Cambridge Hospital is a Prison For Those Who Know Too Much (Part 2)
Cambridge Hospital runs its “mental health” facility like a prison, not a hospital.
All names have been changed to protect patient and staff confidentiality.
If you would like to start the story from the start, please read Part 1.
On the eve of my 3rd day, I decided to take note of another sign on the wall of the 7 West Wing of Cambridge Hospital: Rights and Resources. It states:
The Human Rights Officer (HRO) is available to educate patients, families/guardians, and staff about human rights and assist any patient who believes their human rights have been violated.
Under it were the 6 Fundamental Human Rights written on the board:
The right to humane psychological and physical environment.
The right to be visited and visit with others daily and in private (as reasonable and safe).
The right to receive or refuse visits and phone calls from attorney, legal advocate, physician, social worker, psychologist, or clergy.
The right to send and receive unopened, uncensored mail.
The right to reasonable access to a phone to make and receive confidential calls.
The right to a fresh air break daily as weather permits and based on individual assessment.”
Since my sectioning, I had not been told of my right to Fresh Air. When I inquired about this to the nurses, I was told that I had missed all my Fresh Air time because my doctor had been meeting with me during its scheduled time.
“You can only go during the Fresh Air time,” the bitch ‘Sadie’ said.
“That’s not true,” I replied, “I’m reading the law right now.”
“We can only take you during Fresh Air time,” she repeated.
“But bitch, you don’t know the law!” I shouted. I was starting to get agitated, and agitation is used at every opportunity to convince others around you that you’re crazy even when everything makes sense. When I sensed it in myself, I walked away.
A bunch of more sympathetic nurses followed me, and tried to explain the policy again. I pointed to the Six Fundamental Human Rights.
“It says nothing about when I can take the Fresh Air time,” I said, “This is the law right here.” I took a few more deep breaths with the sympathetic staff, then returned to the front desk.
“I am sorry I snapped at you, Sadie,” I said, “It’s just incredibly frustrating when I am trying to advocate for myself. I apologize.”
November 6, 2024 - Day 4
I started my days in the Sensory Room, staring out the window and playing videos from the Calm App. One video in particular caught my attention.
“Everything is happening right now,” the narrator said over soothing low tones and a video of a globe, “This is not a live shot — of course. But let’s imagine it is. This is your world. I want you to think about something… right now, all at once, it is both day and night, dawn and dusk. Clouds are converging and clearing, storms looming and dispersing, temperatures heating and cooling, tides rising and falling. Every earthly function is unfolding. Right now, cycles of carbon, water, and energy. Convection currents are flowing, and so are rivers, and jet streams. In this moment in time, there are millions of species sharing the world with us, a profusion of living things dwelling on every mountain peak and ocean floor each organism living out its own purpose. Then there’s us, the humanoids, the human beings. Some eight billion, rising to the light of day and sleeping in the dark of night. They are facing their fears and living out their dreams. They are laughing. They are crying. They are striving. They are dreaming. Right now. And among them, one curious soul is watching this video, so look around this little planet of ours, and remember everything is happening right now, and you are a part of it. - Narrated by Jason Silva
When I was at Cambridge Hospital, I was one of the few patients who could interpret the law, or had even tried to research it. I would ask patients in the Common Area if they were under a Section 12 or a Section 10, and they could never tell me. “Are you here involuntarily or voluntarily?” I’d ask.
An older gentleman with mobility difficulties was friendly to me immediately, but didn’t know much about what his legal status in the hospital was. I gathered from some of his discussions that he disliked Bill Clinton and ‘commies’. I said his dislike for Bill Clinton was valid, as we know of course of his disgusting behavior in the Monica Lewinsky situation and on his flights with Jeffery Epstein. I pushed back a little on the second half. He said his dad was in the navy as a Marine, and fought in Okinawa. He also called Kamala Harris a “street person” and that she was “unlady-like”, so it was easy to guess who he wanted to win the election.
One man, a 50-something year old ‘Cliff’, when I asked him this question regarding their sectioning said, “I don’t know, the police just said ‘Do you want to come?’ and I said ‘Sure.’”
