Re: Garrett/Residential Treatment Center

[Guest guest]

Hi Corinna, I am so, so sorry about all this and that Garrett continues to

suffer so--not to mention you and your dh. I don't have direct experience

here, but it seems like this may be an insurance or other financial

situation more than what is best, most effective treatment at this point for

Garrett. He may be running out of " acute " hosp. days coverage with your

insurance and that is why the " deadline " for moving him elsewhere. I

remember when a relative was in tx facility for alcoholism, he was

discharged the day his coverage ran out, ready or not. Well he wasn't ready

yet.

Calling your insurance case rep might be helpful, plead your case for more

hosp. days for Garrett and perhaps get his regular psych to call as well,

and start checking out the two facilities mentioned. You can talk to the

patient liaison (called different things in different hospitals) at Cook

Children's too to get as much straight talk and input as you can about

aftercare options, insurance issues and so on. There may be other

possibilities for Garrett than just the two facilities mentioned by the

therapist.

Is he being treated by a child pharmacologist in the hospital? I think you

do need an " expert's expert " to direct his meds in this situation, since

stabilizing him for discharge is a pressing need.

What is the name of the residential treatment center? Perhaps someone on

the list has direct experience with the facility to share.

Take care, (((hugs)))

Kathy R. in Indiana

----- Original Message -----

> Well, Garrett has made almost no progress in over a week at Cook

> Children's Hospital in Fort Worth. He is beginning to talk to the

> staff, but he is still very irritable, angry, and extremely

> depressed. They increased the Seroquel again yesterday. At our

> family therapy session yesterday , the therapist mentioned that if by

> Monday Garrett hasn't made huge progress, we need to consider a

> Residential Treatment Center or the State Hospital. I thought my

> husband was going to flip his wig! I can't fathom sending Garrett

> off to the state hospital either. Has anyone put their child in a

> Residential Treatment Center? If so, what is that like? I don't

> want him in a place that will scare him even more. He is going

> through enough. Does that make sense? Does anyone have some advice

> that might help us sort things out? We're concerned because it's

> obvious Garrett is not ready to come home either. I don't want to

> put his life at risk by bringing him home before I should.

>

> Corinna, TX

[Guest guest]

Hi Corinna,

I'm so sorry that Garrett hasn't improved much yet - but honestly, one

week is a very short time for anyone to make much improvement. I can't imagine

that any expert would expect to see much turnaround in a week. I suspect (and

of course I'm just guessing here) that they have " stabilized " your son and now

want to move him to a more long-term facility. I know that here in our

underserved town, if a child is in crisis he is hospitalized in a small private

psychiatric hospital for a few days, and then is discharged. There is no

hospital

for children with mental health problems here and parents have been known to

refuse to take their children home. They are then charged with neglect and

abandonment - but if the child isn't stabilized, they don't feel safe bringing

them

home. And this is all because of the insurance and the rules regarding acute

hospitalization. The small hospital here " does not do " long-term care.

In your shoes I would read the fine print of my insurance policy very

carefully, and speak with a human - if that's possible - about the coverage for

hospitalization. And I'd speak with the social worker at the hospital and your

son's psychiatrist until I felt that I really truly understood what they were

doing. Sometimes you have to be really obnoxious in order to get people to

listen to you and actually answer your questions, but stick with it. Can you

visit the two places that they recommended? Do they have child psychiatrists on

staff? Or does your psychiatrist have privileges there? Ask, ask and ask again.

Please post the names of the facilities in case someone here knows

something about them. And please take care of yourself and your husband - big

hugs

to both of you, and Garrett too, of course.

in NV

[Guest guest]

Hi Corinna,

I'm so sorry that Garrett hasn't improved much yet - but honestly, one

week is a very short time for anyone to make much improvement. I can't imagine

that any expert would expect to see much turnaround in a week. I suspect (and

of course I'm just guessing here) that they have " stabilized " your son and now

want to move him to a more long-term facility. I know that here in our

underserved town, if a child is in crisis he is hospitalized in a small private

psychiatric hospital for a few days, and then is discharged. There is no

hospital

for children with mental health problems here and parents have been known to

refuse to take their children home. They are then charged with neglect and

abandonment - but if the child isn't stabilized, they don't feel safe bringing

them

home. And this is all because of the insurance and the rules regarding acute

hospitalization. The small hospital here " does not do " long-term care.

In your shoes I would read the fine print of my insurance policy very

carefully, and speak with a human - if that's possible - about the coverage for

hospitalization. And I'd speak with the social worker at the hospital and your

son's psychiatrist until I felt that I really truly understood what they were

doing. Sometimes you have to be really obnoxious in order to get people to

listen to you and actually answer your questions, but stick with it. Can you

visit the two places that they recommended? Do they have child psychiatrists on

staff? Or does your psychiatrist have privileges there? Ask, ask and ask again.

Please post the names of the facilities in case someone here knows

something about them. And please take care of yourself and your husband - big

hugs

to both of you, and Garrett too, of course.

in NV

[Guest guest]

Hi Corinna,

I'm so sorry that Garrett hasn't improved much yet - but honestly, one

week is a very short time for anyone to make much improvement. I can't imagine

that any expert would expect to see much turnaround in a week. I suspect (and

of course I'm just guessing here) that they have " stabilized " your son and now

want to move him to a more long-term facility. I know that here in our

underserved town, if a child is in crisis he is hospitalized in a small private

psychiatric hospital for a few days, and then is discharged. There is no

hospital

for children with mental health problems here and parents have been known to

refuse to take their children home. They are then charged with neglect and

abandonment - but if the child isn't stabilized, they don't feel safe bringing

them

home. And this is all because of the insurance and the rules regarding acute

hospitalization. The small hospital here " does not do " long-term care.

In your shoes I would read the fine print of my insurance policy very

carefully, and speak with a human - if that's possible - about the coverage for

hospitalization. And I'd speak with the social worker at the hospital and your

son's psychiatrist until I felt that I really truly understood what they were

doing. Sometimes you have to be really obnoxious in order to get people to

listen to you and actually answer your questions, but stick with it. Can you

visit the two places that they recommended? Do they have child psychiatrists on

staff? Or does your psychiatrist have privileges there? Ask, ask and ask again.

Please post the names of the facilities in case someone here knows

something about them. And please take care of yourself and your husband - big

hugs

to both of you, and Garrett too, of course.

in NV