Jai - K & L Unit Nurse Manager

The thing about the Nurse Manager job is, you know everything that's happening on the unit. That's what the job really is, the Nurse Manager has to know everything that's happening on the unit. Everybody goes to the Nurse Manager with problems, complaints, requests, whatever. Staff and patients. She's the most important overseer. the one whose job corresponds most closely with that of plantation overseer.

K & L Unit has about 60 or 70 staff. Jai, the Nurse Manager, talks to all of them more than anyone else does. There are about 50 "patients" on K & L, who are the objects of all staff attention. If not for these 50 "patients" the 60 or 70 staff would not have jobs on this plantation. Most of the routine daily communication among the 60 or 70 K & L Unit staff is about one or another of the 50 "patients". In theory, the overseers watch the slaves very closely and know them very well.

Likewise, the "patients" know the staff really well. At least one witness in deposition stated that the patients really don't have anything else to do, it's their job to know everything they can know about the staff. It actually does become the job of patients for their own purposes, even though they are supposed to have a job called "recovery". The fact that a senior level staff actually said, under oath, that the real job of patients is learning everything they can about staff, is telling in a dark way. It reminds of me of the principle that the first and highest duty of any prisoner of war is to escape!

But I digress... I didn't actually think about that statement (that the real job of patients is to know everything about staff) until I started writing this article, which is supposed to be about Jai, the K & L Unit Nurse Manager....

Maybe I'm misinformed in some respect, but from what I have learned about how regular business on a clinical unit at EMHC is done, it's NOT possible that Jai didn't know about the obvious "boyfriend and girlfriend" relationship between Gabby Garcia and the "patient" Latwon, long before I actually saw it. Gabby and Latwon were sitting in the day room on K, holding hands and playing footsies, for godssakes! Gabby had been going in and out of Latwon's room (and I don't mean just standing at the door for a moment to deliver a message) for quite a while, and all the same telltale behavior had been known by people on L, when the two lovebirds had been over there before being transferred to K.

(The transfer of a patient from L to K Unit to cover up staff-patient romances has such a historical pedigree! But again, I digress... more on that another day.)

Who would be so gullible as to believe that not a single one of 60 or 70 K & L staff and 50 K & L "patients" ever made any comment, or winked in suspicion, to the one person whose job it is to know everything that's going on? 

I think Nurse Manager Jai knew about allegations (as carefully defined in the OIG Rule 50 educational materials), about Gabby and Latwon. I think she failed or neglected to report within four hours, as required. 

That's a violation of the law. And of course, it's something that the Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation may choose to investigate. Jai is a licensed nurse. At least, for now she is.

Yo! K Unit social workers…

The following five people, as best I know, are the professionally licensed social workers on K & L Unit at Elgin Mental Health Center:

Dan, Jessica, Matthew, Jennifer, Lindsay.

"Professionally licensed" means, specifically, subject to the authority of the Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation (IDFPR) under many laws which have the intention, basically, of protecting the public. When a licensed social worker breaks the law, especially if he/she breaks the law that directly applies to their job as a social worker, and if the IDFPR hears about that (which can easily happen since people can file complaints on line), they tend to ask questions.

For example, if Dan, Jessica, Matthew, Jennifer or Lindsay were to just suspect, or just hear rumors, about Gabby Garcia and a patient named Latwon being "boyfriend and girlfriend," and if they did not call OIG to report that within four hours after hearing the rumor, they would actually be breaking the law. OIG Rule 50 says you have to report mere rumors, even if you know they couldn't possibly be true.

There are other licensed professionals on K Unit who are in the same situation. Today is just social workers' day.

OMG! I just realized, anyone who reads this article has gotten this rumor, about Gabby Garcia and Latwon.... I'm sure you'll be calling OIG before someone reports you to IDFPR for not following the law.

Why it doesn’t work.

In the final analysis, all the laws, rules, policy, etc., designed to prevent sexual abuse of patients by staff at state-operated mental health facilities doesn’t work because people don’t care. Ordinary employees in the Illinois Department of Human Services are not willing to do anything themselves to stop sexual abuse. 

They are trained repeatedly and regularly that they must report any suspicion of abuse to OIG. But they are very happy to presume that somebody else must have already reported the same suspicion they might have (it’s an old rumor, everybody’s heard it), so they don’t really have to report it themselves. And after all, OIG has too many cases already, there’s no way they can keep up, so why add to that mess?

