Highlands Behavioral Health

Reviews 3

AM

Amy Grenfell

If you love someone and they are depressed or suicidal do NOT send them here. I was released on Friday after a voluntary 72 hour hold. It made me so much worse, that place is horrific. Let me share some insight as a patient here: I went in under the guise of getting a safety plan, not to be committed. First, I was left alone in intake for over an hour, next to me was a man who was beating his head, chair, fists against the wall. No one checked on me to see if it was a trigger, I was rocking and shaking and vomiting alone in a locked room the size of a closet. Next, you are stripped down (literally), made to repeat your story 10 times because they dont have a computer system, its all written down. After you are stripped of your clothes, your rights, and your decency, they dump you alone in a ward without an introduction or what the rules are. You are not allowed to leave the ward, even to go down to eat, till youve seen the doctor, which took me 32 hours to see, i wasnt checked on to see if I was eating my food, I was so emotional after being dumped into a physic ward to eat my dinner, I wasnt asked if I had eaten that day, and by morning I had gone without food for 24 hours and I had a hypoglycemic attack, which the illness is listed, and no one still ran to help me even though I said I was going to faint. You cant close a door to save your life, you dont get exercise and you are treated as an annoyance every time you have to ask for something like towels, socks, pants or food, because its all locked up and you cant get it, and they are too busy doing their "work" to help you. Took us a whole day to get soap in a room, where our only bathroom we are allowed to use is, and we arent allowed to go into another persons room. I had a 9 out of 10 (pain level) migraine (chronic migraines is also listed in my chart) and I was left to suffer for 7 hours, vomiting and sobbing while they shine a light in my eyes every 15 minutes, for SEVEN hours before they called an ambulance to treat me. The "Doctor" would only recommend me Tylenol and anti nausea meds to fight a migraine. One day we were only allowed "fresh air time" before smoke breaks after meals (3 total) for less than 7 minutes a time, that was all the sunshine and fresh air we were allowed that day. You are not allowed to share personal information to other patients but the groups dont talk why you are there, they are just interrupted by those that cant sit still. The only time I got with the psychiatrist was for a total of 15 minutes over the span of three days, and the social working for 10 minutes one day, but I cant talk about it to anyone else? The only sunlight in this dark place are the other patients, they understand you and make you feel better, NOTHING ANYONE ELSE CAN DO THERE. I was told the system failed me. I told them I felt I was in prison. That this place was and is a trigger. I was not put on medication and the first thing out of a doctors mouth is "the average stay is 5-7 days" but I was there only on a 72 hour hold, which we were told if we try to leave after that voluntary hold we can be placed on involuntary and all our rights stripped. This place not only made my anxiety flare, my depression to sink lower it killed a part of me Ill never get back. We are treated less than human. We are in prison for seeking help. Dont send someone you love there unless you want to lose more parts that make them whole.

A

A Private User

Seemed a good option ~ Porter Hospital didnt have a bed, and transferred patient to Highlands. Clean facility, friendly staff. Poorly managed though. Communications pretty poor. Despite the fact that a Medical Informaion Release was in place, not one converstaion with treating doctor the entire one and a half weeks my son was there, Even more troubling: No perceived need or willingness to confer with my sons primary care physician, who has successfully treated him for schizophrenic disorder for the past 8 years. When asked why no exchange of information and medical history, we were told "Psychiatry doesnt work that way anymore." So apparently the treating physician was all-knowing. "We don need no stinking medical history!" My son was released after 10 days (this is a short-term care facility), despite our protests and repeated attempt to let someone know he was nowhere near "okay." He pretty much immediately skated off the edge of the abyss, totally flipped out, a danger to himself and others, and we returned him to Highlands 4 dyas later. Why? Dont know, Didnt know what else to do. It took another two weeks to get a 10-minute conversation with his new doctor. Took another week after that to convince them to contact his Primary Care physician. I had asked almost daily why no consultaion with his regular doc who knew his history. No response. Why didnt SOMEONE simply tell me all that was necessary was to have a permission document faxed over for my son to sign? ISNT IT A GOOD IDEA FOR A MENTAL HEALTH DOCTOR TO KNOW HIS PATIENTS HISTORY BEFORE PLUNGING AHEAD? There was a "Counselor", in charge of communications between doctors, patients and family members. Instead of being that person who might ease stress and confusion by being a conduit for clear and useful information, she seemed more intent on simply putting a bright face on, and smoothing over our concerns...while providing little in terms of concrete information and communication. A week ago my son was punished for having medications in his room. "Howd he get them?" I asked. "We dont know, maybe he just hid them in his hand and didnt swallow them," they answered. "It is essential that patients on antipsychotic drugs, and all the medications that go with them, take them in the right amounts at the right times, in the right way!" I said. Their response was, "Well, some of the patients are pretty sneaky." Before that he was able to fashion a weapon of sorts by grinding down the handle of a hairbrush and sharpening the end of it. WHOS WATCHING THE STORE HERE? WHERES THE SAFETY ELEMENT? When asked, the common response has been a brush-off, and a "Were very busy here, we dont have time to talk with you..." Ive since learned from someone in the Denver mental health system for the past 20 years that this is the one of the newest facilities of its kind in the Denver area. "Gather from that what you will...." she suggested. THESE FOLKS HAVE A LOT TO LEARN. All the mental health professionals Ive since talked with (and there have been many) have been appalled at Highlands mishandling of crucial basic processes and oversights. I should say that lower-level staff here are amazing, commited and dedicated. If only the crucial doctors, counselors and higher-ups could claim the same....

LI

Libby-Jayne Jensen

A few of the staff members were kind and caring people, but a majority of them were just cold, insensitive, and even egotistical. A lot of them treated their patients as if they were inferior. None of them offered me any emotional support, and it was so blatantly obvious they did not genuinely care about their patients. They also handled many situations rather inappropriately. I was put on what was called SP3 treatment, which restricted a lot of my freedom and required me to always be within arms-length of a staff member. These staff members assigned to follow me around did not so much as introduce themselves to me, or give any indication whatsoever that they were trying to keep me safe. They would just follow me around like mindless zombies and treat me like some sort of stray dog they were forced to watch. In addition to this, I had to have some strange man who didnt so much as tell me his name watch me sleep all night, all whilst they had completely drugged me up. Is that not an extremely inappropriate and triggering situation? I came out of this facility 10x more emotionally unstable than I was when I went in. The staff is incompetent. When I was released, I proceeded to look through my case file. Despite the fact that I underwent no thorough, in-depth psychological evaluation whatsoever, someone decided to diagnose me with borderline personality disorder and leave multiple papers in my case file stating this. At no point during my stay at highlands was I evaluated by anyone thoroughly enough that they could have possibly come to this conclusion. Not to mention how ridiculous and illogical it is to diagnose a patient with a personality disorder and neglect to even discuss it with them! I honestly dont understand how in gods name these people take themselves seriously. I cant even express how much built up anger I have against the highlands staff. If you know whats good for you, seek treatment else where. Highlands is a joke.