This week a mental health client got into a disagreement with a Residental Aide. It ended with him chasing her out of the building into the parking lot beating her down, slitting her throat and then stabbing her multiple times.
She was on the night shift, alone, by herself with at least 6 mental health clients. Now this man has past convictions of violent acts with a knife. How can any administration justify this staffing.
I work at the Detox Unit here in town and I work alone with 10-12 clients who are comming off drugs and/or alcohol and 1/2 of them have a psych history also.
No relief.
No security.
No cameras or a video tape so they can catch my assault on tape if it happens.
They are started back on their psych meds as soon as they are sober for us, never mind that they have been non-compliant for months prior and they will be again when they leave here. What a yo-yo effect that must have on a serotonin level.
I have told my boss how dangerous this place is, can get but she doesn't get it. She tells me "this is not the jail" (my other job). I feel safer there. I can count on one hand with fingers left over how many times I have seen her work the floor.
I just wonder what the $ number is that will make the admin people figure out that its more cost effective to put in a security system or hire another warm body than to pay off a family and their legal fee for a death.
After all its obvious its all about how much money they will have to spend, not about the lives that will change because of it.
Do any of you work in a Detox Unit and how do you operate. Does this sound to far fetched or am I really making to much out of this.
I do not know the woman that was killed but my heart and prayers go out to her and her family. Her husband had just returned from Iraq 2 months ago. So sad in so many ways.
