Hi all,

I want to share something that is going on in my county. I have been doing personal advocacy for some folks and I have been talking aloud to anyone who listens to me about trauma of treatment.

Last December one of the people I advocate for was barred from services from the clinic where she goes. The reason for her being barred was not due to behavior but due to another program calling her case manager and telling him that she had lice.

The manner in which the case manager and the clinic handled it was absolutely horrid, it violated her confidentiality, it was rude, and intrusive.

She shows up to the clinic for her regular appt. with the case manager. A nurse comes out with gloves on her hands and starts going through her hair to check for lice. She didn’t bother to ask her to come into a private room where they could discuss it first, she didn’t even bother asking if she could touch her.

Well the person who was accused of having lice became angry and upset and created a scene in the lobby area. Because she refused to let a nurse check her hair, they banned her from the building until she had a medical professional check her hair for lice.

She refused to have this done.

Her money manager also works for this agency. They would not let her in the building for her to receive her money/checks. They made her stand outside the door and someone would bring them to her.

If you asked her how could she tell if you have lice, she could tell you the symptoms. I spent an hour with her in her residence that week. She did not scratch her head once during the time I was there, nor did I see evidence of crawling creatures either.

I explained this to the case mgr and he said he would see if that could be accepted. The answer was no. In the meantime, she’s receiving no services even though she’s supposedly intensively case-managed (what a misnomer), no one bothered to check on her except for me. I spent several hours with her.

I called the case mgr again and told him that I had spent several hours with her, and that as contagious as lice is (are), if she did indeed have lice, I would have had them by now. They finally believed me that she did not have lice even though she did not get checked by a medical professional at the time. (Eventually she did, and she has psoriasis).

By the case mgr’s own admission, he stated they did not handle that situation well with her, and that if it happened again they would do it differently. I told him that was good, but not enough. I said you hold P____ responsible for her behavior, what your agency did was outrageous. I want a formal written apology to her, and I want a protocol written up for what to do if this happens the next time. He said that he would need to clear this with his supervisor.

To make a long story short, they still have not issued a formal apology nor have they written the protocol. I have since gone to the agency’s QA person, the ED of the agency, the County, and a few other places with this complaint.

I am told that the agency will issue a formal letter of apology, and that they will get a protocol for her and me to review to place in her chart.

I am working hard to address trauma of treatment in our area. It’s interesting as I bring the issue up to clinicians and the different looks I get from them. Fortunately there are some who are curious about learning about this.

Beckie

Beckie,

May I print your message out and take it to a meeting I will be attending in the morning at SAFE house in Springfield? Elizabeth Snow, Eva Edelman, Lyn Blackshaw and Andrea Levy will be there. We’re working together on some trauma projects.

Warmest regards,

Nancy