Treatment Abuse, Behavior Modification, Thought Reform > Peninsula Village
Re: A Place to Post PV Experiences
ZenAgent:
expvstaff
User
Re:Peninsula Village - 2007/11/26 06:15
wow...been reading here and on fornitz for about 2 hours. I worked at the Village for several years in the early 90's in both the boys cabin and STU programs.
I oriented new kids to STU, did strip searches, wore the buzzer, participated in group therapy sessions, sat in treatment teams, worked with family therapists, slept in a cabin (hell, I actually helped BUILD one), drove a van to AA/NA meetings, chased down kids who eloped, restrained dozens of kids, and occasionally helped train staff to do the same. I guess I'm the enemy here.
I worked with nurses who abused prescription and IV drugs, line staff who left work at night to drive to Knoxville bars and then came back to work at 3am unnoticed, staff who met upstairs in the YC to screw at night, a counselor with a scab on the back of her hand from the back of her teeth (she got that from sticking her fingers down her throat to make herself vomit), aggressive STU staff who were quick to hit the buzzer to initiate a PCI (one kid called it "Patient Carpet Introduction"), and professional staff who seemed to set up line staff against each other at times, with the end result being a bunch of staff who were just as f&^ked up as some of the kids.
I also worked with incredibly talented and gifted staff members who truly made an effort to help damaged kids understand what they needed to do to turn things around. Peglar was one of those guys. I don't recognize him, from the way a few of you have described him. He was a caring, deeply intuitive guy who had a knack for reaching some of the toughest girls. Of course, I am talking about the early 90's, and he worked in the girls cabin program. Some of those other staff are long gone, as they recognized the tide of changes that came about in the mid-90's.
I felt at the time that much of what we did (I did) was helpful but in the back of my mind, I always wondered what happened after kids were discharged. Some of them made it...we heard from them and trumpeted their successes. I attended reunions a couple of times in the early 90's. One kid actually walked the Appalachian Trail after discharge. Others just disappeared. Sometimes I read about their deaths...two boys that I worked with committed suicide. One was an Army vet who went to Iraq in 1991 and was playing Russian Roulette. The paper said that "it was unclear if ____ knew that the gun was loaded." I thought damn...if you're in the Army, you KNOW if the gun is loaded. He didn't care.
Standards for staff were pretty high until Covenant came in around 1994 or 95. They wanted to save money and if I remember, they cut the starting hourly rate for STU counselors by a buck and dropped the college graduate requirement. This immediately resulted in a less-talented pool of applicants and created tension among staff when they realized that the old guys, doing the exact same job, got paid a dollar an hour more. I left a while later.
I took another job (not in the industry) and a few months later, a kid that I worked with at the Village saw me. I remembered him and said hello. He confronted me. He told me that he was not a bad kid but had made some bad decisions and that the Village had f^&ked him over and it took all he had to get out of there somewhat intact. He was angry but controlled. He made eye contact and measured his words carefully. He really needed to say what he said. I think I mumbled "thanks and I hope things are better for you now" or something like that. That's been 10 years, and I still remember it.
Someone was asking about the placement of the pee tubes. When I was there, the pee tubes were at individual cabins and were rarely moved. I helped a group dig a new site once...the bottom of each hole was covered with gravel, the tubes were placed, and the rest of the dirt was replaced. Occasionally we'd throw lime in the tube to help with the smell. The boys would use the bathhouse bathrooms when we could, and the pee tubes at night. I don't remember ever punishing a kid or harassing them for waking me up at night to go pee. Not saying it didn't happen, but I don't recall doing it myself.
I never saw anything that would constitute sexual abuse by any staff member. There was a program director (the one who crashed her car into a KPD cruiser on I-640) who was gay and seemed to hire a lot of gay women (and once really upset a counselor for implying that SHE was gay) but I don't recall any concerns or allegations at the time (early 90's) about that kind of thing.
That's all for now.
