"Mad Historian" is next guest on:

"Mad Historian" is next guest on:

MINDFREEDOM FREE LIVE CALL-IN INTERNET RADIO!

People have been labeled "mad" for centuries.

Does this community of people have a "mad history" to tell in their
own words?

Hear an interview with a professional archivist and historian from
Toronto, Canada who is a psychiatric survivor: Geoffrey Reaume.

You can phone in to the show LIVE with your comments and questions.

How do You Build Self-Determination?

From Ron Green

Erin, Yesterday, I told you of a true story I heard from the ADA Coordinator at SMART Transit Authority, about a building in downtown Detroit. The management had to modify a drinking fountain to bring it up to standards with the ADA law. They brought in contractors and decided to go with a system that would allow the fountain to move up and down electronically, which cost over $10,000 to build.

When completed, a person confined to a wheel chair was asked how he or she liked it? The disabled person responded by saying, "A Dixie Cup Dispenser would have been just fine!"

Erin-The point of my story about the $10,000 water fountain is that "THE MANAGEMENT OF THE BUILDING, WOULD HAVE GOTTEN A LOT BETTER results, IF THEY CONSULTED WITH THE DISABLED PEOPLE, BEFORE THEY BUILT IT! +

Jeff G. and I are ready, willing, and dyeing to do this at the SD Pilot Work Group, [and others may as well.] We feel LEFT OUT, by not being asked to do so! I don't know if you realize that, but it's true!

PS. At the very first State SD conference I went to some three or four years back, the keynote speaker was Rick Crowly. He was a consultant on the very first SD Pilot Project in the country, [I believe it was in Florida.] His main point was,

If you want to be successful in your approach to developing a Self Determination initiative, you should have a Work Group comprised of 50% Consumers or as close to that number as possible when designing and implementing it.

-Ron

Refusal Of Medical And Surgical Interventions Common Among Chronically Ill Elderly

Chronically ill older persons frequently refuse medical and surgical interventions recommended by their physicians, according to a recent study by Yale School of Medicine researchers. The study suggests that physicians continue to recommend invasive or risky interventions for people with advanced illness despite the patient's view that these treatments may be too burdensome, or that the treatment doesn't fit with their goals of care.

"Physicians need to offer treatment alternatives that better fit their patients' goals and preferences," said first author Marc Rothman, M.D., postdoctoral fellow in geriatrics in the Department of Internal Medicine at Yale.

Capitol Hill Watch | Bill Would Allow Flexible Spending Accounts To Include Long-Term Care Insurance

A bipartisan group of House members last week introduced a bill (HR 3363) that would allow flexible spending accounts to include long-term care insurance, CQ HealthBeat reports. The legislation -- sponsored by Rep. Earl Pomeroy (D-N.D.) and co-sponsored by Reps. Jim Ramstad (R-Minn.), Allyson Schwartz (D-Pa.) and Kenny Hulshof (R-Mo.) -- would allow employees to pay for long-term care insurance premiums with pre-tax dollars. According to supporters, the bill would help millions of baby boomers save for long-term care costs (CQ HealthBeat, 8/8).

Low-Tech Interventions Reduce Bed Sores By 70% At New Jersey Hospitals

A group of 150 New Jersey hospitals, nursing homes and health care agencies reduced the number of patients with bedsores by 70%, "thanks mostly to low-tech interventions," according to a study conducted by the New Jersey Hospital Association, the New York Times reports. The study found that the initiative decreased the number of patients with bedsores -- caused by unrelieved pressure or friction on skin -- from 18% in September 2005 to 5% in May 2007. In addition, 48 of the institutions reported that none of their patients has had a bedsore in the first quarter of this year. To reduce the incidence of bedsores, participating facilities performed a skin evaluation on each patient within eight hours of being admitted.

Another step was the implementation of a record-keeping system that allowed nurses to recognize immediately if a patient's skin condition was deteriorating. Increased communication between facilities when patients were transferred also was credited as a factor.

Tags: LTC, pressure sores, intervention

National Resource Center on Psychiatric Advance Directives

The National Resource Center on Psychiatric Advance Directives (NRC-PAD), located at http://www.nrc-pad.org , is continuing to provide new information for consumers, family members, clinicians, and policy makers interested in PADs.

