Follow Us 
Related News
Current Poll
| Hospital Begins New Treatment |
 |
 |
 |
| News - Osawatomie | |||
| Written by Brandon Steinert | |||
| Wednesday, 18 November 2009 08:00 | |||
Longtime Osawatomie State Hospital patient Joe Reifer, sitting in his one-person room, tosses around ideas about what he wants to do with his day. Should he play video games? Maybe he’ll head down to the canteen or simply go for a walk.  These are options not available to Reifer only two and a half weeks ago, before he began participating in the hospital’s new transitional program, Pathways to Success. The program is welcomed by longtime patients who are stable, but might have burned bridges in the community in the past, hospital Superintendent Greg Valentine said. “(The facility) is a small unlocked unit that will house people who have been at the hospital for quite a while,” he said. “We will use it to transition them out into the community using volunteer opportunities and employment opportunities to move them out of the institution. They’ll be on campus for now, but the whole idea is to transition them out of the hospital.” That’s an idea and goal shared by those who have enrolled. Mary is one who joined as soon as the program became available. She’s currently seeking employment, and her favorite part of her new freedom is being able to cook for herself. “This will benefit me in the long run. I want to show that I can make it out in the community,” she said. “I want to show other patients that they can do it, too. If I can do it, they can do it.” The facility is an eight-bed unit, although only three patients reside there now. Despite the additional freedoms, life in the program is not all fun and games. Patients are required to go to two classes in the morning, two in the afternoon and one in the evening. Each focusses on a different aspect of everyday life, from shopping and cooking to peer support and community living. Reifer said he has some big ambitions and thinks the hospital is doing what’s needed to help him achieve his goals. “They’re doing a wonderful job,” he said. “This program was needed a long time ago. I would have been out a long time ago.” He eventually wants to live in an apartment on his own and be independent of staff support. “They gave me hope that there is a light at the end of the tunnel,” he said. Mary boasted about working toward similar goals. “I want to get out of the hospital and make a life for myself,” she said. The optimistic attitudes of the participants is an asset to their progress, and Valentine said he is equally confident in their success. “My hope is that some of these folks that deserve to live outside of the institution will now be able to,” he said. “The goal is to say goodbye to all of them; I mean that very kindly.”
Set as favorite
Bookmark
Email This
Hits: 237 Trackback(0)
Comments (0)
 Write comment
You must be logged in to post a comment. Please register if you do not have an account yet.
|
TrackBack URI for this entry
Subscribe to this comment's feed
