When we are young in life there is often times a way in which we think it should function. We think there should be order and a proper way in which people should function. I was taught that there was a basic decency that humans showed each other. When we as children misbehaved, we knew that there were consequences for our actions. These varied due to the gravity of the behaviors we showed. We could lose our ability to go outside and play, all the way up to a belt on our behinds. I thank God my parents raised me this way.

After a few years working as a nurse in the long-term care setting and being around different people, I realized that not all parents are equal. I also realized that not all children had parents and thoughts varied like the varieties of cereals. Mental health issues seemed to be presenting themselves more and more in the facility in which I worked. This was due to the government shutting down mental health treatment facilities due to a shortage of tax money collected.

At the time in which this was happening, nursing homes were flooded with older adults who could not take care of themselves due to their mental health conditions. We were not prepared for this influx. As a result, many situations arose that put staff and other residents in jeopardy. This is a recounting of the first violent encounter that I witnessed and subsequently had to respond to.

For about a year we had housed and taken care of a fast cycling bipolar and schizophrenic 72-year-old lady. She was a very interesting person to witness. She was mostly funny in the way she interacted with people. After staff got her ready in the morning, she would come out of her room in her wheelchair. Her room was at the end of the hall so it would take her several minutes to get to the nurse’s station. She would go from manic state, laughing out loud and cracking jokes to crying and yelling out in anger multiple times as she wheeled herself towards us. This was very funny but also very sad at the same time.

We all loved her because for the most part she was harmless. We had compassion for her because this mental health disease she lived with was very hard on her family and her. It became a part of everyday life for us managing her behaviors. Every other resident in the facility realized the predicament she was in also and they showed great patience with her. It could be very heartwarming watching people with various diseases and ailments come to see her as their family member and watch out for her.

About a year into her being with us, we had to admit another person with a mental health issue. He was a younger man who had for years been addicted to elicit drugs. He had health problems ranging from multiple heart attacks, broken neck, multiple wounds and lastly but not least schizophrenia with hallucinations. It was thought that he was unable to walk due to his broken neck. He was a very sad case because he was so young and had so many problems. Side note, he had been strung out on drugs since he was thirteen years old so many did not have compassion for him.

As a younger nurse I saw him and had empathy. I never had issues with illicit drugs, but I had my issue with alcohol in past years. I spent time talking with this man and tried to make him feel welcome at the facility. I played checkers with him and brought him snacks because he had no money and no family. He always seemed happy and progressed over a month from being bed bound to being able to get in a wheelchair to ambulate. It was good to see this, and he seemed to fit in well.

After he was able to get around a bit with his wheelchair, a problem started to arise. He and our little fast cycling bipolar/schizophrenic lady started to have issues. See one thing I left out earlier was the lady when she cycled would at times become angry and yell out. Not just yell out but yell out profanities and I mean cuss like a sailor profanity. She would focus in on one person when this happened. Every other resident would not pay her any attention, so it had not been an issue if we were able to go to her and talk to her.

The younger gentlemen took great offense to her profanities toward him. It seemed to weigh on him over several days. He became angry at her and started yelling back at her, using his own profanities to address her back. This over several days got worse and worse. We had the physicians look at their medications and up both their anti-psychotics. But no matter what steps we took they seemed to home in on each other more and more. The problem with this was that our long-term care facilities were not designed to be one on one care with residents.

One morning as myself and another nurse was charting at the nurse’s station, our little ol’ bipolar woman came around the corner and spotted her nemesis, the younger schizophrenic man. She shouted a profanity at him and headed his way. I heard him yell back and looked up. I witnessed something that really surprised me. He had gotten up from his wheelchair and was walking fast in her direction. I stood up quickly and went around the desk to get her and assist her away. Before I could, I watched him come close to her and rear back with his hand. He swung and hit her square in the face, and the force caused her and her wheelchair to flip backwards. Yep, the day had just turned really bad.

I stood in front of the man and turned him back to his room. The other nurse went and checked on our little lady. The ambulance and the police were called. Fortunately, she had put her head down and he struck her on the hairline, which is the hardest part of the head. No real damage was done but she went to the emergency room to be checked for a concussion. The police arrested the man, and he was taken to jail. This was a first for me. Of course, the state was contacted and an investigation was initiated.

In the end, the conclusion of the report was what you probably are thinking. When we try and take long-term care facilities and put mental health patients in them, these types of problems will arise. There could be nothing done to prevent such incidents because we cannot possibly keep the different types of people with different mental health issues separated. In other words, when politicians take money out of the health care system to properly treat mental health issues, innocent people are affected.

As a nurse and now as a Licensed Nursing Home Administrator, I have come to the realization that with the government, money not people rule the day. This is just one more reason that I am the Nut That Runs The Retirement Hut. And I love every single minute of it!