ZenAgent:
expvstaff
PCI stands for Patient Crisis Intervention. I'm dating myself by using that term because TCI training and certification came in after I left. PCI's were immediate responses to behaviors determined to put a kid in danger to himself and/or others. Sometimes in STU a PCI might be initiated with only 2 staff on the unit, if a kid began assaulting a staff or peer. STU staff wore an electronic buzzer that sounded an alarm to alert staff inside and out of the need to respond. The PCI might begin in a short-staffed situation, but quickly there would be enough staff available to safely secure the patient. We were trained to have one person on each limb and specifically trained to never place any type of force on a restrained patient's back with a knee or by sitting on a kid. That said, I was involved in some restraints where, while waiting for more help to respond to the buzzer, I used my legs to help keep a kid on the ground or laid across him to do the same. There might be only 2 of us on the unit at the time, and that was the best we could do. We knew that help was on the way and so we would initiate the restraint at the moment the danger (or perceived danger) presented itself. We were trained to do that immediately so that kids understood that there were consequences for getting physical. Anyway, once other staff responded, we would move into what you described, with one staff on each limb with another securing the head. Sometimes a patient would bang his head or attempt to bite staff (I received a few of those) and so it was important to keep the head safe.
(Note from Zen: This former counselor is unfamiliar with TCI and describes PV's former physical restraint method, the PCI. Unknown to him, PCI is still practiced at PV and has been documented - a face down restraint with five counselors involved. Unlike what the former staffer remembered from his PCI experiences, the more recent documented restraint clearly shows one female counselor squatting on the back of the restrained patient, who was gasping and claiming difficulty in breathing.)
ZenAgent:
From a PV parent LiveJournal blog
23rd-Nov-2005 06:45 pm - Holiday Bombshell
"I drove a round trip to Knoxville to pick up Dxxx for his Holiday furlough. That went really well. I rented a 5 liter mustang, and I made the 600 miles from my doorstep, back to my doorstep in 10 hours and 30 minutes. That included picking up Dxxx, 2 gas stops, and a lunch stop. Dxxxx and I had some good conversations, and overall it was as pleasant as a 600 mile trip could be.
When I got home, I immediately began to inject the turkeys with seasoning. While I was doing that, I booted up to check my email and got a very disturbing email from Steve Petty, the administrator of Peninsula Village. Here is what it read:
--- Quote from: "Steve Petty" ---"Kxxxx and Jxxx, I hope you are both doing well and preparing for a nice holiday weekend.
It just occurred to me yesterday that I did not receive a response from you to my October 30 e-mail below, where I made the clarification of my intent during our conversation on Family Day. So I am writing to ask if that clarification was clear to you and if you are planning to pay Dxxxxx’s November and December payments on December 1 as I believe we agreed to. Please let me know.
It is absolutely the last thing that I wish to talk with you about, but if you are not able to make those two months current, then we need to begin preparing Dxxxxx for a discharge around December 5. As you know, our clinical staff does not believe that Dxxxx is ready to come home and we certainly hope that this is not necessary. But if it has to be, then we want to be fair to Dxxxx and begin preparing him immediately. I look forward to hearing back from you today if at all possible."
--- End quote ---
He didn't even sign off the email with his name.
Here was my response to Lucia, the Family Therapist, who was cc'd on the mail.
"Lucia,
I just walked in 40 minutes ago from a round trip to Knoxville to get this email and the one from Steve.
I am really trying to keep my cool and not pick up the phone, because my response would most likely be too harsh to deliver to anyone on the eve of a holiday.
However, I will tell you that this is the most grotesquely unprofessional business communication I have ever experienced. EVER, and I have been around the block several times.
If Steve Petty had even the smallest indication of possessing a backbone, or even more appropriate, the equipment that should be at the bottom of where the backbone should be, he would have met me at the YC this morning at 9am when I picked up Dxxx. Even that would have been mildly inappropriate, but never the less, at least it would have indicated the absence of cowardice.
I can’t begin to explain how upset I am, and at so many levels. The use of the venue of email, the timing, the content and first and foremost, the misguided attempt to be personal and empathic because of the holiday makes me nauseated.
My first reaction is to not even bother to bring Dxxx back to Knoxville.
This email doesn’t even express my discontent. I am trying so hard right now not to pick up the phone, and to take a deep breath and let my anger subside. But I felt compelled to let somebody at PV know how I am feeling, and quite frankly, you are the only one I trust.
You can forward this to whomever you feel appropriate to receive it. I hope this does not spoil your holiday, because I know you worry about Dxxxx.
