British Columbia hospitals need to [provide] in-patient emergency health services for children in crisis when they are self-harming, harming their family, are suicidal or in other forms of distress. At the moment, hospitals are sending away families and children . . . who are having crisis mental health episodes. Kelly Bradley
IN the hope of saving the lives of some young people who experience a severe mental crisis, Victoria residents Kelly and Owen Bradley delivered a 36,721name petition to B.C. Minister of Health, Margaret MacDiarmid.
Senior staffers from the Ministry of Children and Family Development were also on hand to receive the delegation on April 2nd.
Encouraged by the minister's reaction and her promise to review emergency services, the Bradleys hope the petition will have garnered 50,000 supporters by month-end.
The parents began their action because their 11year-old daughter had twice been turned away from the emergency department at Victoria General Hospital while she was undergoing severe effects of the bipolar mood disorder from which she suffers.
Not all petitioning families will be dealing with the same disorders, but the Bradleys believe parents should be contacted before a child or youth is refused access to emergency care and evaluation by a suitably qualified physician.
"Firstly, we [want] a psychiatrist involved in the decision-making when a child or youth in mental crisis shows up in the ER of B.C. hospitals," they explained.
Acknowledging MacDiarmid's point that some hospitals are so small they lack immediate access to specialists, the Bradley's responded: "Whether done in person, by telephone, or by video conference, it needs to be done."
Flaws in health-care delivery seldom arise in isolation and many stories must be told before we can understand where this one fits in the overall picture. Seemingly disconnected one from the others, if we follow the threads of each story to its roots we find they share one important characteristic: our inability to ensure scarce tax dollars are effectively deployed to prevent or mitigate the problems.
There are school boards that, starved for resources to support early interventions for youngsters diagnosed with dyslexia, still choose development proposals over daycare spaces.
We hear the March 19 news of stabbings by 14and 15-year-old girls who, severely affected by parental alcoholism, somehow manage to escape their Burnaby group home to rack up 142 run-ins with police over 16 months - some of which related to their own under-age drinking.
That disturbing reality adds a sad exclamation mark to the March 26 report, Much More than Paperwork: Proper Planning Essential to Better Lives for B.C.'s Children in Care by Mary Ellen Turpel-Lafond, B.C.'S Representative for Children and Youth.
These stories are testament to the fact that although we elect governments that spend billions on education, health care and social services, we still can't seem to get our priorities straight, even for kids who are not in government care.
Is it that we have abdicated our own responsibility to participate in setting those priorities?
If so, is that just one more manifestation of what I call the "speed-bump syndrome"?
In other words, are we all too busy keeping our own lives on track that we don't notice or care until the speed-bump arrives at the end of our own driveway?
Whatever the cause of our skewed priorities, one thing is certain: If, as a society, we don't take charge of our governments and become active in finding solutions, the debt-loads and other consequences will hang as millstones around the necks of future generations.
Is that what we want for our kids?
In more than one report, Turpel-Lafond has pointed to specific, sometimes heartbreaking examples of young tragedies.
She has also made dozens of expert recommendations, many of which remain unaddressed and most of which are aimed at the administration of the Ministry of Children and Family Development or Community Living B.C.
Auditor General John Doyle has done likewise.
The Representative observed that only five per cent of the care plans she had audited "met the ministry's
own standards". Link that to the behaviour of two knife-wielding teenagers from the group home and it's easy to see cause and effect.
It is easy, also, to see why Turpel-Lafond noted that her audit recorded "a clear lack of emphasis by (the ministry) on comprehensive and regular planning and intervention."
No wonder overloaded social workers are frustrated, or that the Representative concluded her executive summary to the legislature with, "There is only one word to describe the findings of this audit - unacceptable."
Unacceptable, also, is that teenagers had to escalate their wrongdoing to violence before Const. Anne Drennan could bring them to the attention of the public.
Thankfully, we can end on a positive note and ask whether the Bradleys' successful petition might give a boost to other efforts underway.
Can they, for example, carry their energy forward to follow the momentum of the March 23 launch of Civil Rights Now!, a citizens' approach organized by West Vancouver residents David Marley and Jean Lewis?
"The event was a huge success with close to 120 folks attending," Marley told me.
"Reaction to our proposal has been positive and strong. . . ."
Surely, with people like Turpel-Lafond, the Bradleys, Lewis and Marley showing us the way, we can all work together to make our world a better place for everyone - but especially for our children?
[email protected] (The Bradley petition is at change.org.)
