Madame Thursday

Jul. 6, 2012 at 7:29am with 79 notes

Reblogged from shwetanarayan

Please Help

custerdiedforyoursins:

Does anyone know of any resources or places that will help schizophrenic or bipolar people either for free or on a sliding scale? In NC?

My boyfriend’s friend’s wife is in the hospital right now. She was arrested for sleeping in her car and then was taken to the hospital because she hasn’t been eating or drinking anything for the past few days, and it’s been really hot here. She’s diagnosed bipolar, but has suspected she’s schizophrenic for a while now. Neither of them have insurance because every time her husband has tried to add her onto his work-provided insurance, she’s been denied for a pre-existing condition and they can’t afford other options.

I’m not at all familiar with any of this and this friend has been under a lot of stress and doesn’t know where to look for resources either. His wife hasn’t been being treated well by the hospital, every time something happens (like when she pulls out her IV because she thinks she’s being poisoned or when she can’t remember what’s going on) the hospital staff tells her husband she’s just acting out, like she’s a child or something.

If anyone knows of any resources for treatment, counseling, ANYTHING, please let me know.

signal boost

Have they tried the Psychiatric ER/Behavior Health Center in Charlotte? I don’t know where they are in North Carolina, so it may be quite a hike for them. I recommend this because I’ve been admitted there and my experience wasn’t bad (though I was suicidal/self-harming rather than dealing with other things), and it’s open 24-hours.

CMC is pretty good about dealing with uninsured patients from what I understand, but I had insurance at the time so it was a whole other game for me.

I would also say as last resort for them to find any kind of free clinic and just ask someone there if they had recommendation or ideas. For instance, I know that while I was uninsured, Planned Parenthood had an “entitlement” officer who was able to direct me to other free/sliding scale clinics for health needs that I had which they couldn’t take care of there.

This may vary by where they go and who they deal with, obviously.

Also, does this hospital have a patient advocate or patient advocate services because if so, he needs to get their attention and press them for ANY and ALL information, advice, etc. that he can. If his wife is being ignored as “childish” when she is dealing with untreated psychiatric conditions, that’s malpractice.

Again, I don’t know where your friend is in NC, or what he’s tried or what not, but this is my two cents and I hope it’s useful for you!