Just another crazy morning in the Globe:
"Families trusted this hospital chain to care for their relatives. It systematically failed them" by Liz Kowalczyk Globe Staff June 10, 2017
When state inspectors walked into the Westwood Lodge psychiatric hospital at 5 a.m. in April of last year, they found a heart-wrenching scene. Children slept on bare, plastic mattresses in filthy rooms; dust and dirt collected in the corners. When the young patients woke up, staff sat them in front of a television.
Caregivers had taken away the toys and stashed them in inaccessible piles at the nurses’ station, according to the state’s report. Trash was strewn about a rancid-smelling bathroom. And when inspectors questioned the only nurse on duty, a temp, about the location of the fire alarm or even how she would evacuate her eight small charges, all 12 and younger, she did not know.
Hospital executives ordered bedsheets that fit, brought out the toys, and gave the children’s unit a thorough cleaning and fresh paint. But when inspectors returned seven weeks ago, they found even more disturbing evidence of substandard care:
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More dirty laundry:
"The town proud to be called America’s oldest seaport may also have America’s oldest laundry problem...."
Fortunately, Gloucester has changed.
Man overboard!
"The Navy on Friday announced it had called off the search for Petty Officer Christopher W. Clavin, 23, of Lincoln, R.I., who went overboard four days earlier while training on the USS Normandy. The guided missile-cruiser, based in Norfolk, was about 80 miles off the coast of Cherry Point, N.C., when Clavin fell into the water about 3 p.m. A man overboard call was made immediately. A team of Navy and Coast Guard personnel — including an aircraft carrier, four helicopters, and additional ships — searched for Clavin for more than 76 hours. The incident remains under investigation, the Navy said."
Conn. man’s body recovered from lake
"Police have arrested a naked man after his car was involved in minor traffic accidents in West Hartford and Hartford. Police say the man fled the scene of a crash in West Hartford Friday afternoon before getting into another accident near a convenience store in Hartford. WVIT-TV reports the man, without clothes, climbed on top of his car, then entered the store, where he was subdued by police (AP)."
Woman killed in rollover on Mass. Pike
Time to go plant a tree.
UPDATE:
"The Baker administration has postponed a decision on whether to renew the license for three troubled psychiatric hospitals in the Arbour Health System. Westwood Lodge, Pembroke Hospital, and Lowell Treatment Center operate under a single license, which expired Monday. The state extended the license, an action it described as routine, until officials finish reviewing the hospitals’ renewal application, according to a Department of Mental Health spokeswoman. The state did not provide a specific deadline for a decision....."
Also see:
"State permanently closes psychiatric hospital, just weeks after declaring it safe" by Liz Kowalczyk Globe Staff August 28, 2017
Just four weeks after clearing it to accept new patients, the state has closed the troubled Westwood Lodge psychiatric hospital, citing “critical safety issues.’’
The Department of Mental Health ordered the hospital closed on Friday, and all 20 adult patients were transferred to other facilities.
The department’s statement to The Boston Globe did not provide details on what prompted it to shut down the hospital. But an employee who did not want to be identified said there were allegations that a male patient sexually assaulted a female patient in her room Wednesday night.
Westwood police and the Norfolk district attorney’s office declined to comment, but the mental health department confirmed it is investigating “an alleged incident that recently occurred at Westwood Lodge.’’
Safety lapses occurred despite assurances by the department that it was closely supervising the hospital — and promises by Westwood Lodge executives that the treatment facility had emerged from its recent problems “as a stronger organization.’’
The hospital did not respond to questions from the Globe about the closure.....
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