Plus, nuthouse staff have little appreciation for the fact that the power differential which they wield over every involuntary psychiatric patient makes any sexual or romantic relationship manipulative or abusive. Thomas Jefferson probably never felt like he was abusing Sally Hemings either, right? But look where that got our country….

Beneath the failure to understand—e.g., that Erica’s seduction of a patient at Chicago Read, or Gabby’s dalliance with Latwon on K & L Units at EMHC, or Faisa’s refusal to even ask what was happening to her patient when she knew in 2017 that Administration was hiding information—is in fact abuse, and the failure to understand that the staff is always the abuser, that no matter the appearances and circumstances, the patient is always a victim, never consenting, never receiving a “benefit”… beneath that circumstantial failure to understand… lies a much more fundamental misunderstanding. 

Like almost everyone else these days, nuthouse staff don’t know that an individual person is not just a biological mechanism. They don’t consider life itself to be a fundamentally spiritual phenomenon, and it never occurs to them that the “patient” who is locked up as not guilty of a violent crime by reason of insanity is just like them, an immortal spirit. That “patient” just seems dangerous, or disgusting, or extremely difficult to understand. The people who had been shipped from West Africa looked that way, too, as they were paraded onto an auction block at Charleston Harbor under the gaze of wealthy bidders who so proudly, obviously by their own genius and most noble efforts, produced the incalculably valuable commodity of cotton for the whole world. 

But people under the influence of psychiatry are in a worse position to understand what a human being really is, even worse than the kings of American cotton in the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. Mental health professionals are carefully taught to believe that a person is merely a brain. A brain is merely a biological machine which can ultimately be entirely understood and controlled by the most noble doctors, without reference to any concept of soul. What a “patient” might claim as his or her own honest personal ideas, reactions and emotions are really, in the nuthouse or on the plantation, unworthy of respect. They are animal instincts, or mere chemical connections between neurotransmitters and receptors. Surely it all can, and probably should be, controlled across the whole world, by incalculably valuable psychiatric drugs or a whip. 

In this context human love, which is so inextricable from sexuality, becomes either invisible or the Holy-of-Holies. It is certainly never part of normal, mundane business or subject to written, institutional rules. 

Everyone knows, instinctively, that it’s a fool’s errand to punish people for who they love or to regulate sexuality. They also know instinctively that forensic psychiatrists are slavemasters, and forensic social workers are plantation overseers. 

But they all pretend otherwise at least once every two years, when they do the required OIG Rule 50 training over again. They all pretend: “Oh sure, we will certainly report any suspicion of abuse to the hotline within four hours, to protect our sla… er, sorry.. patients!” In the nuthouse the pretense is so easy, so automatic, because there’s an even more endemic pretense, which is the tragic basis of the whole horrible system. 

Everyone collecting that paycheck on a union salary and looking forward to that union-negotiated pension pretends that we can find and deliver medical cures for unwanted thoughts, emotions and behaviors, and that medical science is the route to human salvation. They all pretend that the psychiatric slave system operated by the Illinois Department of Human Services is about helping the mentally ill with wonderful medicine.

It’s just not true. And that’s why it doesn’t work.

It doesn't work

A Valentine’s Day card in February, 2017, bears the following hand-written message to an involuntary mental patient, from a Mental Health Tech named Erica, at Chicago-Read Mental Health Center: 

“Happy Valentine’s Day… The best gift I could give you is my words… Getting to know and learn you these past couple of months has been quite the experience. I want to thank you for everything you’ve done for me no matter how small. You’ve made quite an impact in such a short time whether you know it or not. Regardless of whether we work out later on in life or not you will always hold a special place in my heart. You brought me back from one of the darkest times in my life. I couldn’t tell you what makes me happy or who I was. I had gotten caught up in saying I wanted to do so many things, and had lost my motivation for life. Meeting you changed a lot for me, there was something about you that inspired me to want to do more in life and just help me find myself and for that I’ll forever be grateful. I don’t know what lies in the future, but one thing I do know is I can see you in it.”

Doesn't it seem likely that this Valentines Day card, with this message, evidenced a romantic relationship? Approximately five years later, Erica was interviewed by the Illinois State Police Division of Internal Investigations. She admitted to them, after desperately, awkwardly, trying to deny it for two and a half excruciating hours, that she had carried on a sexual relationship with the patient to whom she gave the Valentine's Day card.

