A couple months ago I wrote about backpacking through hostels in Australia, Hostel Life: Tips for making the most of your hostel experience... The inspiration for this article came from my own personal hellish experience in St. Kilda, Melbourne.
Mere weeks after publishing that blog entry, I heard on the radio there was an investigation the Australian media was looking into; mental patients were being sent to tourist backpacker accommodations. I had a little giggle, and forgot about it since I never heard of it again...until I came across this article today: turns out, it was confirmed!
In Canberra, ACT Australia homeless people recovering from mental illnesses are being sent to backpacker accommodations as a sort of 'remedial housing.'
The government claims they're better off in hostels, rather than in-patient hospital facilities where space is limited.
How is that possible?! Let's think security and stability...I would think that a recovering mental patient would require both, and none of these are really available in hostels. Loud noises, disruptive behavior, thieves, fighting, crowds...I'm talking about the backpackers here, not the patients!
I honestly think that hostels are like college dorms, and 20 year old backpackers on a drinking binge are a major threat to any kind of patient's recovery. And on the other hand, if I was unknowingly sharing a facility with mental patients I would have been outraged! Would this not pose a threat to us, the tourists?
My last roommate was a sleepwalker who had a tendency to leave the gas stove on all night...that was dangerous enough.
There's a larger issue at hand here, the lack of adequate housing and care for mental patients. They seem to be marginalized from society worldwide, and while hospital treatment may not be the best for long-term care, more needs to be done to create proper facilities and homes supplied with trained staff to provide care and safety. This whole mess just seems irresponsible on behalf of the Government and Australian Health Services.
Read the full article here: ABC News, Mentally ill homeless sent to backpackers.
Have you ever heard of anything like this before? Do you agree, or disagree?
Stef:
ReplyDeleteRemember, I work at a Mental Health Hospital. In the U.S. there used to be many in-patient mental hospitals. In the 60's or so, long-term inpatient lockup was deemed inhumane. O.K. Being cared for in the community-at-large would be nicer. O.K. But money was not provided for communities to do this.
Our patients seldom can go to the State Mental Hospital that remains: they have to be legally deemed totally incapable of functiong semi-independently, and there has to be a bed available. We always have to keep a patient for weeks, sometimes months, waiting for a bed to open up at "State". And the judge seems to always say it will be for a 6-month period. Then they're out again, until they get into trouble and end up at our hospital once more...
When a patient is ready for discharge, but has nowhere to go, we can send them to a homeless shelter (if they have a bed) or give them a bus ticket to wherever they hav a friend or family member to take them in. Or there are some "group homes" where these people can stay - till they get in trouble and end up at our hospital again...
And, by the way, mental illness is forever: you don't recover. You get back on your meds, which hopefully will allow you to function as best you can - for awhile, till you get in trouble and end up at the hospital again.
A youth hostel seems the worst place to send a patient like this - way too many ways to get into trouble there!
Andrea