when I first started Aikido the bathrooms never used to be locked--they were nasty and broken down anyway (better than a port-a-potty).  Suddenly they were locked all the time and when we finally asked why, the answer was that a homeless man would come in sometimes and make a big mess (on floors and walls).  Now we have to use a key to get in there.  I don't understand why anybody would purposefully do that (whether they're homeless or not).  It's disgusting!  :erg: 

Robyn :flushed:


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## chufeng (May 19, 2003)

Robyn,

It's called mental illness...

Many of the people we used to house "for their own good" have now been left alone to fend for themselves the best that they can.

Many of the "homeless" folks you see would have been  "residents" in a "secure" facility in years gone by.

Both have there own problems...on the one hand, these special people were safer in a facility...except when those tasked with caring for them became their tormenters...and they had no liberties (in the interest of protecting the public)...

I don't have an answer, but it seems as cruel to throw these people to the curb as it was during the days of asylum...

:asian:
chufeng


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## jfarnsworth (May 19, 2003)

That is very distgusting. My sympathies for your school.


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## Jill666 (May 19, 2003)

Feces smearing is pretty common in seriously mentally ill people. Not an aspect of the job I miss- by the way, they don't do it of malicious intent. 

Chufeng is right. I started working in mental health in '89 when de-institutionalization was in full swing. Some folks who moved out into the group homes did well. Many didn't. After Danvers State Hospital closed, the ES I worked at had repeated visits by one schizophrenic who kept begging to go "home to Danvers". He had been living at the hospital for about twenty years. He died of cirrhosis within a couple of years, on the street.

That's not a pleasant thing to have happen. Sounds like your sensei handled it well.  

Living in a city I've seen a lot of strange stuff. The combination of having many people in one place and cheap public transportation = a lot of mentally ill. I might be more apt to notice insane behavior because of my training. 

I just wish the state of Massachusetts would find a way to ship these homeless mentally ill south- we have so many people freeze to death on the street every winter. The shelters only hold so many (and they routinely go over capacity). Boston sends cops out on cold nights to get homeless rounded up into temp shelters but it's not enough. 

I'll shut up now.


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## Bob Hubbard (May 19, 2003)

My ex-GF used to do maintainence at the BonTon (an upscale department store for those not familiar with it).

They often times would find the dressing rooms in a state similar, often with new clothes having served as TP.  

I've heard similar from folks at Walmart and Kmart.


When I had my storefront, our facilities were offlimits to customers...when someone had to 'go', we pointed them at the supermarket 2 doors down.  Made it easier to keep ours clean.


So far, the most discusting bathrooms I've seen though have been at the local Borders bookstore....I've been in cleaner outhouses at summer camp.  heh.


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## clapping_tiger (May 19, 2003)

I kind if figured it something along those lines (mental illness). Still it is a strange act. 

-Jason Johnson


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## Randy Strausbaugh (May 20, 2003)

> _Originally posted by chufeng _
> *Thank you for that bit of information...
> ...but, HIPAA requires that I not discuss patients I've encountered.
> Sorry!!!
> ...


Likewise, the Ohio Department of Youth Services prohibits my discussion of juvenile detainees; however, your story struck a familiar chord.  It's a shame that so often in our country, incarceration is used where treatment is called for.

Trying to avoid life's potholes, 
Randy Strausbaugh


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## Jill666 (May 20, 2003)

Very true- especially in men. Women who commit strange or violent acts stemming from serious mental illness will more often go to a psych facility for eval, but often men will find themselves in county jail. If I had a nickel for every personality-disordered, addicted, or first-break psychotic patient I have evaluated in a city holding cell, I'd have retired by now. (well, maybe I'd need a dime).

I'm not saying many mentally ill don't get away free from incarceration where it WAS warranted, that's the flip side.  

Doesn't HIPPA just seem to have everybody in an uproar, by the way.


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## chufeng (May 20, 2003)

HIPAA is codifying the way we should have been handling private information, anyways...it's just NOW there are significant penalties associated with not being discreet.

Of course, it adds one more layer of bureaucracy to an already heavily laden health care system...one more person looking over your shoulder...

:asian:
chufeng


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## jfarnsworth (May 20, 2003)

This whole thing is mind boggling!!  :erg:


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## Seig (May 21, 2003)

> _Originally posted by jfarnsworth _
> *This whole thing is mind boggling!!  :erg: *


Boggled minds seem to be the entire issue here


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## Nightingale (May 21, 2003)

> _Originally posted by Randy Strausbaugh _
> *Likewise, the Ohio Department of Youth Services prohibits my discussion of juvenile detainees; however, your story struck a familiar chord.  It's a shame that so often in our country, incarceration is used where treatment is called for.
> 
> Trying to avoid life's potholes,
> Randy Strausbaugh *



Two of my cousins are schizophrenic.  They're both in jail instead of in treatment (and receiving little or no treatment in jail, and there's nothing we can do...we've tried).  Before their illness, they were straight A students, bright, nice kids.  When they hit around 20, everything went nuts.  They're not bad people, and their crimes weren't violent ones. They're mentally ill and need to be in treatment rather than in jail.


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## jfarnsworth (May 21, 2003)

> _Originally posted by Seig _
> *Boggled minds seem to be the entire issue here *



Brother Seig,
I never said I was sane. You remember how I was flashing those 20's .


