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Two Different Orange Counties: Two Different Attitudes and Outcomes

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If you don’t believe it is important to have police officers undergo special training that teaches them how to handle persons who are mentally ill, then you should look at incidents that happened in Florida and in California in counties that happen to share the same name.

Orlando Police Department Sgt. Tami Edwards in Florida was dispatched to investigate a telephone call about a distraught woman who was threatening to jump from the ledge of  the seventh floor in a parking garage. Sgt. Edwards, who had undergone Crisis Intervention Team training for police officers,  found the woman sitting with her legs dangling over the ledge. The woman was paranoid, delusional and was talking about how government agencies were spying on her.

Because of her CIT training, Sgt. Edwards recognized that the woman had a severe mental illness. The police officer talked to her in a calm voice and took time to listen to the woman’s delusions. She was able to get close to her. While Edwards was speaking, back up officers arrived. Without warning, the woman suddenly pushed herself from the ledge.

In a remarkable act of heroism, Sgt. Edwards grabbed the woman. Click to continue…

From the Mail Bag: Vermont Mom Frustrated By System – Son Had to Get Arrested to Get Help

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I receive emails every week from parents frustrated by our broken mental health system. I believe these notes paint a more accurate picture of what is happening across our nation than the often optimistic reports that I hear from our elected leaders. Here’s an example of what a mother faced recently in Vermont after her son became ill and needed treatment.

My 19-year-old son was recently hospitalized and diagnosed with schizophrenia. We live in Burlington, Vermont. He had been seeing a psychiatrist at a local center here, and started on treatment with medication. We tried several different meds for him, with the doctor seeing him once a month. We soon realized we needed to either up the dosage or change all together because my son was not getting any better. I made numerous calls to the local mental health center, explaining his anxiety, delusions, anger, and the voices he stated he was hearing.  

All fell on deaf ears.

On 11/19/2011, I received a phone call from the local police station. My son had been arrested for simple assault and was found wandering the town with a knife. I immediately called the center and they sent a crisis person to the police station, who in turn evaluated him and agreed he was in need of hospitalization. 

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My Father’s Fall: A Reminder of What’s Important

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My father fell recently. I was out-of-town so Patti rushed him to an emergency room. Fortunately, he  hadn’t broken anything, but it turns out that a bone bruise is equally as painful as a broken bone. It takes time to heal, especially when you are 91 years old.

Doctors think he fell because he got out of his favorite living room chair too quickly. This caused him to black out. He insists that he was only unconscious for a few seconds. My mother says it was several terrifying minutes.

My father is from the “old school.” Even today when we go to lunch, he insists on paying the check. He is a loving and kind father, but he has always been a tough taskmaster. He expected his three children when they were young to do what he asked without question.

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Want My Advice? Go To Another County For Legal Help

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About once a month, I receive a panicky telephone call or email from a distraught parent who attempted to get an adult child with a mental disorder  involuntarily committed in Fairfax County, Virginia, where I live.

Forcing someone into a hospital for treatment is a desperate act that is traumatic for the person who is ill and their entire family. It should only be done when all other options have failed.

The parents who contact me were stymied by one of the special magistrates who ultimately decide if a person meets the legal criteria to be forced into a hospital. We have three such magistrates in our suburban Washington D.C. county and two of them, Mark H. Bodner and Jose E. Aunon,  are known state-wide for being reluctant to approve involuntary commitments.

“My son,” one caller told me, “has a long history of mental illness. He was living in our basement where he was hearing voices and talked about killing himself.”

Another parent said, “Our daughter was violent and her psychiatrist recommended that she be hospitalized.”

In both instances, the Fairfax special magistrates refused to authorize an involuntary commitment, the parents reported.

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Outraged By The Serial Killer Whisperer, Governor Puts Murderer on Fast Track

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A few weeks ago, Florida Governor Rick Scott had never heard of death row inmate, David Gore.

But Scott has heard about little else from the outraged residents of Vero Beach since the publication of my new book, The Serial Killer Whisperer.  In it, Gore openly boasts about how he abducted, raped, tortured and murdered two women and four teenage girls in the 1980s in that scenic beach community.

On Friday, Gov. Scott put Gore on a fast track to be executed.  Clearly, he now knows the serial killer’s name.

Gore could be put to death as early as March 1st.

I certainly didn’t write my book to get Gore executed. But Gore’s letters, which are printed verbatim in the book, clearly set off an emotional firestorm.

“[I] had absolutely NO mercy. You said you read on the computer where it said one victim was fed to the alligators. That was true….” Gore bragged in one letter to his Las Vegas pen pal, Tony Ciaglia.

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Walking In Others’ Shoes

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 Two unrelated stories last week caused me to think about how easy it is to blame others without “walking in” their shoes.

The first was an incredible magazine story published by The Washington Post and written by Susan Baer. I once worked at the magazine and knew the subject of the cover story, although certainly not well. One of my former colleagues, Robert Melton, suffered a stroke that drastically reduced his cognitive abilities. He was married and his wife, Page, continued to love and take care of him even though he had become a stranger who had little understanding of their marriage.  Eventually, Page fell in love with another man. She divorced her husband to marry him.

What makes this story incredible is that Page and her new husband did not abandon Robert. Rather, they made him a part of their new family and even moved Robert with Page to St. Louis when she joined her new husband to begin their lives together.

The story, which was brilliantly told, was a courageous effort to describe one of the most difficult challenges that a person can face in their lives:  what do you do when someone you love suffers a debilitating brain injury. It is an especially poignant question for those of us who love someone with a severe mental disorder.

But many readers saw the article much differently. Writing in today’s Washington Post, columnist Robert McCartney revealed in his column that the story sparked a torrent of mean-spirited comments from readers, especially anonymous ones.

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