“Sounds like you’re here voluntarily,” I said, “You know you can sign a 3 day intent to leave?”
“No, I didn’t know that,” he said. ‘Cliff’ confided in me that he was here after a long battle with drinking after discovering his roommate, a 30 year old man who worked with him at Trader Joe’s, had been discovered dead in their apartment.
I also was able to bond with another patient, ‘Karen’, over our love of the musical Rent. We were playing “La Vie Boheme” and “Seasons of Love” on a signed-out tablet.
“I was married to Jonathan Larson,” she told me. She confided that she had met him when she was 16, and Larson was an adult man. She claimed they began to be romantically involved with each other, especially when he became her professor at Juilliard in the late 80s, right when RENT was beginning to be written.
“I thought Jonathan Larson was a gay man?” I asked.
“No,” she replied, “we were all polyamorous. I met him when he was my professor at Juilliard. I co-wrote all the lyrics of Rent with him.”
“What?!”
“Yes, I met them all: Idina Menzel, Anthony Rapp, Taye Diggs. I was meant to play Mimi on Broadway.” She explained that she was on Broadway since childhood, and played Little Orphan Annie on stage. She was in the scene, and was a huge fan of Larson and his artistic vision.
“What the fuck, you were in the original cast of RENT? And wrote all the lyrics? And Jonathan Larson kinda sounds like a predator.”
“No, don’t say that,” she said, “I got an A on the project, so don’t ever disparage Jonathan Larson. When we married in secret, he created a trust in my name. He keeps me secure. He’s still out there!”
“Wait, Jonathan Larson is not dead?” I asked incredulously.
“No, he’s still out in New York. Idina made sure of that.”
As we continued down listening to the RENT soundtrack, I told ‘Karen’ that I loved the musical. It was in fact my high school theater kid’s favorite Original Cast Album, probably only topped by Wicked, another Idina project. I knew RENT inside and out, watching the movie version religiously and belting out the tunes in my bedroom.
“My favorite was ‘Take Me or Leave Me’! Your lyrics meant a lot to me.” Karen started to sob uncontrollably, and nurses scrambled around us and tried to question why I had made her do this.
Later on midday, Dr. Ramen Noodles appeared again to ‘examine’ me. Asked me a bit about my background. I told him I studied French and Latin at the University of St Andrews. I worked as an ESL teacher. I worked on the Yes on 2 campaign for the MTA. At Panyaden International School, two teachers I knew personally were fired on shaky grounds, and it annoyed me. I’ve been a smoker on and off since undergrad. I smoke weed. I don’t drink too often. I’ve had a month off of weed since the sectioning, because my husband thought it was making me crazy.
“Interesting,” he said.
He suggested that he wanted to monitor my medication more, as he wanted to try different combinations. He asked who my therapist was, and where my PCP was.
“There’s just no good reason for me to be here,” I said, “When all I do here is journal and take up a bed. I think it could go to someone way more in need than myself.”
“Perhaps,” he said.
When he talked to my husband and mother on their own, he seemed to float a lot of interesting ideas about my mental health care plan. For example, staying another 7 to 10 days, or upping my medications, or refusing to let me use weed.
Later still in the day, the ‘John’ character that I had tried to speak to a couple times — since the staff seemed keen to separate us — seemed to be taken into police custody. The police didn’t like me asking what was going on, or asking why they were approaching with dozens of officers. They kept telling me to stay out of it. Which, fair enough, but it was bizarre to me that the police were so actively involved in the hospital.
The officers — Bozzi, Ramirez, and others I couldn’t catch — got into an altercation with him, and he seemed to disappear.
Around afternoon, another doctor ‘Dr. O’Brien’ came to do some art therapy with me.
“What do you typically like?”
“I’m a watercolor woman,” I said. She pulled out the shitty type of watercolor that children typically use. I shouldn’t have ever expected any Windsor and Newton set like what I have at home, I suppose.
I painted a shitty heart and tried to relax.