Kxxxx"
I have to go to dinner now, but I will log in later and fill in the rest of the details.
ZenAgent:
Follow-up, "23rd-Nov-2005 10:10 pm - The rest of the story"
Just to lay out some background on the email from Steve Petty. He is not involved in the therapy of the patients, he is the administrator, the money guy that reports up to corporate, Covenant Health Care. Dxxxx's treatment is about 9K per month. We originally thought he would be there about 9 months. He just finished his 14th month. Jxxx borrowed from Sallie Mae for the first six months, sent in as much cash as she could. We had about 60K paid and owed PV about $70K on our PV account on October 30. That was invoiced to November 30th. I sat down with Steve Petty at family day and wrote him a personal check for $15K out of my checkbook, arrange for another 15K in a joint loan with Jxxx and applied for a 2nd insurance payment for $8600. BCBS will only pay 30 days a coverage year for inpatient mental health. That is another whole issue I will address later. Steve told me that if we would keep the balance at $35K by keeping monthly charges up to date until his discharge, that he would work out a payment plan to pay the balance after Dxxx's release. That was agreeable to me, although it is still a painful pill to swallow. He was friendly and mild mannered during this conversation. I followed up our meeting with an email to clarify what we had discussed. That was the last communication until today.
I am absolutely sickened by his email. To send that the day before a holiday, no less by email and the day he knew I was picking up Dxxxx for the holiday was cowardly and inexcusable. To inform us that "if" we did not make a payment, that he was going to arrange Dxxx's discharge in one week is deplorable.
I am unclear about what to do, but I feel compelled to inform him that I fully understand the risk that he is exposing himslelf and Peninsula to from a point of professional responsibility and liability.
I have to sleep on this, but I am going to screw his spineless, sorry ass to the back of his chair. Of course, not literally, but with words and legal positioning. I had every intention of making Dan's bill good, but now, I feel no motivation to do so.
Happy Thanksgiving
ZenAgent:
girls in PV not! "BAD GIRLS"
Written by PV is a money making scam on 2007-04-29 19:39:21
Here is the list with punctuation so readable, sorry
Here is who I was in with! Hardly hardened criminals or Bad Girls! Again I swear everything I say here is true, to the best of my knowledge.
We had the anorexic pianist, who's mom was an alcoholic;
We had the anorexic overachiever asian girl, not a stereotype sorry, but she was, I think she had chemical depression, sad for no reason type;
The state kid with good grades on the basketball team with Jehovah's witness grandma, before mentioned;
15 year old girl who lived with aunt and cousins had been molesting her, also no drug use at all. Aunt kicked her out when she told her she had been molested by her sons, nineteen year old neighbor guy took her in, she ran home, aunt turned her over to PV through state. Cousins molesting her for sure.
Molestation case with pregnancy, that was a cute story, abusive family.
A seventeen year old party girl someone had told Ruffee's were cool and she woke up naked on a school playground to cops. Again do we notice a sexual abuse theme? a lot of the girls, it was the main problem.
thirteen year old, divorce situation, wasn't doing well in school, had written some odd stuff in diary, father seized custody and put her in PV.
thirteen year old ate some aspirin,
two state kids who had run away and ran the gauntlet, the "prostitutes" ones story ended with her having the crude kicked out of her and being left in a ditch.
Girl grandfather had molested, parents put in PV
The gay occasional pot smoker with Christian parents, don't come out to the Christians!!
Seventeen year old rich cocaine dealer kind of, in college all ready, an arts school, very very pretty, some old rich guy had gotten her into it, she thought she was cool or something.
The state kid, didn't do any drugs, fourteen I believe, they restrained ALL the TIME, and left in the straight jacket, had already been there like two years, she was normal just had unfit parents and ran away and caused a fuss often, not violent just stubborn upset stuff.
Kids with semi unfit parents who had run away from them and foster care, the one would run home then run back to foster care, so they both reported her as a run away. the last time she ran away from foster care, straight home, and they caught her in her bedroom. She always ran home.
Another ran away to boyfriends, in foster care unfit parents, she liked Danzig and was practicing witch craft. Danzig is bad but should not be enough to get you put in a prison camp. That really is most of them I can remember, oh chemical depression kid some
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