Erica never did admit that she smuggled in the burner phone the patient used to collect the naked pictures she sent to him. She said, well, maybe the patient got those pictures which had already been on her cell phone, and sent them to himself, she didn't know how he got them. The cops clearly didn't buy it.

In fact, the result of the investigation was a recommendation to the Cook County State's Attorney that Erica should be prosecuted for custodial sexual abuse. The State's Attorney declined, supposedly just because of a statute of limitations issue.

Here's one thing though: there is no statute of limitations on the investigation by the Office of the Inspector General (OIG) of allegations of custodial sexual abuse. A caller from OIG's Springfield office confirmed that they had received reports about Erica and this patient. So they may still be investigating the allegations, or maybe the allegations were classified as unfounded or unsubstantiated. No doubt OIG has documentary evidence of this. The public should probably ask who OIG interviewed and what evidence they looked at.

Or, maybe they never did investigate the reports they got, or maybe they never got reports. Maybe lots of other staff covered up for Erica, for years, because she speaks fluent Spanish and is also fluent in sign language, so she is a uniquely valuable, trilingual mental health tech. She still works at Chicago Read Mental Health Center now. As soon as the State's Attorney elected (on a legal technicality) not to prosecute, despite the findings of the police investigation, she was brought right back into her old job, where she is once again in close contact with patients.

There is, however, no question that there was a love affair between this staff at Chicago Read Mental Health Center and a patient who was not able to consent. Anyone who listens to the recorded police interview will be quite sure of that. Anyone who sees the Valentine's Day card will know it.

Love affairs are nice. They can have quite an impact in such a short time, as Erica wrote, and bring people back from the darkest of times. 

But they are not allowed between staff and patients in state nuthouses in Illinois. There are good reasons for this, and there is a whole lot of very strict policy, law, and requirements for timely OIG reports, all intended to prevent love affairs between staff and patients in state nuthouses in Illinois.

The question becomes, why doesn't it work?

Yo, K Unit nurses!

The following people, as best I know, are all professionally licensed nurses on K and L Unit:

Leah, Victoria, Imelda, Joe, Tony, Olu, Marie, Judy. 

"Professionally licensed" means, specifically, subject to the authority of the Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation (IDFPR) under many laws which have the intention, basically, of protecting the public. When a licensed nurse breaks the law, especially if he/she breaks the law that directly applies to their job as a nurse, and if the IDFPR hears about that (which can easily happen since people can file complaints on line), they tend to ask questions.

For example, if Leah, Victoria, Imelda, Joe, Tony, Olu, Marie, or Judy were to just suspect, or just hear rumors, about Gabby Garcia and a patient named Latwon being "boyfriend and girlfriend," and if they did not call OIG to report that within four hours after hearing the rumor, they would actually be breaking the law. OIG Rule 50 says you have to report mere rumors, even if you know they couldn't possibly be true.

There are other licensed professionals on K Unit who are in the same situation as Leah, Victoria, Imelda, Joe, Tony, Olu, Marie, Judy. I'll probably name them later. Today is just nurses' day.

OMG! I just realized, anyone who reads this article has gotten this rumor, about Gabby Garcia and Latwon.... I'm sure you'll be calling OIG before someone reports you to IDFPR for not following the law.

HEAVY TRAFFIC WARNING!

It was recently suggested to me that any professionally licensed DHS employee who fails to make a required OIG report about suspected (or actually, even just rumored) sexual abuse of involuntary psychiatric "patients", should be the subject of a complaint to the Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation.

I know there are rumors about this kind of thing almost constantly at Elgin Mental Health Center, Chicago Read Mental Health Center, Chester Mental Health Center, Alton Mental Health Center, Madden Mental Health Center... in short everywhere, on every plantation throughout the state system of psychiatric slavery. Just imagine if every mere rumor were actually reported to OIG!

A whole lot of DHS employees are licensed. Doctors, psychologists, nurses, social workers, barbers, dentists & dental hygienists, dietitians, locksmiths, opticians, pharmacists, and accountants... can all be subject to Division of Professional Regulation (DPR) complaints. Anyone can easily file complaints on line, too. 

