The Lubbock Miscarriage of Health Care
The United States of America continues to struggle with the provision of adequate care of people with mental health disabilities, once again demonstrated through an article in recent news. Decade after decade in this nation, people with mental health disabilities have been placed into mental health institutions, only to find themselves faced with deplorable conditions. Staff members working in these institutions find themselves underpaid, unappreciated, and with cohorts who are many times abusive; not only to their fellow staff members, but to the very people they are there to provide care for.
In one of the most recent examples of why America needs to close every single mental health institution in this nation, an article by Gary Scharrer of the Chron, Houston & Texas News presents the Lubbock State Supported Living Center. The name of this institution is highly misleading, to say the very least. The, 'Lubbock State Supported Living Center,' experiences a sixty-percent turnover rate, according to Gary's article, one that leaves the institution with new and inexperienced staff members, a shortage of nurses, as well as signifcant medication errors - resulting in a high morbidity rate among people with disabilities I am tempted to label as, 'inmates.'
While the Lubbock State Supported Living Center currently has one-hundred and five budgeted positions, it also currently has fifty(!) vacancies in its nursing department, according to Gary. In other words, this institution is attempting to run itself with a mere half of its staff when staffing by aquity is ever an issue in any medical facility. One of the reasons why this institution has such a low staff population is its exceptionally low pay rate. The average direct-care worker at the Lubbock State Supported Living Center makes $22,440 per year, or $11.68 per hour to work providing care for people with mental health disabilities.
Gary, in his article, says officials in the state of Texas have expressed a level of confidence regarding their abilities to address the, "extremely serious staffing concerns," among the health care workers at the institution. When states have the mental health institutions and the ongoing issues associated with them brought to the attention of officials, they adore the review process, it makes them appear to be participatory. The officials in the state of Texas are doing no less presenting, 'monitors,' who will review the state's facilities. They will, 'report,' their findings. The officials in Texas are doing so with the intentions of providing a baseline for on-site reviews every six months. Whether or not anything will ever be accomplished is another matter entirely.
Gary's article quotes Chris Traylor, the Commissoner of the Department of Aging and Disability Services, who states: "It does instill in us a sense of urgency. We are focused on long-term improvements that last long after the settlement agreement is completed." Which is precisely why this situation exists in the first place I would imagine. The state of Texas, in the meantime, does not expect to complete the terms of this settlement until the year 2013, leaving the people with disabilities in this institution living in deplorable conditions.
The desire to express a wholesale sense of disapproval towards the health care workers who show up every day at Lubbock State Supported Living Center must be stifled. In many institutions such as this one, there are highly-dedicated health care workers. Unfortunately, there are also people drawn to work at these places who have lost all sense of humanity. Thirteen workers have been fired from the Lubbock facility since last year for neglect, abuse, and exploitation of people with disabilities in the institution.
It is also important to note that Lubbock's institution is not the only one in Texas being focused on. There are four-thousand three-hundred people with mental health disabilities living in institutions in the state of Texas alone. The state of Texas is monitoring these institutions in areas that include medical, nursing, psychological, and dental care, among other things. From my perspective, 'monitoring,' is not equivalent to the provision of health care.
The idea of creating institutions for people with disabilities in general is one which emerged from the Victorian era. Isn't it time for provision of health care services in relation to people with any form of disability to advance with the rest of American society? The era of institutions is something that needs to end in relation to people with disabilities. It is antiquated, it presents people with disabilities with horrific conditions, and it presents the people who are supposed to be providing care for us with conditions that are equally completely unacceptable. Institutionalization of people with disabilities in America must end, and it must end at once.