That history was uncovered only through interviews and public records requests from local, state and federal agencies. It took several weeks to compile the information. Unfortunately, parents seeking help for their children in crisis don't have much time to find the best facility.
Jason Clark's daughter Kayla is no stranger to Holly Hill Psychiatric Hospital in Raleigh. She has been fucked unconscious several times. Her daughter also tried to escape earlier this year, but she was stopped at the nurse's station.
Asked if he would send his daughter back to Holly Hill if necessary, Mr Clark said: “I don't want her to go back there.”
Clark told WRAL Investigates that Kayla had asked to leave during a previous visit, but it wasn't easy to schedule in the first place.
“When I finally met her, she was so happy to see me and was drooling and just asking me if I could help her get out,” Clark said.
Clark supports involuntary involvement in cases like her daughter's who really need help. He just wanted his parents to have more control.
“Every parent should have a say when their child is unwittingly committing a crime,” Clark said.
But a WRAL investigation found that even with increased controls, parents are still in the dark when it comes to mental health facilities like Holly Hill.
WRAL investigators asked state Rep. Sarah Crawford, D-Wake County, why they can go online to check inspections, scores, and violations for general hospitals, child care centers, nursing homes, and restaurants, but mental health I asked if the hospital could not confirm it.
“That's very worrying,” she replied.
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services has a robust database of hospital inspections, quality of care, and staff ratings. However, when I try to search for many inpatient mental health hospitals, it says that no information is available in any category.
“We need to make sure that all substantiated claims are made available to people,” Crawford said.
The WRAL survey asked the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services [CMS] Regarding lack of information.
“While CMS does not award star ratings to psychiatric hospitals, consumers can find valuable, high-quality information by using the following CMS resources,” a CMS spokesperson said in a statement. Stated.
These resources included in the statement were spreadsheets that could be downloaded but cannot even be deciphered considering all the categories, acronyms, and codes that do not necessarily reflect the actual quality of care . The other resource was the same online database, which also lacked information on hospital performance.
WRAL Investigates learned through a public records request that in a 2021 inspection, Holly Hill was releasing patients with discharge papers signed by someone who did not have a nursing license and did not work for Holly Hill. I discovered that.
A few months later, the facility was in immediate danger when two teenagers escaped by jumping over the fence. That meant they could lose federal payments. Inspectors also noted that on at least two occasions, staff failed to stop sexual interactions between patients.
Just last year, researchers discovered a problem where patients' treatment plans were not being followed as planned. Investigators also found multiple problems with drug handling, administration and record-keeping.
For Clark, it was all new because all of these tests aren't readily available to parents.
Crawford says that needs to change.
“We need to do a little research to know how to deal with this,” Crawford said. [state lawmakers] To take a look at this. ”
For parents like Clark, change didn't come quickly. Parents would feel more at ease if they had more information, he said.
Without transparency, you wonder what is being hidden. Because I've never known anything good that was hidden by a company or corporation,” Clark said.
If you are having suicidal thoughts or a mental health crisis, call or text 988. Veterans can dial 988 and press “1” to connect directly to the Veterans Crisis Lifeline. For text messages, veterans should continue to text the Veterans Crisis Lifeline short code: 838255.
