One Week After Working in an ED Psych Ward
After the first two nights, the yelling and threats began to wear off. Instead of cringing behind the glass window to make myself disappear, I began to look up. There was one person I’ll never forget. He had this routine of pacing back and forth around three in the morning. After being in the psych ward for several days, he was becoming visibly restless and agitated. With his pacing, he began to wake up other patients who now wanted to walk as well. Imagine social hour at three am with all of the psych patients mingling over cranberry juice and turkey sandwiches asking each other, “so what are you committed here for?”.
The situation was getting out of hand. The nurse urged him to take his medication. After the administration, he was more calm.
We talked about rap (do you prefer Tupac or Biggie?), pharmaceuticals, politics and food. His knowledge was limitless. He knew about specific precursors in chemical reactions, details from political campaigns in the 90s, exact names of foreign cuisines across the world, lyrics from mainstream rap to lesser known music, how to crack a joke successfully and how to be polite even when it was difficult.
Incredibly enough, he even advocated for himself (and other patients) to not be overly medicated at the first sign of agitation. He pleaded for empathy. In an eloquent, timely and emotional argument, he called for better practices, asking those designated to take care of him to be more patient and empathetic. As he stood in front of me and engaged in conversation, with medication rushing through his blood stream, he showed me that he was more than just a patient with schizophrenia.
He was a person who chose Tupac over Biggie.
He was an athlete that loved martial arts and yoga.
He loved tuna sandwiches but politely declined taking mine if there weren’t anymore.
Posted from my blog with SteemPress : https://selfscroll.com/one-week-after-working-in-an-ed-psych-ward/
This user is on the @buildawhale blacklist for one or more of the following reasons: