reply to post by wayno
i dunno, that video makes me sick to my stomach.
surely there's a better solution than that.
state run mental institutions were our problem not all that long ago. it was a similar scenario. eventually they were closed down because they
couldn't be funded or ran sufficient to care for the mentally challenged. so now, the mentally ill are in prisons, or if they are severly mentally
ill and have no family or home address, sent out on the street to die from deprivation and the elements. i met a lady this happened to. this is the
event:
hubby and i were in a restaurant. family style. it was late at night and the place was pretty empty. a woman came in wearing ragged clothes. her hair
was dishevelled and she was dirty. it was winter, so she had on a few extra layers of clothes making her look like a large version of a refugee from
a third world nation. she took a seat in the next booth down from ours.
across the way from us, a man came in and sat down. he was dresesed in fine clothes and was extremely snooty and impatient. he snapped at the waitress
and was generally unpleasant.
anyway, the poor woman who had come, asked to order a meal. the waitress refused to take her order because she knew the woman was homeless. hubby
overheard this and told the waitress to go ahead and take the lady's order and put it on our bill. she asked my husband ARE YOU SURE? her eyes
were wide as if she was shocked that anyone would care about the lady or try to prolong her life with food. he looked up at her said, "yes i'm
sure!" she said okay and scurried off with the orders.
meanwhile, the grumpy guy in the booth across from us, started to curse under his breath that he had to be in the same restaurant with the homeless
woman who was clearly mentally ill and talking quite loudly and incomprehensibly. after listening to this for 5 minutes or so, hubby, not lookign at
the man, said very loudly, ALL I KNOW IS SOMEBODY BETTER SHUT UP BEFORE I GET FROM HERE AND LET HIM SEE WHAT ANGER IS ALL ABOUT! (i was so proud of
him. he was like my hero!)
anyway the food came for the lady, as did ours. and the man across the way ate quickly (and silently) then left. now we engaged the homeless lady as
best we could. we asked her if she had a place to go. she did not. she didn't know her name, and seemed generally confused. the police came in and
took a booth in the back of the restaurant so we went over and asked if they knew her. they did. they explained that on many colder nights, she had
been taken to the jail house and allowed to sleep in of the cells so she wouldn't catch her death in the cold temperatures.
we asked if they could take her there again since she had no where else to go and we didn't have any room at our own house that would've been
suitably for a person with mental problems. they said they would and then we asked if there was anything we could do arrange her a living situation
and medical help. they said it wasn't possible because she had no home adderss. still, when we left, i went and called several local hospitals to see
if we couldn't arrange something for her. they all said without a home address they would have nowhere to send the bill, even if she couldn't pay
it, and that was their one rule... the person needed a home address.
we never saw her again but learned from a police officer that she had been found dead, frostbitten and apparently with severe pneumonia. i will never
forget that. the police said that the jails and prisons had become the new mental institutions and that unless the lady committed a crime, they
couldn't put her there. the best they could do was jail her for vagrancy.
