Reply to Homeless tents creeping into the nice/residential part of DC

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]I met a woman in the ER who told me she was homeless and mentally ill, and has kids, but her family who lives near the hospital wont let her near her kids and they want nothing to do with her.  Wont speak to her or answer the door.   The mentally  ill/retarded have kids and the kids turn out the same.

Another ER visit at a different hospital.  I had to wait overnight for a hospital transfer to yet another hospital where I had surgery and most of the patients near me were waiting for a bed at PIW.  None were available and the doctor couldnt find one in MD or VA either, all full.  They all left and said they would try again in a day or two.  Clearly more mental hospitals are needed.

I am very ill and spend lots of time in the hospital.  I could right a book on my experiences in the ER and my hospital roomates.[/quote]

******sorry, I left out a telling detail in the first story/paragraph.

The mentally ill woman was carrying these dolls and stuffed animals.  She was rocking the large doll,  lining them up in seperate chairs and having conversations with them.  She saw me nearly in tears, begging to be seen.  She kept telling me i was going to be ok, then told me her story while consoling the dolls and stuffed animals.  
They took her back to the ER before me for who knows what, but i really was dying, needed life saving medication, and hadto be admitted.

[b]This is why DC needs more mental hospitals.[/b]
the streets are not just overwhelmed, it is also the hospitals.  The seriously ill medical patients are overlooked and put at the end of the line behind the mentally ill.[/quote]

I agree that it's mental illness, but society does not want mental hospitals. They closed them down and there was a big push to abolish them under Reagan. It is seen as inhumane to house them all in mental hospitals, but the alternative is these homeless encampments. Just sort of a mess all around and there aren't easy solutions.[/quote]

It may not be 'easy', but re-opening hospitals seems to be a solution. Just because hospitals were closed down doesn't mean our legislators can't enact new laws and re-open them. Society clearly does want mental hospitals. Every other post here is asking for them, as well as family members across America grappling with severe mental illness in their loved ones. Let the ACLU take it to the courts, and let the families desperate to help loved ones tell the other side of the story. I'm not sure there is any 3rd way for people who don't want to help themselves AND sit around in the park in misery.[/quote]

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