They have recently added a new blog that they invite you to regularly visit.
They will also be having a live web conference, hosted by Mary Blake, who will discuss her experiences writing her own PAD.

Psychiatric Advance Directives: What Every Consumer Needs to Know
Thursday, August 23
2:00 PM EST
Mary Blake, Public Health Advisor, SAMHSA/CMHS/DSSI/Commmunity Support Programs Branch

To Join by Phone:

1) Dial 1-888-346-3950

2) At system prompt, dial entry code 9552012(#)

Press *6 to mute/unmute your phone, and *0 for operator assistance

To Join By Web:

1) Point your browser to www.infiniteconferencing.com/join

2) Select the Role of Participant

3) Type 9552012 in the "Participant Code" field

4) Type your Name, Company and Email in the fields provided

5) Click the Log In button

Science, Service and Recovery Conference to Be Held in Chicago

A national conference on the convergence of science, service and recovery for people with serious mental illness will be held in Chicago October 2-3, 2007. Organized by Thresholds Psychiatric Rehabilitation Centers, the conference will convene researchers, providers, government leaders, advocates, consumers and family members to discuss topics including evidence-based practices, recovery-oriented psychiatry, consumer-run services and peer support, legal issues, co-occurring disorders, strategies for addressing cultural differences, trauma, health and wellness, and other such topics. The registration deadline is September 1, 2007. More information.

August Line-Up of MindFreedom Free Live Weekly Internet Radio Shows!

Next guest: Ron Bassman - author, psychiatric survivor, psychologist

This Wednesday, 1 August 2007, 4 pm Eastern Time, click http://
prncomm.net

Hear a live interview with Ron Bassman, a psychiatric survivor and
psychologist who has just published a brand new book about his
struggle to live, thrive and change the mental health system:

"A Fight to Be: A Psychologist's Experience from Both Sides of
the Locked Door."

Tags: institutions, abuse, rights

Depression as Weakness

A survey from Mental Health America showed that 22 percent of Americans feel depression is a personal weakness (versus a real health problem), compared to 3 percent for cancer or diabetes.-- The Tennessean, “Stigma Plagues Mental Illness,” 7/15/07

As someone who has had depression, I suspect the percentage may be higher. Even for me, the messages from society and family are so ingrained it's hard sometimes to cut myself some slack. Part of the experience of depression is to beat yourself up anyway so this idea of depression as weakness is a convenient fist to pound yourself with. As I have gotten older, and had more experience with both depression and recovery, I find myself much better able to cut myself some slack, appropriately.

Missing everyone at Higgins this week!! It was great to meet people at the last training!

Kathryn

More from Higgins Lake

It is dark, and I hear the laughter of Peer Support Specialists in the distance who are enjoying the evening. My leadership development training got good reviews. We were very active in exercises, evaluation tools, and discussion. And, I have lots of ideas about the future of leadership development, and, as usual, wish for a fully formed and resource rich program that offers continual coaching support to leaders. Well corporate CEO's have that, MH Consumers should have that also!

I continue to be impressed with the joy of the people at this conference. People who have found some different way of living their lives through this Recovery Movement. Some have become old friends. Some people have been coming to Higgins Lake for a number of years and know to bring their own lawn chair to sit comfortably on the front porch in the evening sharing stories of their lives, and ... laugh.

I met a woman today who survived 10 years in Ypsi State hospital and 4 years in Northville. She now sits on national committees and boards as a consumer representative. She is very wise and humbles me with a reference to the abuse she experienced while in the custody of the State.

And, like in any other learning group that goes on retreat, people here work hard and play hard. There are groups this evening singing kareoke (amazing how much better it sounds without the addition of beer) a group lead by a Native American woman talking story, a beach campfire, and a eurcher game that I found too late! Everywhere I walk into a group I am welcome. The experience of open arms and acceptance is a cultural norm within this group of people who report stories of not easily being understood or welcomed in their workplace.

Transforming a large mental health system does not come easily, but this group is determined, cheerful (while together) and maybe just smart enough to make it happen!