I am buzzed on to the floor.I sign in. I turn around and my son is surrounded by his friends. One lady looks like my Grandmother did before she died. A brown hospital smock,big chested woman who should wear a bra. A dark haired man looking at me as if I am about to do him harm. My son gets to me and announces,almost yells,"these fags still won"t let me SMOKE!" I am going to kill every mother fxxxxxx one of them!"
The place is busier than I have ever seen it. I quietly talk to a nurse and mention how busy the floor seems. "The homeless are being dumped here,she says, every election year folks are rounded up." They are kept 90 days at most and back to the streets. Two days ago the head of the English Department in a local college was stabbed to death by a man with the same illness as my son.
Budgets are being slashed,the only reason my son was still at the Mental Hospital was a lack of beds where he is going. He has 3 court assault dates waiting for him when he gets out.
The Mental hospital in Seattle has people of all ages and all colors. Some look like college professors some ladies are quite lovely. All have one thing in common: dead eyes.
Their eyes focus on something far away. Everyone paces. A scream or laugh interrupts the silent pacing. Signs are posted on some rooms which say "time out room". Here is where you are sent back to your childhood,no matter how old you are.
My son and others will never get better and I have seen hundreds of sick people. They are in your city hearing voices and they cant afford care. My son easily could have been the Naval shipyard killer or the English Teacher in Seattle.
Get active in Mental Health issues,tell your State legislator to increase funding and to keep the mentally ill in the hospital as they do sex offenders. Once a Doctor says they are okay to be in society then fine.
Your sick of my writing about this and I am heart sick about having to.
"All of us are born for a reason,but all of
us don"t discover why. Success in Life has
nothing to do with what you gain in life or
accomplish for yourself. It"s what you do
for others."
-Danny Thomas