I told her about growing up as a child in Milton, Massachusetts. I started learning French in an immersion program designed to encourage desegregation in the district. White people love learning French. Haitian immigrants loved having a French program to help integrate into American society. It was genius. She asked about my wedding ring and my husband. I told her I went over to the University of St Andrews for a boy who broke up with me. I went to China and taught there for a summer, loved it, and was offered a job straight out of college. Then I went to work in Thailand. That’s where our session time ended.
She was boggled by every detail of my story. I didn’t think it was that strange, but people always seem boggled by it.
On the 6 o’clock news, Harris conceded the election. “While I concede this election,” she said, “I do not concede the fight that fueled this campaign.”
When I took my pills for the evening, Dr. Ramen Noodles had order a pill we hadn’t discussed. I took it without any hesitation. I was sick of the game.
November 7, 2024 - Day 5
My family and I were able to convince Dr. Ramen Noodles that my 3 days were up at 12PM. I went and enjoyed my Sensory Room time and did some research on Cambridge and Harvard. Here’s just a few articles I read:
Cambridge DSA, Sobrinho-Wheeler Demand Harvard Cough Up $100 Million in PILOT Payments | News | The Harvard Crimson
In the 2023 fiscal year, Harvard paid the City of Cambridge $4.3 million in lieu of property taxes. Some activists — including a sitting city councilor — are demanding the University cough up $96 million more. Cambridge City Councilor Jivan G. Sobrinho-Wheeler and the Cambridge Working Group of the Boston Democratic Socialists of America are circulating a petition calling on Harvard to pay the full total they would owe were they subject to property taxes.
Cambridge officials, candidates reflect on voter turnout, new council
CAMBRIDGE — Voter turnout for Cambridge’s election for city commissioners and a mayor on Oct. 19 was at 17%. Cambridge City Manager Glenn Steckman said that although this is a disappointing percentage, the polls were busy throughout the day on Oct. 19.
“And at points we had people lined out the door and around side the building,” he said.
CHA Named One of America’s Greatest Workplaces for Diversity for 2024 by Newsweek
This award recognizes Cambridge Health Alliance’s impact and commitment to diverse and equitable care for its patients and communities
CAMBRIDGE, Mass. – Cambridge Health Alliance (CHA), a community health system serving Cambridge, Somerville, and Boston's metro-north communities, was recently named one of America's Greatest Workplaces for Diversity for 2024 by Newsweek. CHA received a 5-star rating, the highest available recognition.
"Being named to this list is a tremendous honor and reflects the work of our providers and staff and our culture of diversity, equity and inclusivity," said Assaad Sayah, MD, CEO of Cambridge Health Alliance. "Diversity is truly one of our greatest values as we continue our journey of health equity and provide excellent care to everyone, every time.”
America's Greatest Workplaces for Diversity 2024
In today's corporate landscape, diversity is a widely discussed topic. Employers highlight their commitment to recruiting and advancing individuals of various ages, races, genders, sexual orientations and abilities. Companies recognize that a diverse workforce contributes significantly to organizational success. Diverse workforces cultivate creativity and innovation that stem from a mix of perspectives, experiences, and backgrounds, fostering a dynamic environment where new ideas come to life. Companies also value diversity for its positive impact on talent attraction and retention. In a globalized job market, attracting diverse, skilled professionals is vital for staying competitive. Job seekers, particularly younger generations, seek employers that prioritize diversity and inclusion. Employees are more likely to stay with a company that nurtures an inclusive culture where everyone feels valued—contributing to higher levels of job satisfaction and reducing turnover rates. While the attention on diversity has surged among companies, it can be challenging for job seekers, customers and potential partners to discern which organizations are genuinely dedicated to supporting a diverse workforce. In response, Newsweek and market data research firm Plant-A Insights Group are proud to present, for the second year, America's Greatest Workplaces for Diversity 2024, featuring the top large and mid-size companies recognized by their employees for genuinely respecting and valuing individuals from different walks of life.
I’m glad that Dr. Ramen Noodles saw some sense. My husband, mother, and I walked out of the hospital with no issue. We collected my belongings from my locked cupboard, like my purse and scarf. I took my journal and clothes. I took the small foaming cleanser they gave me to shower with. I took one last look at the front desk bitches and smiled. I was gone.