Nothing can bring back a lost life – not that of Adarrin Jonte Washington, who died in a van following his involuntary discharge from Cape Fear Valley Medical Center, nor that of Andre Walker, a mental patient who died after being placed in a choke hold by security guards. But Cape Fear Valley is in several respects a better hospital for its recent exertions.
"They say justice is blind. It must be to ignore the plight of the mentally ill in America’s prisons." So writes Matthew Mangino for thecrimereport.org in introducing the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel’s recent two-part series on mental illness and incarceration. In his editorial "America's 'Mental Health Gulag,'" Mr. Mangino points to North Carolina as well as other states as examples of less than humane treatment and solutions.
Fayetteville hospital may lose federal funding | Modern Healthcare
January 10, 2012
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services issued formal notice to Cape Fear Valley Medical Center on Jan. 3 of the agency’s intent to terminate funding. The move follows a December visit where inspectors found violations at the facility that regulators said threatened the safety of patients. The federal agency issued a similar “immediate jeopardy” notice in October after an autopsy determined a 27-year-old man with mental illness was choked to death in April by hospital police and security officers while being restrained in the facility’s emergency room. Story continues here >>>
Father says Central Prison mistreated his mentally ill son | WRAL.com
January 10, 2012
RALEIGH, N.C. — The father of a mentally ill inmate says his son was mistreated at Central Prison in Raleigh last year, and he is asking for the North Carolina Department of Correction and his son’s warden to be held criminally responsible. Story continues here >>>
State shuts down assisted living center in Wake Forest – Raleigh News & Observer
January 10, 2012
State human services regulators are shutting down Wake Forest Care Center today. The assisted living center has a long history of violations including several involving the separate deaths of two residents who wandered off unattended. Story continues here >>>
Family: Gunman ‘needed help with his addictions’
January 3, 2012
The family of a man shot dead by Jacksonville police last week say a lack of affordable area mental health assistance contributed to his death.
“My brother needed help with his addictions,” Francine Wood, the sister of Samuel Jarolim, told The Daily News on Thursday. “But we didn’t have $50,000 to get him into a good program.”
Guilford County May Join Sandhills Center | The Pilot: Southern Pines
December 29, 2011
Sandhills Center is being wooed by a towering neighbor — Guilford County.
If the merger takes place, the center leadership expects more benefit than problem. After all, the mental health agency has undergone two successful mergers since a statewide administrative reform of the program was initiated several years ago. Story continues here >>>
