A Plan

So, my daughter and I talked most of yesterday and last night. She came home sick, with a temperature of 102. She said that four people had been diagnosed with pneumonia while they were there. She said to see a doctor, you had to put in for a medical slip. She did that twice, and was seen once. She was feeling achy, sore throat, headache, chills. The doctor looked in her mouth, and listened to her back. Never took a temperature. Never gave medicine (not even aspirin). Just told her to drink some water. It was this kind of treatment that was hard for me to hear. Her being denied treatment both mentally and physically. The more we talked, the more this was sounding like One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest. I think the supervisor of her unit fit the nurse Ratchet role like a clone. There was an underlying cruelness to the facility. For instance, though my daughter's drug of choice is alcohol, most of the patients there were struggling with heroin or other drug addictions. One night, for recreation, they showed the movie Basketball Diaries.   This is a movie about drug addiction.  My daughter said that after the movie, several of the patients commented that they had just relapsed.  Whether joking or not, I think it makes no sense to show a movie like that to people who are trying to get away from that life style. 

There were a lot of instances like that, where the supervisor or the general 'rules' were not in support of recovery.   It's all very sad for me.  It's as though the people who are supposed to be in charge of the healing of people with addiction, themselves don't respect those struggling with this. They don't respect the steps to recovery. They don't respect the trauma that began the addiction. They don't respect that this is a person, not a number or a thing, but a human being who deserves the time and compassion to be helped.  The stigma of addiction was shadowed in the attitude of the people in charge and routine of the place my daughter was staying.  So frustrating. 

I'm a letter writer.  I write letters when someone has done a good job.  I write letters when someone does a bad job.  If I  can't find the address, I make a call.  I have done this for a long time.  My inspiration was a quote I had seen on a church marque once.  Ironically, I had been working at a school that took in adjudicated students.  Even though they were a hard group to work with, they could be worked with!  Yes, it took time, and energy, and a ton of patience, but they could be reached.  However, not everyone had this same experience or view.  There were some people who were not helping, and I was so frustrated driving on the way home.  I happened to be at a red light, and looked to my right, and there, in big black letters was the quote:  "Evil Prospers When Good Men Do Nothing."   That has been the motivation for me to speak out when the time calls for it, good or bad.  I'm not an in-you-face type of person.  Once, someone used the description Velvet Sledgehammer.  I like that.
So the plan is to write some letters.  To the man who went to see my daughter, because apparently he didn't listen too hard to her and he misquoted me to her.  Then, I found the CEO of the whole medical group that this place is tucked into.  For what it's worth, he'll be getting a letter, too.  Will it have an effect?  I don't know.  I hope, though, that my putting these concerns forward, with the intention to clean it up and get the help snowball rolling, will throw out some good in the universe.  I think God works that way.  Anyway, that's what I feel motivated to do. So, I'm following that.  I don't want to end this, though, feeling like all was horrible.  God did place people in my daughters path while she was there that helped keep her motivated and did inspire her.  Prayer is definately a powerful tool.  And God surely does work in amazing ways.