The State Hospital - Mental Illness or Darkened Spirit? (837 hits)
Norristown State Hospital for the criminally insane, that was their name back when I worked there but human rights activists stepped in and gave it a new name. So let me gather for you the images of this trip. I won't bore you with the details of my training days beforehand .
Day 1 on the unit: The tour. I really didn't know what to expect after working in prison and watching too many asylum movies. One thing for certain though I was expecting wild adventures. I was anticipating white coats on certain people who would rush to the aide to administer potent drugs. During my 1st day tour I found out I was that aide.
I was anticipating a large day room with large amounts of patients committed to madness.
That wasn't at all what I saw. I arrived at 2:45 p.m. a bit earlier than my assigned shift. I followed my seasoned coworker around as she conducted the tour. We walked into the sleeping quarters which were twin beds adjacent to each other. One big dorm room with tons of beds and dressers next to each. I was not expecting that, I had already assumed everyone had a padlocked room. We then walked from there to the day room. The dayroom was medium sized and only consisted of one T.V. Near the ending of the room was a door to lead outside into a grass manicured area with two benches. This area was designated for their smoke breaks or just for a casual breather outside. It was an enclosed environment that provided the ability to experience the free world . Next came the nursing station which stood in the middle when you 1st entered onto the unit. It also was an enclosed area with a psychiatrist and a nurse inside. We then had our tour inside that room. I was then showed the log books. These log books would give me all background information, progress notes and psychiatrist notes. Although I felt curious to know, I decided I would rather learn by observing for myself. The male nurse and I began to engage in conversation as he updated me on the unit. Memory fades me on the entirety of that conversation but he left me with one sentence to recollect today. That sentence was: They are incapable of knowing what they are doing, this is not like the prison.
Stay tuned on further info of the patients, but the learning lesson for that day was Never judge or assume anything. My lesson for that day had me look outside of the box of information I gathered from movies or prison experiences.
