Post "grand meeting"...the tables are turning

Talk about a stressful, crazy, nutty day. At work we were surprised to find Il. State walk in for their annual review of our facility, and the feds came with them to audit the state auditing us! Since I am the wound care nurse (and recently appointed and new to the training), I was also audited on my dressing changes, documentation, etc. I felt like I was in school all over again and had to imagine that the state rep was an old instructor of mine to get through it. Funny how your old teachers still linger in the back of your brain when you are about to do something that could fail your validation of skills. All of those old voices in my head got me through today...thank you ECC nursing staff! A couple of my classmates, now RN's and working with me, felt the same way! Thankfully our staff really pulled together today and helped each other out. Thankfully the nurses I work closely with got me out of there so I could make the grandiose meeting this afternoon.

Well, I split the audience and won the majority. I came in prepared with documentation and even cited my resources on the documents I provided to make my arguments. I guess that BSN program is coming in handy with all the damn papers to write and citing sources properly to establish evidenced based research that is scholarly in nature and peer reviewed. (Ugh...which reminds me, I have homework I need to catch up on.) I came prepared with documents shooting down two of the three possible placements they wanted me to consider for CJ that demonstrated that they are also, inept at best. In reality, they are horrible places based on the reports I found. Since it is a matter of public record, I don't feel bad in saying that the two places are Streamwood Behavioral and Riversedge. Both facilities are cited for overmedicating and outright allegations of serious abuse and neglect. I shamed the attendees of the meetings for offering these two places as possible placements and suggested that they also need to do their homework before recommending placing a kid into a place where they are likely to be mistreated. Both facilities are run by a corporation called Psysolutions, Inc. where the dollars they profit from are more valuable than the lives they destroy by having inadequate staffing, staff that is unlicensed, and allowing gross abuse to occur without reporting it. I told the panel of folks that this does not give them much credibility to their recommendations and further proves my point. Even DCFS pulled their kids from both facilities, and THAT'S pretty bad. But yes, let's place my son there because you say they have improved. Uh-huh, with the latest allegations dated Dec. 9, 2009. 3 weeks rapid improvement! I don't think so. I explained the circumstances surrounding CJ's latest arrest. I described the phone call I received from his "therapist" at the "treatment center" before the attck occurred. She explained to me that he was having clear delusional thought patterns and "just wanted me to know." I asked her then to have him assessed because this is not within normal limits for him. I told her to waste no time thinking about it. She responded to me that she didn't feel that he required assessment. I argued that delusional thought patterns clearly dictate that he is out of touch with reality..aka: psychosis...and that not having him eval'd could be a bad thing. She retorted by asking me if he is ever in touch with reality. From that moment on I saw this was becoming a power struggle, turf battle of sorts between me and the therapist. WONDERFUL! I told her, well, he has a normal thinking pattern and this is really outside of it. I told her I wanted an eval...she told me she would speak to her supervisor about.(Take note...More of the talking and less of the doing happening again.) By the time she made it to her supervisor the attack had already occurred, 45 minutes later. When she called me to report it, I most definitely gave her the I told you so speech. Which rapidly deteriorated into a harsh tongue lashing when I was told he had been arrested....4 hours after the fact.

I had an unknown ally sitting at the table tonight. Another "supportive services" chic who was a therapist and had 7 years experience in residential care and was familiar with one of CJ's placement and said that the "treatment center" has alot of issues to begin with. She told the roundtable of superiors that in her experience, she could completely understand how CJ snapped in a highly stressful environment that paid no attention to his distress. She also advocated by stating that they have worked with adults far more violent than my son, and wasn't sure what all the hoopla was about. She stated that if they refused a doc, he will certainly be a danger to the community. She acknowledged that he was doing well at home as evidenced by no agitation, no hints of psychosis, increased levels of hygiene, and his own statements of feeling safe and well. She said he must not have felt safe at all in his placement. I could have kissed her.

After a few sidebar conversations they have decided to advocate for CJ to be given a doc! They came to the decision that he is doing well at home, he is placed with people who can handle his illness, and it would be in his best interest to remain at home. One battle down, a million more to go.

Now I need to get guardianship and battle the courts. The courts want to go the road of having him declared incompetent, which could be easily done because he is. The hook though, is that if he is declared incompetent the court may remand him to a state facility like Elgin until competence can be restored. Unlikely it will ever be restored, which means he could be held for years, for life, without any further discussion. This is WAY unacceptable. I will have far more leverage to fight on his behalf with guardianship in place. If OJ could get off.....then CJ can too. I may have to shell out the five grand to get him a lawyer to do it quickly. I am so ignorant about the legal system, but again, it is not designed to handle mentally ill individuals. As much as 65% of any jailed population is mentally ill. CJ will not become another statistic. Not if I have anything to say about it. Apparently, I've got alot to say.

For today, I declare a small victory and thankful for another day of peace for my boy. I just looked at my assignment for school....kinda funny....Chapter 4, Mental Status and how to assess. Hmmm, I think I got this one.

Good night all.