Centennial Peaks Hospital

Centennial Peaks Hospital
Let's Be More Than Just Pretty on the Outside! Let's Be Beautiful and Healing Within!

Everyone Deserves the Finest Health Care!

Everyone Deserves the Finest Health Care!
A Better Future for All Starting Now

Sunday, November 29, 2015

Would you?

Would you want a heart surgeon to operate on you or a loved one who did not know all the latest research? Would you want a brain surgeion to operate on you or a loved who also was not up to date?Would you want an obstetrician or midwife who was stuck in the 19th century to help you or a loved one have a baby?

The knowledge of the doctors I met at Centennial Peaks was vastly inferior to my own, a patient. They didn't even know what lithium orotate was or that Eva Edelman who is at the forefront of
Bipolar Natural Healing considers it superior to lithium carbonate. They didn't even know anything about 5-HTP which supports Serotonin production and is one of the biggest bipolar godsends, depending on your specific profile. They didn't know that gluten free and sometimes dairy free nutrition can literally prevent or reduce mania. And they didn't know that the use of ECT, even today is far from harmless.

If you don't think a mental health patient should be subjected to ignorant doctors, come and join my campaign to shutdown Centennial Peaks Acute Impatient Unit in Louisville, Colorado. And then we can target and educate all the other Bad Psych Wards.

People who are having a tough mental time deserve the very best treatment!

Hippocratic Oath -- Not followed by Centenniel Peaks


The Hippocratic Oath is a sacred doctrine. It says that the patient is part of the healing process -- not merely someone the doctor or ward does things to.  Centennial Peaks as I will describe in full imposed its treatment upon patients without their input. This must stop. It must stop in Centennial Peaks and it must stop everywhere. Without the participation of the patient, healing cannot occur.

 First I would like to quote  from Hippocrates from his work Epidemics.

The physician must be able to tell the antecedents, know the present, and foretell the future - must mediate these things, and have two special objects in view with regard to disease, namely, to do good or to do no harm. The art consists in three things - the disease, the patient, and the physician. The physician is the servant of the art, and the patient must combat the disease along with the physician.

I will now quote from the Modern Version devised in 1964 by the curiously named Louis Lasagna and used in many medical schools.

I swear to fulfill, to the best of my ability and judgment, this covenant:

•I will respect the hard-won scientific gains of those physicians in whose steps I walk, and gladly share such knowledge as is mine with those who are to follow.

    I will apply, for the benefit of the sick, all measures which are required, avoiding those twin traps of overtreatment and therapeutic nihilism.

     I will remember that there is art to medicine as well as science, and that warmth, sympathy, and understanding may outweigh the surgeon's knife or the chemist's drug.

    I will not be ashamed to say "I know not," nor will I fail to call in my colleagues when the skills of another are needed for a patient's recovery.

    I will respect the privacy of my patients, for their problems are not disclosed to me that the world may know. Most especially must I tread with care in matters of life and death. If it is given me to save a life, all thanks. But it may also be within my power to take a life; this awesome responsibility must be faced with great humbleness and awareness of my own frailty.

     Above all, I must not play at God.


     I will remember that I do not treat a fever chart, a cancerous growth, but a sick human being, whose illness may affect the person's family and economic stability. My responsibility includes these related problems, if I am to care adequately for the sick. I will prevent disease whenever I can, for prevention is preferable to cure. I will remember that I remain a member of society, with special obligations to all my fellow human beings, those sound of mind and body as well as the infirm. If I do not violate this oath, may I enjoy life and art, respected while I live and remembered with affection thereafter. May I always act so as to preserve the finest traditions of my calling and may I long experience the joy of healing those who seek my help.

Wednesday, November 25, 2015

Horrors from Psych Wards Past -- How much has really changed?



This incredible video describes people in Victorian times put in insane asylums. It is beyond shocking. At this time, people who had Learning Disabiliies were shut up for years there too and given terrible treatments, including Laura Stephen, the half-sister of Virginia Woolf.

It's easy to look back and cringe but what will our future societies say about the way we treat inmates of Psych Wards today?

Secrets from the Asylum Episode #2 -

Monday, November 23, 2015

Vulnerable Patients Exposed to Violent Individual

Exposure to Dangerously Violent Patient

On Tuesday July 21  a new patient entered the unit. Up until then no one had exhibited any sign of violence or threat of violence. This patient known only as D*, was different. Large, weighing perhaps as much as 300 pounds, he breathed heavily and was clearly in great distress. I think that the team may have sedated him beforehand but did not seem to have a problem with allowing him to enter the day room, the common area in which all patients tended to gather.

Any sedation at that time turned out to be insufficient as not much later, he said something close to “that fucking window better be open because I am going to jump the fuck out.” This required a definite bout of sedation, after which he was allowed again access to the day room not much long after. I remember vividly that I was asked by the staff at some point to abandon my table in the day room where I was eating so he could have it.

 Around this time, D* walked the halls of the unit freely and he went by the room I shared with another woman. He actually crossed the threshold into our room for a few moments before heading away.

At approximately 6:00 - 6:15 pm the same day, D* stood up and rushed towards the locked double doors that directly faced the day room and led to outside the unit. With astonishing power, he kicked them through and ran away.

