With reference to your “‘Frustrated’ Dr. Marc Lockhart leaves Mental Health Commission” post:
Along with my previous letter to the editor, in your May 13, 2022 issue, titled, ‘Lamenting lack of mental health facility’, on page 4, you also quoted two other readers who gave their opinions online, one of whom was Cathy Rivers. Ms. Rivers discussed that there are patients who have been in a facility in Jamaica, one for 13 plus years, waiting to come home to the new facility here in Cayman in order to be closer to their families.
In your most recent article, Dr. Lockhart is quoted as saying, there are “12 patients in Jamaica and in the US and they, together with their families, are pleading to get care at home.”
This truly is tantamount to neglect on the part of the Cayman Islands Government, and warrants legal action. I would recommend that the families of these patients, some of whom may know one another, get together, contact an attorney, pool your financial resources together and sue the Ministry of Health. You have had years of pain and suffering and hardship, and this cannot be allowed to just carry on.
There was an article in the Compass, ‘Free legal assistance clinic launched’ in May last year, where persons can seek legal advice on a range of matters. While this may be a good option for these families to explore, I certainly recommend that they contact a strong private-sector attorney that can empathize with their plight and their cause, and can help them ascertain the appropriate remedial action and reach the objective they wish to achieve.
It is also important that the public is made aware of why this is such a crucial issue. As it is, when a person is at the current 11-bed facility at the Cayman Islands Hospital, they are kept in a holding pattern for days to weeks, to months in some cases, doing nothing in particular and placed on meds if necessary. The new mental health facility, in addition to offering the proper medications, will also offer rehabilitative programs, scheduled activities, life-skills learning, and regular in-house counselling assistance. All of which is not offered at the small 11-bed facility currently.
Sandra Tomlinson
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