Observations from the BHU

If you know me you know that I watch and observe people places things, well just about everything.  

So here are some observations  about the Behavior health unit:

Their motto is Healing Starts Here.  

There are 20 beds on the unit and it was full most of the time. As soon as someone was discharged the room was cleaned and someone was brought but to fill the vacant place.  

The unit is in the shape of a large U with the bottom and left sides filled with patient rooms. The other side is where the day area nurses station and meeting rooms are. The day area is where pretty much everything happens; eating, group time, spending most waking hours and exercise.  There are two recumbent bikes that only get used by a few people.

  There are a few reasons to be placed in the BHU, chemical dependency, suicidal thoughts or actions, severe confusion, and other risky behavior  (like sleeping in your car when it's 0 degrees out).  Most of the people where there on some sort of chemical dependency and other risky behavior.  A few of us were there because of suicidal thoughts or behaviors and the rest were really confused.  For all of us it was a stopping place without much to do but think or try to avoid thinking.  Most people spent all day sleeping or watching TV every moment there wasn't a group session going on.   I personally don't get watching TV as I don't watch much TV at home and couldn't watch what they were watching because it's too scary, and the shows often hit too close to home.

It's a sad place, people coming off drugs, visibly shaking as they go through withdrawals, others only able to remember their name first and last if you're lucky.  Others were there wishing they were no longer alive, that's the category where I fell. It's a place where hope is needed, and people are searching.  You don't end up there if you're doing well, you end up there when you're overwhelmed and you've lost your way.   So many people never had anyone visit, they stared at the TV day after day hour after hour not finding anything just existing.  I spent my first day mostly sleeping and others spent a lot of time sleeping too, they'd only appear for meals then vanish again.  

The people come from all walks of life though there tend do be several commonalities.  Most had been brought in by the cops on drug charges and this was the place they went before they went to jail. Some didn't have a place to sleep as all the homeless shelters are full and the cops found them and brought them to the hospital. Something I kept hearing over and over is that they'd isolated themselves from almost everyone. In fact there are a couple of social workers that try to aid patients for when they are discharged. They help people find a place to stay, set up counseling appointments or psychiatry appointments, and try to connected them back to friends or family.  

The doctors come around first thing in the morning. I was barley awake and he was asking how i'm feeling, how I slept, what side effects I'm feeling and I am doing my best to respond semi coherently.  I ask a couple of questions and he's off to the next room.  The nurses are in charge of 6 or 7 patients each. They are the ones that give out medicine and get in contact with the doctor if something needs to be changed and since they are around for hours they make observations that can determine whether or not you get to go home.  The techs are the people that hang out most with the patients.  Most of them are fun and have a great sense of humor, I guess you'd have to working around people like me everyday.  There were several staff there still from the last time I was hospitalized back in 2010 and they were exactly like I remembered them.  One in particular I didn't believe could really be that happy/crazy all the time was still there and was exactly the same.  I thought maybe she just hasn't been on this floor that long but I guess if  ten years hasn't changed anything then she must really have that personality. She and another tech on the floor are awesome, they are the go to people if you need anything, and they work so well together it was inspiring to watch. They are both so giving trying to make each others day better by taking 'the worst job' so the other didn't have to then trading off.  You can't help but smile around them.