AJC :: Georgia Governor's mental health commission copied other state's materials..

Alan Judd and Andy Miller's recanting of Georgia's ever evolving mental health care system story through their A Hidden Shame series just keeps getting better and better.......

Not.

Thanks to the editors who (once again) saw the Value to including the following in the weekday AJC emailing, the latest I've seen is today's entry about how the Georgia Governor's commission has now no less than plagiarized a few years old likeminded report from Michigan rather than dedicate more towards creating our own:

• (Georgia) State's mental health report was mostly plagiarized: Gov.'s commission copied others' material
  
  Alan Judd, Andy Miller; The Atlanta Journal-Constitution; Published on: 06/11/08

A new vision outlined for mental health care in Georgia last week isn't so new after all.

Large sections of a report by Gov. Sonny Perdue's mental health commission were lifted, often verbatim, from a Michigan study published in 2004 and from two other sources, a review by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution found. The commission's report, released last week by the governor's office, credits none of the cloned material.

The report presents as its own work entire sentences, paragraphs and longer passages from other sources, with no more than superficial editing. It duplicates, with only two minor changes in wording, the values listed in the Michigan study. Seven of Georgia's eight key findings mirror Michigan's. Even Georgia's vision statement is appropriated from the Michigan report.

Sigh.......

Because of how ceaselessly exhausted I remain and how hard I know it is to keep going most days, a part of me is empathetic to what occurs in situations like this.. What I'm meaning is empathetic towards that days are only 24-hours long and Lives are crammed full to the hilt already trying just to possibly stay somewhere above the water line in this, our one and only shot at that thing called Life..

And like that which goes back to 2002 when the in-my-physical-presence handpicked advocate chosen for me by heads of the Highland River's Community Service Board THEMSELVES the day they publicly announced their slate was clean dropped off the face of the Earth on me regularly in an extremely desperate, by a spider's silk threadbare time of need for any kind of external advocacy assistance.. Every day that blip in time comes to Mind, I try to forgive by picturing she may walk in Shoes not so unlike my own..

Yup.. Some large part of me does "get" it in some part, much as it can be and remains Life-endangering to those who faithfully do as Society expects, too often dictates, and trustingly walk in those same very doors..

What me doesn't get is that those who could become even more empowered by involvement on any level sit day after day after day waiting to hear what tidbits they can from sources such as Alan and Andy.. Most aren't at that point where these fingertips are.. Those in particular could use the self-determination guaranteed by a phone call inviting their opinion on what occurred in each, their own separate case of mismanaged mental health care across the great state of Georgia..

Ego comes to Mind.. When Lives are endangered, there is no place on this Planet for Ego..

There's a reason I openly worship my relationship with the advocates and self-advocates that revolve around the awe-inspiring energies generating from disABILITY LINK, the center for independent living (CIL) down there on Commerce Drive in Decatur.. If they've got Ego, by gosh and golly, they've harnessed it to the hilt to drive positive actions of support and empowerment in all directions towards others, positive forward moving actions of advocacy that are literally saving Lives..

They nearly alone and without twice of thought saved mine..

My Heroes.

Cyber hugs from Talking Rock..

Feds Say Georgia State Mental Hospital's Problems Caused Preventable Deaths

Had been up since about 3:30am this morning just smoking along checking out the latest leads coming into my inbox along with siphoning out pertinent advocacy/self-advocacy related posts when I slammed wide open into the eternal brick wall that is Georgia's intolerable mental health care crisis:

• State mental hospital's problems caused preventable deaths, feds say: Justice Department says conditions at Atlanta facility violate patients' constitutional rights
  Alan Judd, Andy Miller; The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
  Published on: 2008-06-04

It's already over at Digg.com if you're interested in helping bump it.. Because of the article's nature, it isn't the kind of story people might otherwise promote on average:

• Digg.com: Feds: GA State mental hospital caused preventable deaths..

Because I'm going to post an open letter in a few seconds, the following are just a sampling of what was reported.......

In a blistering 65-page letter to Gov. Sonny Perdue, the U.S. Justice Department detailed "critically deficient" conditions at Georgia Regional Hospital/Atlanta. Investigators have inspected two other state hospitals, finding comparable problems, and plan to visit another next week.

Continually failing to address hospital fatalities and violence, the letter said, caused similar deaths to multiply and left patients vulnerable to sexual assaults and other attacks.

Citation #2.....

Federal investigators, the letter said, found that medical and nursing care substantially depart from generally accepted professional standards. They also determined that the hospital provides inadequate psychiatric treatment; uses seclusion and restraint, including sedatives, inappropriately; and fails to adequately protect its patients from harm.

Citation #3.....

We were already working on many of these [problems], Gwen Skinner, head of the state's mental health division, said Wednesday. Georgia Regional has increased its nursing staff, as well as the number of hours of patient treatment, she said. A commission appointed by Perdue to study the state's mental health system issued a report Wednesday documenting problems in hospital care, community psychiatric services and state funding.

And lastly.....

By tolerating a chronic shortage of nurses, the letter said, Georgia Regional routinely compromises patient care. The adolescent unit is highly dangerous, the letter said, quoting one staff member as saying patients would be safer outside the hospital and another who described continuing clinical chaos.