We were ordered to our rooms. This order was one that had already took place several times that day as each round of sedation failed to be effective. You can imagine how terrified we felt each time we were told to go.

As we came to my room this time, I could see how my roommate was especially terrified because of his prior entrance and because he was so violent and strong. I took a chair and blocked the door at an angle that would best serve as a barricade and also added a trash can. Then I leaned my back to the door and lifted a leg to place a foot against the door. I then gave my roommate a very quick lesson in self-defense from my study of martial arts. As we wondered what was happening outside we looked through the cracks but could not see anything. I put my ear to the door and heard loud noises but was not sure what they meant.

Then we heard a knock on the door. It was a staff member. She had blond hair. The staff member said everything was under control. She reprimanded us for the barricade, claiming that closing the door (which is forbidden generally) was a very wrong thing to do as it might lead the staff to the false conclusion that we were in danger. We should trust the staff, she suggested. Although I do appreciate this genuine concern about our safety, it seemed that in the face of the staff’s failure to contain the patient in the past, a barricade was probably a good idea nonetheless.

What do you suppose happened the following morning?

a.    We received an apology for the distress we experienced or at least some counseling.
b.    The kitchen managed to provide us all with the nutritious breakfasts we needed.
c.     D* was released again into the day room.

Sadly, the answer is in fact c. On 9 am that same morning he threatened to kick down the door again. I myself was dismissed later that day and do not know what happened next.

To recap, the staff of the ITU repeatedly exposed a violent patient to a population that can only be described as quite vulnerable both physically and emotionally  The first time can be understood, but not the subsequent instances. To add insult to injury, a staff member condemned us for attempting to protect ourselves from being assaulted when it was clear that the staff was in no position to protect us themselves. No attempts were made to address the severe trauma we had experienced through apology or any kind of group therapy.


I do realize that the staff of the ITU were facing logistical challenges about which I do not have direct information. But it is a standard practice to keep a violent patient isolated from the other patients for much longer than was done in this instance. Of the two other inpatient units of which I have some experience, isolation was used much more extensively for patients who were not even violent and any patient who used violence was usually transferred. It may be very well the case, there was no place to send D* then and there. But none of these possible explanations can can override the fact that the staff put our lives in danger and caused severe trauma.

Friday, November 13, 2015

Cenntenial Peaks Should Be Called Centennial Depths -- Some Background

About the ITU Unit

For the public record, below is some information about this unit.

The Intensive Care Unit at Centennial Peaks Hospital  (a for-profit LLC) is located on 2255 South 88th Street, Louisville, CO 80027.  It is the hospital’s inpatient psychiatric unit. The hospital’s mental health program as a whole is described on their website as:

Centennial Peaks Hospital offers a confidential, caring environment that promotes crisis resolution, positive self-awareness, coping skills and personal growth.

A typical day on the ITU begins with 7 am wake up (patients are allowed in the main room, the day room, beginning at 6am). Most patients have roommates. Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner are served each day and there are frequent snacks available. All days include the taking of vitals, the dispensing of medication and very frequent smoke breaks (at least every 2 hours to the best of my recollection). For patients who have seen a doctor, there is also a daily opportunity to go to an outdoor gym. There are also a wide variety of group activities, most that are too simplistic for someone highly educated. There is access to a TV, to telephones and to games and puzzles. Contrary to the literature supplied by the unit, I personally have seen no evidence of the following:

9:00 - 9:45 am Community Meeting/Goals Group
7:40 - 8:30 pm Daily Wrap Up/ PM Goals Group.


In addition, contrary to the ITU literature, myself a veteran of psychotherapy since 1990 never received anything resembling psychotherapy.

Sunday, November 1, 2015

About The Author


My name is Naomi S. S. Jacobs. I have a BA in Linguistics from the University of Chicago. I also have a Ph.D in Early Judaism from Durham University.

I have taught at Washington University in Saint Louis and Durham University (UK) where my character and integrity are known to many. Locally I have taught for CURFA (CU retired Faculty Association) and am known to a number of past and present CU faculty. I also am a community educator. I am also an artist who has exhibited nationally as well as locally.

Since 1991 I have been diagnosed with Bipolar Disorder. I have been open about this to my family, close friends and selected colleagues and much of my community. I have openly discussed my condition as a speaker for NAMI in Saint Louis and have plans to speak further on the subject in public.

I have never been violent nor have I been arrested nor have I ever smoked, been intoxicated by alcohol, taken any kind of recreational drug, including marijuana. As an educator, I have been consistently calm and balanced. Most people who meet me have no idea of my diagnosis. My insight into my own state of mind, even when manic, is notable, as well as my insight to what is taking place around me.








Introduction to My Story


In 1887 journalist Nellie Bly, on an undercover assignment for Joseph Pulitzer’s New York World, faked insanity to write an exposé on the inhumane conditions of the Woman’s Lunatic Asylum on Blackwell’s Island. Her publication, Ten Days in a Mad-House is full of horrors. This resulted in a grand jury investigation of the asylum that urged that the changes she proposed be implemented.