Hence, if Faiza Kareemi (just one example) did not call OIG last week about the allegation that STA Gabby Garcia might have been sexually involved with a patient named Latwon on L and K Units, she failed to make a required OIG report under Rule 50, and a complaint against her medical license could go to DPR. If Faiza merely took it upon herself to call Latwon into her office and rake him over the coals about this allegation until he angrily denied it all, that would not have been good enough to avoid a DPR complaint. It would have been illegal screening. Faiza was strictly required to call OIG herself within four hours.

So I don't know guys, maybe everyone at EMHC will stop talking about this stuff and the whole rumor mill will totally shut down. Nobody wants to deal with DPR complaints. Either that, or OIG will notice a huge increase in their case load. The point is, mere suspicions, just rumors you might happen to hear, will put you in a regulatory situation.

The only other solution is: get an honest job outside the corrupt "forensic mental health" universe. You'll be much happier.

A very curious document

     Just hypothetically, just as pure fantasy, what if there were a sworn affidavit reading as follows...

AFFIDAVIT OF SILLY SYLVIE, THE DENTAL HYGIENIST

I, Silly Sylvie, being first duly sworn upon oath, depose and state as follows:

    1.)        I am of legal age and under no disability. I have personal knowledge of the events and facts referenced herein and could testify competently to them if called upon to do so.

    2.)        I am a licensed dental hygienist in the State of Illinois and practice two days a week for Ho-Hum Dentistry in Sweetest Valley Grove, IL.

    3.)        On August 8, 2019, my schedule included a patient at 5pm by the name of Mystic Wayles. Hereinafter is the conversation that took place between myself and Mystic Wayles. I immediately memorialized the conversation to the best of my ability. M is for what Mystic stated, and S is for what I stated (Silly Sylvie).

    4.)        I greeted Mystic in the waiting area and brought her back to my dental operatory.

    5.)        S:    Are you coming from work today?

    6.)        M:    Yes.

    7.)        S:    Oh, what kind of work do you do?

    8.)        M:    I'm a clinical psychologist at Elgin Mental Health Center.

    9.)        S:    Wow, that's a huge job, you must be very busy!

    10.)      M:    Yes, and now they've given me a position in forensic administration, too. So I have to do the work of several people.

    11.)       S:    Oh, my gosh! My brother-in-law works out by the Elgin Mental Health Center, in the unemployment division. It's a huge place.

    12.)       M:    I think there's a building on campus that deals with unemployment, but it's a different building than the one I'm in.

    13.)       S:    I'm not sure exactly where he is. It's either on the campus or close by. If you do forensic stuff, does that mean you have to go to court and testify in cases?

    14.)       M:    Yes.

    15.)       S:    That sounds awful! I'd hate it, with all the corruption in this state. Do you ever wonder how in heck they come up with the decisions they come up with in some cases?

    16.)       M:    Absolutely.

    17.)        S:    I just shake my head sometimes, it makes no logical sense, it's crazy.

    18.)        (There was a pause in our conversation, and I turned to my computer to bring up Mystic's chart. When she started to speak again, I turned back to face her.)

    19.)        M:    We have this one guy who was supposedly found unfit to stand trial, but he's totally fit, there's nothing wrong with him at all. He won't go to any of his court dates,but we can't do anything about that and he's just stuck there....

    20.)        S:    That sounds really bad. I bet you're talking about Peter Osborn!

    21.)        M:    I can't say any names....

    22.)        S:    Oh, of course. Just so you know, Peter is in Elgin Mental Health unjustly. He's fine, like you say. I know about the case because when I was in family court, they took my son away, just to churn up conflict and keep the case going to make more fees. People talk to each other, and you hear about other cases. That's how I learned about Peter.

    23.)        M:    But how can that kind of injustice happen?

    24.)        S:    Well, I hate to say it, but clinical psychologists like you write false reports saying people are unfit when they're not unfit. Then judges are perfectly willing to believe the false reports and rule accordingly.    

    25.)        M:    I suppose, maybe sometimes.

    

    26.)        S:    And I also hate to say it, but at some point the shit is sooner or later going to hit the fan, too. I mean, in Peter's case, there's a lot of, like, back channel political stuff happening, with people trying to get him out of there.

    27.)        M:    Really? Hmmm.

    28.)        (There was another pause in our conversation. It felt awkward, so I changed the subject.)

    29.)        S:    Well OK, let's talk teeth. 

Further, Affiant saith naught.

                                                /s/ Silly Sylvie, the dental hygienist

                                                (notarized)