November 2, 2011Laurence M. Merlis
President and CEO
Abington Memorial Hospital
1200 Old York Road
Abington, PA 19001
Dear Mr. Merlis:
On August 22, 2010, Justin Hawkes, a 27-year-old member of my support Group, New Directions, took his own life because he could not get an appointment at your Creekwood Mental Health Center. The agony of his depression was so unbearable, he downed a bottle of diazepam.
Since then, I have been on a crusade to work with Creekwood whereby they would implement the "OpenAccess" system of care, first utilized, I believe, by physicians at Kaiser Permanente in California. Under this system, several slots would be kept open per day at Creekwood for patients like Justin who are suicidal or in a severe crisis. Per my enclosed article in the Intelligencer, he was already a patient at Creekwood, but his appointments were canceled or changed and he never got to see the doctor for his all-important psychiatric evaluation and medication.
Creekwood needs a huge push from you, Mr. Merlis. No one else will do. Last time I contacted you, you referred me to Rick Fullam and Dr. Maryanne Delaney, who, sorry to say, do not support me. Please read my comments in my enclosed blog post about a meeting held yesterday at Creekwood.
I'd be happy to schedule a meeting with you, Mr. Merlis, or someone who supports my idea. I have visited the offices of State Sen. Stuart Greenleaf and Rep. Tom Murt, but neither were helpful. You can see my determination.
This is a situation that must change. We owe this to the young businessman and merry prankster that was 27-year-old Justin Hawkes.
Sincerely,
Ruth Z. Deming, MGPGP
Director
cc: Ara S. Moonjian, MD, officer of AMH
No comments:
Post a Comment