Like I said, just a couple of snippets, but they are snapshots of what has been repeated in some likeness and kind that as yet go unheeded over the last few years..

Having done as much of their own part as humanly possible over the last few years, these Fingertips simply do not understand what else, how many more destroyed Lives it's going to take before Change breaks upon the Horizon.......

United In Advocacy..

Princess Diana :: Dear Britney.. No, Make That: Dear Paparazzi.. :raises left eyebrow:

A few months back, when I did not have keyboard under hand, I shockingly witnessed your unbelievable harassment, nay, endless emotional abuse of Britney Spears as she experienced her mental health crisis so publicly before us..

Walking in the very Shoes I do, the emotions your reprehensible treatment of Britney evoked were so intense as to become a harsh trigger that set off, at the very least, an overwhelming empathetic wave reminiscent of [panic disorder].. I could naught but turn off the television and wait for said wave to pass..

Some of the more arrogant among you said we didn't have to look, just turn off the tv set.. That was "cute".. Not.

Didn't matter if we turned off the box or not, as every [bleeped] time one turned around, your own captured images of your own perversed exploitation of a young woman with mental illness purely to line your pockets were everywhere.. Supermarkets.. Drug stores.. Our radios..

From the very first moment of witnessing via cable satellite what you all were doing, so unreal as to seem surely a LifeTimeTV movie, shades of the circumstances surrounding the untimely death of our precious Princess Diana and her boyfriend Dodi Fayed repeatedly came to Mind.. With the breaking news just now that a jury has ruled Di and Dodi were unlawfully killed through the reckless actions of their driver and the paparazzi, apparently I have been in good company..

So I now say to you, dear Paparazzi, please, you need to step.. back..

You need to take a good.. long..... look at yourselves and your motivations along with the consequences of your actions with respect to the Lives of those you stalk..

When what you do involves a person with mental illness, as is so publicly well acknowledged in Britney's particular case, you yourselves are the ones with your forefinger on the trigger.. From this moment forth, you will, each and every one, be held personally, legally accountable for those you harm..

The abuse of even one individual, regardless of whom, will.. not.. be tolerated.. Through such ready access to the advocacy tools the Internet increasingly provides, the next wave of protecting Human Rights, Civil Rights, and Disability Rights along with the sweeping wave of Grinch-squooshing Open Compassion is upon us..

Period.

End of discussion.

Cyber hugs from Talking Rock with a special one going out to {{{Britney}}}..

Rome, Georgia :: Owner of 2 Nursing Homes suing DHR and CMS over funding loss..

Just found the following story in my ever burgeoning inbox.. In circumstances such as this story involves, resources that immediately come to mind to contact include:

• State disability advocacy office
• Long term care ombudsman (National Long Term Care Ombudsman Resource Center)
• Local center for independent living (CIL)
• News media (e.g. Congress.org Media Guide) -- Don't forget to get your story out there widespread so disability advocates can see it..

In addition to the above, don't forget about your local disability self-advocacy organizations, too.. Coming immediately to mind are:

• American Disabled for Attendant Programs Today (ADAPT)
• People First

Checking out the ADAPT website and/or contacting them directly should provide leads to local ADAPT chapters.. Calling your local CIL or trying some creative keyword combination searches will point you in the direction of your area's nearest People First chapter..

Article :: Owner of two nursing homes filed a federal lawsuit..
By Mike Gellatly, Rome News-Tribune Staff Writer, 2007-07-07
Rome News-Tribune..

Synopsis :: George Houser of Forum Healthcare, owner of two Rome, Georgia, nursing home facilities (Mount Berry and Moran Lake) filed a federal lawsuit against Georgia Department of Human Resources (DHR), Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), and others.. Federal funding supporting skilled nursing services stands to be pulled from these two long term care centers on July 15, 2007.. Based on the article, ceasure of funding appears to be related to (previous) quality of care.. Funding currently being provided is earmarked for the discharge and transfer of affected residents..

"A Hidden Shame": AJC Investigation into Georgia Mental Health Care Hospitals..

***HIGH Trigger warning on this lead for consumer or psychiatric survivors***

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PLEASE NOTE: The reporters and those who assist them are putting together a very extensive investigation into Georgia's mental health care hospitals.. In several places, they give readers the opportunity to provide feedback, either through online comment forms or a phone number for one on one contact..

Overwhelming amount of information regarding the Atlanta Journal-Constitution's newest investigation(s) into what they state as "at least 115 patients from Georgia's state psychiatric hospitals who have died under suspicious circumstances during the past five years".. The reporters have presented so much information, it would be taking a huge chance on copyright infringement with respect to reposting from this keyboard..

Theoretically, this series of articles all starts here:

A HIDDEN SHAME: About this series
www.ajc.com/news/content/health/stories/2007/01/04/0107meshabout.html.

Links to the related articles so far are provided on the left of the screen.. You'll most likely need an AJC free, somewhat lengthy online subscription to view while the information is up there..

For my friends who wish to have alternative formats available, you will need to inquire of AJC directly.. The reporters offer the following phone number for those wishing to contact them regarding this series of articles in particular:

404-526-2640

Crossposted at: Georgia Disability Advocates' Calendar.