In 2015 I entered the Intensive Treatment Unit (ITU) at the for-profit Centennial Peaks Hospital in Louisville, Colorado from July 17 through July 22. During this time, I witnessed the staff endanger the safety of the patients by repeatedly exposing them to a violent patient. I also observed numerous violations of the Hippocratic Oath and even possible malpractice and fraud. Food, medication and possibly even ECT were administered in suspect ways. And few were the staff members who fully respected patients, who made the extra effort to alleviate patient suffering and who took personal responsibility for their actions.  A major exception was the nurse Toni who is worthy of public recognition for her conscientiousness, her skillfulness and her compassion. A gentleman named Chris and red-haired man who did art therapy are also commendable.

This exposé is compiled from accurate accounts by myself and other eyewitnesses. It is the contention of this report that the ITU facility be shut down and be thoroughly reformed to the satisfaction of an agreed upon third party before accepting patients again.

Welcome

Welcome to the Bad Psych Ward Blog, an educational resource with three goals:

  1. To warn prospective patients and their team to avoid the Acute Impatient Unit at Centennial Peaks Hospital in Louisville, Colorado — this unit is guilty of grave negligence and malpractice
  2. To state the case for why this unit should be shut down
  3. To draw attention to the broader problem of how our vulnerable psychiatric patients experience poor treatment in many of our wards, treatment that causes more harm than it helps, treatment that is out of touch with the latest advances in psychiatric healing, especially with regard to diet and the use of amino acids and other effective methods, and treatment that is rude, arrogant and at times cruel.

My name is Naomi S. S. Jacobs. I’m usually so stable most people have no idea I have a Bipolar I diagnosis. But due to a pregnancy scare last July I had to get off psych meds to protect the possible fetus. This was distabilizing so I entered the Acute Impatient Center at Centennial Peaks.

I will some be posting my entire story which includes (1) being denied my sleep apnea machine (2) being given food that violated my need for gluten free and dairy free (3) being forced to stop taking Lithium cold turkey  — something one should never do -- because they were ignorant about my superior type of Lithium (4) being asked to take a high blood pressure medicine would have harmed my blood sugar and kidneys because they were not thinking, (5) being limited in my ability to have fresh air because I was not a smoker and

(6) being exposed over and over again to a highly violent patient whom the staff could not contain. They would get him and then put him right in our common room again. He even went into my room once. You should have seen the look on my roommate's face as we were sent to our rooms yet again and I had to calm her down by barricading the room and teaching her self-defense moves.

But it’s not just my story. it’s the story of my fellow patients, some of whom were forced to take ECT against their will, some who got moldy broccoli for food, some who were never given an understanding about the drugs they were taking, some who were being kept far longer on the unit that the situation warranted.

We need to put an end to the Acute Impatient Unit in Centennial Peaks and re-imagine mental health care. If we can prevent just one person from being incarcerated there, we have done something good. If we can get out the word to all so that no one gets trapped there, that’s even better. And if we can shut down the unit, more power to us. And if we can start investigating all Psychiatric Units and hold them to a higher standard, now that is really something. 

Anyone, anyone can have a mental health emergency. The life you may save here may be your own.


Did you or a loved one experience a Bad Psych Ward? Soon there will be a chance for you to share your story too.

You can also read the story of another academic who was shocked by brutal psych ward treatment: 


I NOW APPEND MY RECENT EMAIL TO THE CEO OF THE CPH, ELICIA BUNCH

Dear CEO Bunch,


Prior to our meetings I would like you to take a good hard look at the use of ECT on your unit.

Yes, it can help some patients.

But your unit uses it to a high degree, often without the patient’s true consent. And scientists agree it causes permanent brain damage.

And did you know that Neurofeedback is a far superior method for healing the brain permanently?  I speak of this with extensive experience and can refer you to someone to talk about it.

There is also Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3181669/ which also looks like a far superior method.

Also if you give people the right diet and supplements, many depressions will not even require you go those routes.

And the way the ECT is administered at your unit is barbaric.

CEO Bunch, I’m going to be upfront here.

I am going to give you an opportunity to make your Unit the absolute best in the country. I know enough to help you do that. 

Or I will continue to give your unit the worst publicity I can. I am a professional writer and speaker and I am a very determined and persistent person. Working very seriously with me is the smart play, I assure you,

My starting position is that you shut down your ECT immediately. Because with it your facility has been committing crimes against humanity. And I do not use that phrase lightly.

But CEO Bunch, think of making your ward a truly healing place. Think how beautiful that would be. How much good that would do, lives you might change for the better, lives you might save. When you are at the end of your life and are reflecting on the choices you have made are you going to be proud because you made tons of money for your company or because you left the world a better place than you found it? Don’t tell me your hands are tied because of this or because of that. There is always a brave and enlightened choice to be made. Think about anyone in your life whom you truly love. Now think about them being misserved in their greatest time of need. I’m going to bet on you CEO Bunch that you want to the right thing with all your heart. Work with me. Shut down the ECT. Transition into having entirely new staff. Listen to my suggestions. We can do this together.

Happy New Year,
Naomi SS Jacobs, PhD