Why would a homeless man who was receiving 3 meals a day, a warm bed and kindness, scale a fence and walk back to the inner city?
Probably because Alberta Hospital Edmonton is not a place of kindness. It has been alleged that it is a house of horrors, a place of control, threats and intimidation, cruelty, a place of punishment.

One man who has written us of the treatment of his brother cited the treatment as – “CRIMES AGAINST HUMANITY”.

At the basis of all interactions with patients is the threat of “the needle”, the “takedown” and the “quiet room”.
For years we have known of the “quiet room”, the constant threat of the “needle”.
There is even a “quiet room” at the new geriatric Villa Caritas.
Can you imagine, old, frail people being threatened and subjected to a “takedown”?

Drugs and the threat of the “needle” are the norm.
Dorothy Joudrie was quoted as saying, “no therapy, no compassion”.

Mind altering drugs are imposed on patients whether willingly or it is put in their food.
We have a complaint in process to the College of Physicians and the College of Registered Nurses concerning written orders, “do not mention to patient” in regard to medication

We also have documentation of where psychotropic drugs were administered to the same patient without the patient’s knowledge prior to the patient attending court.
This is against the law, against the code of ethics, it is deceitful.
At Alberta Hospital, all is hidden.
Everyone is afraid to complain, afraid “to cause trouble”.
We have now a number of complaints before the police, which we identify as assault.

Professionals registered nurses fail to be patient advocates.
We are aware of 12 suicides, the most recent at Villa Caritas shortly before the dedication of that facility, Rm. 1117, Unit 1A.

An older rape victim who entered AB. Hospital for help, was IV drugged to the point of ” derealization and depersonalization” When she objected to what was happening to her, she was subjected to a “takedown” and ended up on a urine soaked mattress, in a cement walled “quiet room” on 9B South, gaining cloudy consciousness three days later.

Another man, a professional lawyer was ordered by the court to be assessed and was sent to Forensic. He was not a violent man. He was subjected to a violent “takedown”. He had spoken publicly, in a derogatory manner about his professional association. He is now well known and respected in his community. This should not have happened.

A Fatality Inquiry, at which we had been given standing concerned a forensic patient who suffered from tachycardia.
The patient had asked to be returned to the Remand Center from Alberta Hospital. He had a right to ask for this under the Mental Health Act. Instead, he was subjected to a “takedown” . He was taken down, face down.
When he was rolled over, he was dead. Lividity had already set in.

The attending psychiatrist and the male RN disappeared, no longer licensed with their Alberta professional associations. We have found the psychiatrist, he is now living in another province.

There are numbers of Canadian citizens, stripped of all belongings and rights, who have been and are being detained, who don’t belong behind those locked doors.

It has been reported that on the Helen Hunley Forensics Pavillion that there are patients who have been detained for many years, one is known to be there seven years, another from the Peace River Region, twelve years.

A trivial scrap of paper known as a Mental Health Certificate keeps seniors there and can keep them there indefinitely.

There is much more to be said.

Published 27/04/19