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## Seig (May 22, 2003)

> _Originally posted by jfarnsworth _
> *Brother Seig,
> I never said I was sane. You remember how I was flashing those 20's . *


Yes, yes I do, and they were traumatized!  As was I, next time you come out, please do not flash.


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## RCastillo (May 22, 2003)

A LOCK ON THIS THREAD.....NOW!!!!!


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## jfarnsworth (May 22, 2003)

> _Originally posted by RCastillo _
> *A LOCK ON THIS THREAD.....NOW!!!!! *



WHY???????


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## jfarnsworth (May 22, 2003)

> _Originally posted by Seig _
> *... next time you come out, please do not flash. *



You got it!


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## Seig (May 23, 2003)

> _Originally posted by jfarnsworth _
> *WHY??????? *


Isn't it obvious?  He's jealous.


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## jfarnsworth (May 23, 2003)

> _Originally posted by Seig _
> *Isn't it obvious?  He's jealous. *



He needs to finally let go of his jealously!!!!.....Immediately.

Then the fun will begin:EG:


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## Seig (May 24, 2003)

> _Originally posted by jfarnsworth _
> *He needs to finally let go of his jealously!!!!.....Immediately.
> 
> Then the fun will begin:EG: *


Yes, I agree, he apparently spends too much time handling his jealousy! :roflmao:


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## jfarnsworth (May 24, 2003)

> _Originally posted by Seig _
> * he apparently spends too much time handling his jealousy! :roflmao: *



Is that what he calls it? :rofl:


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## theletch1 (May 24, 2003)

Jill, may I ask what specific field you are in as regards mental health?  My wife just started college last year as a mental health major.  She initially wanted to work with abused/neglected children to give something back so to speak but the more she studies the more she realizes how varied the field is.  She did a research paper on the lack of treatment in jails around the country and the numbers I saw were appalling.


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## Jill666 (May 25, 2003)

Initially I studied psych in college. Two years in I began work in a crisis center, and found out that with a master's degree I could  make about $20K/year. The nurses, on the other hand, made that to start, and had ten times the career options. (This was in 1990). Since I'd been on my own for two years, and was hard-pressed to make my tuition as it was working full-time and trying to keep my grades up plus paying the rent- well the idea of three more years of torture was horrifying. I never liked school to begin with. 

I enlisted in LPN school- ten months at two grand total sounded like the thing to do. The program I went to was excellent. 

I worked 5 years as a mobile prescreener- assessing and placing patients in crisis. I worked one year in a methadone clinic. I worked four years in a psychiatry office, non-profit, serving the chronically ill and homeless. I worked four years in a halfway house for homeless mentally ill addicts, and two years on an ACT team- supporting mentally ill addicts in their home setting.

If you're doing the math, don't bother- I worked two, sometimes three jobs at a time then, from 1989 to 2000. I burned out. (Quelle surprise, as Gou used to say).

Since then it's been straight medicine. Mostly med-surg sub-acute care, first in a vent unit for TBI/SC patients, now in geriatrics. 

I love nursing for the challenge and the patients. I hate the hours and the paperwork. The pay is great. I love cheating the reaper. I hate breaking the bad news to the bereaved. 

The field is incredibly varied in mental health. If your woman really wants to work with offenders or abused children the rewards are great, but so is the stress. I really recommend part-time if you guys can afford it. She'll need to take time for herself or she'll burn out too. Trust me. Plus she'll stay late, almost every day, trying to make that one extra thing happen for her patients, I guarantee it. :asian: Psych will always be my first love, but I have my own stuff to deal with. But my experience serves me well, on a daily basis. 

My 2 cents- or 4 cents, really.


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## chufeng (May 25, 2003)

Jill,

I got my start in nursing in 1973...Nurs'e Aide in an extended care facility...the work was OK, but the leadership was "iffy." Pay??? just above minimum wage.

I wanted to go to college but couldn't afford it...so I joined the Army for Practical Nurse Course and took the next step up in nursing...pay was OK...three hots and a cot, plus $238/month.
Of course, the opportunity for advancement was there, too...
I did that for seven years...the Army offered me a desk job and a chance to move...I chose to go to college (that was the original plan, afterall).

Went from about $1200/month to $480/month...(my wife also chose to get out so she got her $480/month, as well) but I didn't have a lot of overhead...the GI Bill paid for gas, food, rent...I figured school was my full-time employment so I focused on that and martial arts...after college, I joined the Army, again...spent the next four years at Tripler MedCen in Hawaii...then they threatened me with another desk job...so I went back to school.

The rmy paid for it all this time around (I stayed on active duty)...

Now I spend 80% of my time clinical and 20% admin (can't completely avoid the desk jobs I guess)...I teach for the Army Anesthesia Nursing program...best job I've ever had...challenging, rewarding, and an esprit de corps among the providers I've not seen since my days in a field unit when I was enlisted.

The secret to my successes in school? training in YiLiQuan...
The secret to my success in my anesthesia practice? YiLiQuan...
The secret to my being a good teacher in the OR? Teaching YiLiQuan...
The secret to a successful career as an officer in the Army? YiLiQuan...it kept me from saying things I might have regretted otherwise...

Thanks for sharing your story, I hope I didn't bore you with mine
 

:asian:
chufeng


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