Share with the unfortunate

(Baonghean) - This week, on social networking sites, some somewhat offensive images of the lives of mental patients at the Nghe An Social Protection Center have appeared, attracting the attention of the community. However, few people know that behind them are the difficulties and hardships of the staff and employees of this Center...

Located in Hamlet 1, Giang Son Dong Commune (Do Luong), Nghe An Social Protection Center was established under Decision No. 1962/QD-UB dated November 23, 1995 of the Provincial People's Committee, on the basis of the predecessor of Social Nursing Camp 202 established by Nghe Tinh Provincial People's Committee under Decision No. 61/UB/XDCB dated January 7, 1977. The initial functions and tasks of the Center were to manage, nurture, and care for the elderly, the disabled, and orphaned disabled children with no place to rely on. On March 11, 2003, the Provincial People's Committee issued Decision No. 828/QD - UBVX on the establishment of a mental health facility located in the Social Protection Center and began receiving mental patients from 2004. Currently, the Center is managing, caring for, and nurturing 140 subjects, including 122 mental patients, the rest are lonely elderly people with no place to rely on.

The staff of the Center care for patients.

Director of the Center, Mr. Nguyen Xuan Phu said: “The workload is huge but the number of staff of the Center is very small compared to the requirements. Decree No. 68/2008/ND-CP of the Government stipulates the conditions, procedures for establishing, organizing, operating and dissolving social protection facilities, at point d, Article 13 “Standards of staff”, clearly stipulates: Severely mentally ill people (agitated, terminally ill): 1 staff to take care of 2 subjects; mentally ill people who have improved: 1 staff to take care of 3 to 4 subjects; mentally ill people who have recovered: 1 staff to take care of 8 to 10 subjects. In section 2 of this article, it is stipulated: Staff and employees doing nutrition work including serving food, cooking: 1 staff to serve 20 subjects... However, up to now, the total number of staff, civil servants and contract workers of the Center is only 27 people, of which 17 are staff who regularly come into contact with patients, including 10 medical staff, 4 nutrition care staff and 3 security guards. In addition, the Center's campus is very large, 6 hectares, with 3 buildings (administrative, nursing home and mental health care) scattered around, so moving, cleaning, monitoring... is quite difficult.

Despite the constant difficulties, the staff here have made great efforts to overcome them and do their job well. Of the 27 staff members at the Center, 12 are women working in the medical and nutrition care departments, most of whom have young children. Having worked for many years taking care of mental patients, Ms. Ho Thi Ai (born in 1962), from Nam Dan district, confided: “In 1983, I came to work at the Center. Before, although the work was hard, it was not as stressful as it is now. Since 2004, when the Center received severely mentally ill patients, we had to face many fears. Some of my colleagues and I were assaulted by patients, even having our pants and shirts torn many times. Most of the women who came to work here had to cut their hair short so that the subjects would not pull their hair when they got agitated. However, thinking about those who were less fortunate and for the sake of our work, we automatically encouraged ourselves to overcome everything to complete our tasks.”

For Ms. Nguyen Thi Hang (born in 1985), a nutrition care staff, her family situation is very difficult. She started working at the Center in 2008, her husband is a worker in Thanh Hoa, she works alone and raises 2 young children, the oldest is 5 years old, the second is less than 2 years old, while her mother-in-law has a stroke and is bedridden. Ms. Hang confided: “Although my family situation is like that, I think I am still luckier than many people, because I am still healthy, have a husband, children, and a warm family. Most of the patients being treated at the center are almost abandoned, rarely cared for by relatives. Sometimes when they have a seizure, they go crazy, even beat us, but normally they are very gentle, sometimes even shy, very pitiful.”

Doctor Nguyen Van Ba, Head of the Center's Medical Department, added: "The mentally disabled people here are all cases where their families or localities are unable to manage and care for them. Many cases are classified as potentially dangerous to society. For them, the line between good and evil is very fragile. They can have an attack at any time. Even I have been assaulted and injured by patients many times. Therefore, the staff at the Center always adhere to the ideology that when in contact with patients, they must be close and friendly to avoid creating agitation, but must always be vigilant to prevent it. When on the night shift, when checking a patient's room, there must be 2-3 people to protect each other." However, there have been many cases of injuries, even serious injuries, due to assault by patients. In 2014, Nguyen Trong Hung, a security guard at the Center, was assaulted by 3-4 patients and had to be hospitalized with multiple injuries. The sisters still feel sorry when mentioning the case of Ms. Ng. T. Ch, a nutrition care staff, who had 3 miscarriages due to work pressure... Although it is so hard and dangerous, many employees here have low incomes, such as Mr. Bui Huu Tai and Ms. Nguyen Thi Nhung, although they have worked at the Center for 4-5 years, their total income and allowances are only at a coefficient of 2.06, which is more than 2.3 million VND.

Discussing the images of people without clothes, eating with their hands... on social networking sites recently, Mr. Nguyen Van Ba ​​said: “With patients with especially severe mental illness, not only are they unable to control their behavior, they also have almost no feeling for the temperature outside. It is hot in the summer, but in the winter, even when it is bitterly cold, many patients take off or tear their clothes. As for the subjects eating with their hands, the Center used to have spoons and chopsticks, but the subjects used those items as weapons to fight and there were cases where their eyes were poked, so we had to let the patients eat with their hands. The patients' rice bowls are thin, tough plastic bowls, not ceramic or aluminum ones. The plastic bowls being crushed, even torn, punctured, happen all the time. We even have to put some patients' food in plastic bags instead of putting them in plastic bowls because they can tear the bowls and scratch their faces. me...".

Director Nguyen Xuan Phu said: “Currently, most of the subjects being cared for at the Center receive a subsidy of 360,000 VND/month for the elderly who are lonely and have no one to rely on; 450,000 VND/month for the mentally ill. Each subject receives 3 meals: breakfast, lunch and dinner. Regarding each subject's portion, breakfast is usually 1 banh chung or 1 bowl of instant noodles; lunch and dinner mainly consist of rice, pork (or fish), vegetables and soup. Sick subjects are replaced with porridge or fresh milk. With a standard of 6,000 VND/meal, the Center has tried to ensure that the subjects have enough to eat. The implementation of the regime for the subjects at the Center is planned, calculated in detail, and in accordance with the principles.” To help cadres with difficult family circumstances, each year, cadres, workers and employees of the center have deducted 1 day's salary... With that effort, along with the attention and support of the local government, agencies, departments and branches, the Center has successfully completed its tasks.

"However, the Center's tasks are becoming increasingly difficult because the number of mentally ill patients entering the Center increases every year, while the Center's staff, employees, and contract workers are currently overloaded. Therefore, we hope that the authorities will pay attention to supplementing the Center's staff or signing contracts with salary funds. In addition, the Center currently does not have doctors and lacks specialized psychiatric medical equipment. Therefore, in order to better care for mentally ill patients, there needs to be a mechanism to attract doctors to the Center and supplement necessary medical equipment. ..." Those are the wishes of Director Nguyen Xuan Phu and the staff and employees of the Social Protection Center when confiding in us.

Article and photos:Minh Quan