Wednesday, January 2, 2013

Mental Health Facilities Post Hurricane Sandy

New York City's Mental Health Resources

Among all of the facilities that were taxed by the landfall of Hurricane Sandy, New York City’s mental health resources are possibly the most dangerously overburdened. Many of the hospitals dedicated to the care of individuals with severe mental disorders were either destroyed or rendered uninhabitable by the storm, and officials are struggling to house and treat the many thousands of people suffering from mental conditions that render them unable to care for themselves.

The recent subway assaults highlighted the need for (and absence of) adequate mental health resources. In the past month, two people were killed after being shoved in front of oncoming trains by people with histories of severe mental health issues. In early December, 2012, Naeem Davis, a homeless man, stated that the voices in his head encouraged him to push the victim, Ki-Suck Han, in front of a moving train. Only a few weeks later, another man was fatally pushed in front of a moving train by a Erika Menendez, a woman who was reported to have been in and out of mental health institutions for the past nine years, and had a series of criminal charges against her for assault.

Many Outpatient Facilities Forced to Close Once Storm Hit

Before the hurricane, mental health facilities were straining to provide sufficient services for the thousands of people suffering from mental illnesses that prevent them from leading healthy, independent lives. However, after the storm hit, many outpatient facilities had to be closed, and the patients inhabiting them were relocated to different shelters throughout the city, many of them ill equipped to handle the wide variety of psychoses. The stress of the hurricane also caused patients to relapse into their paranoid delusions, and distributing the proper medications became difficult.

Psychiatrists are seeing dangerously ill patients being released only hours after admittance. There were plans underway to expand provisions for the mentally ill before the hurricane, but those plans are now woefully insufficient to meet the demand. The confusion after the storm has caused many of the patients housed by closed psychiatric hospitals to scatter, with their caseworkers and families struggling to locate them. While many of the patients were relocated to other facilities and shelters, those shelters are not equipped to accommodate the severely mentally ill, and some patients were later found living in deplorable conditions.

The safety and well being of entire communities are in jeopardy by the failure to provide appropriate care for the mentally disturbed. The two subway deaths are horrible examples of what can befall a society without the appropriate resources to care for the ill. Hopefully, health officials will recognize the desperate need for sufficient care, and allocate funds for that purpose.

16 comments:

  1. Thanks for sharing! mental health can affect many areas of our life. Mental health is just as important to our lives as our physical health.
    Mental health involves finding a balance in all these parts of your life. Feelings of stress, worry, or sadness are natural but these emotions can harm our mental health as and psychical health.
    =================================
    psychologists nyc

    ReplyDelete
  2. Now more than ever, patients in need of psychiatric care are given a fair chance. As modern medicine evolves and as more people are educated about mental disorders and addictions, the stigmas attached to psychiatry are starting to dissipate and the quality of treatments available are improving.
    psychiatry Salem MA

    ReplyDelete
  3. This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Immediate uses of these injectors include "shots" to deliver local anesthesia before a painful procedure. A variation of

    this method currently in development is a device that uses an electric charge to push a drug painlessly through the skin

    and into the bloodstream.
    Eric Bradshaw

    ReplyDelete
  5. I would love to stop by. But, I think it might have to wait until this summer. I did not know that Serlkay had ever expanded its size. I must say that a succesful family owned business in this day and age is a very refreshing sight! As well as this is a very refreshing site! Skinny Fiber

    ReplyDelete
  6. wow this good but ,I like your post and good pics may be any peoples not like because defrent mind all poeple , garcinia cambogia

    ReplyDelete
  7. It has probably been years since you felt this way, but this is reality with Testosterone Therapy and HGH Therapy for Men and Bio-identical Hormone Replacement Therapy and HGH Therapy for women. hormone replacement therapy

    ReplyDelete
  8. I thought it was going to be some boring old post, but it really compensated for my time. I will post a link to this page on my blog. I am sure my visitors will find that very useful. bmi beregner

    ReplyDelete
  9. Should there be another persuasive post you can share next time, I’ll be surely waiting for it. http://www.superiorhairremoval.com

    ReplyDelete
  10. I must say, I thought this was a pretty interesting read when it comes to this topic. Liked the material. . . . . resveratrol reviews

    ReplyDelete
  11. Hey, great blog, but I don’t understand how to add your site in my rss reader. Can you Help me please? hemorroides

    ReplyDelete
  12. any of the hospitals dedicated to the care of individuals with severe mental disorders were either destroyed or rendered uninhabitable by the storm, and officials are struggling to house and treat the many thousands of people suffering from mental conditions that render them unable to care for themselves. levaquin dosing

    ReplyDelete
  13. Hey, great blog, but I don’t understand how to add your site in my rss reader. Can you Help me please? low fodmaps

    ReplyDelete
  14. Keep it up!! You have done the nice job having provided the latest information. Mike

    ReplyDelete
  15. I would like to thank you for the efforts you have made in writing this article. I am hoping the same best work from you in the future as well. In fact your creative writing abilities has inspired me to start my own BlogEngine blog now. Really the blogging is spreading its wings rapidly. Your write up is a fine example of it. website

    ReplyDelete
  16. My friend mentioned to me your blog, so I thought I’d read it for myself. Very interesting insights, will be back for more! click here

    ReplyDelete