Another biography is about Mr. Grzegorz, who is a participant of one of the Community self-help centres in Łódź. His history shows the enormity of the possibilities of community support, but also the inevitable limitations of this form of
help for people with mental health issues. Mr. Grzegorz was born in 1952. He started studies at the Technical University, but didn’t graduate. He was diagnosed with schizophrenia at an early age. When he was 50 years old, he began attending
classes at the Community Self-help Centre (CSC) type A, which is intended for people with long-term mental health issues. He enjoyed culinary training, shopping and did well in cognitive development classes. He was a nice, well-thought-of
member of the institution mentioned earlier. For several years, he was functioning very well thanks to this form of support. Thanks to the Community Self-help Centre, he had a set rhythm of the day, friends and support in his ups and downs.
Over the years, he systematically visited his attending physician, took the prescribed medications, and carried out routine health examinations. It can be definitely stated that environmental support was one hundred percent successful
for him. The problems started when Mr. Grzegorz turned 65. Gradually, he became increasingly rigid in his behavior.
He always came to the CSC very early - he was standing in front of the door, often in the cold or rain, from 5 a.m. onwards. Whenever possible, employees came to work a bit earlier to keep Grzegorz from freezing. He was good at familiar
repetitive tasks, but was unable to get involved in something new. More and more often he asked one and the same question "will you give me my medicines?". Eventually he began to ask them a dozen times an hour, forgetting that he had
heard the answer a moment earlier. Some participants complained that his behaviour was disorganizing the classes, that they could not use their favorite forms of therapy because they were interrupted by constantly repeated questions.
We were in constant contact with his attending psychiatrist. From a certain point on, employees started to take turns to go with Mr. Grzegorz to the doctor's appointments, often using private cars.
Treatment modifications were not effective. Finally, after assessment by a clinical psychologist, the diagnosis was made: schizophrenic dementia.
Mr. Grzegorz began to neglect personal hygiene more and more, he wore the same clothes for weeks, he did not wash or shave. We decided that he would be taking a bath and changing his clothes in our CSC, but he kept forgetting to take clean
clothes from home with him. In the end, the SCS employee decided that he would go to Mr. Grzegorz's house to pick up a few clean clothes and underwear for him. It turned out that the house was dramatically dirty: for weeks the water
in the toilet had not been drained, there were several hundred dry and moldy rolls on the kitchen counter. Mr. Grzegorz refused to agree to use the services of an assistant or any kind of caregiver. Despite giving a consent to provide
this kind of service he did not want to let the caregiver into his house, and didn’t cooperate with her. We were in constant contact with Mr. Grzegorz's brother, who lives several dozen kilometers from Łódź. Unfortunately, he was unable
to care for him, as he was taking care of their old father and running a farm at the same time. He decided that Mr. Grzegorz should go to the Residential Care Home, he took care of filling in the documents, and arranged all the formalities.
It turned out that the waiting time for a place in this type of facility will be around 8 years.
Mr Grzegorz's whole life was associated with being a member of SCS and in the Self-Help Club which was open in the afternoon when
the SCS was closed. He was eating all his meals there, taking baths, taking all his medications and had his clothes washed. He would wake up around 4 am every day, leave the house and take the tram on a daily route to the center, a
bit like a carriage horse, moving back and forth. One day he didn't come... We knew something had to happen.
Grzegorz was not at home. He was missing. We called the hospitals, notified all emergency services.
He
ended up in a hospital in Brzeziny. So far, it is not known how he got there. Eventually, in a very bad mental state, he was sent to the Residential Care Home in an accelerated mode.
Summing up this story,
it should be noted that Mr. Grzegorz was in fact unable to exist independently. He functioned in the environment only because the employees of SCS went far beyond the scope of tasks of this type of institution. It should also be noted
that each time an employee (psychologist, occupational therapist) leaves the facility in matters relating to any participant, there are consequences for several dozen people on a given day, because then they don’t have classes
or the opportunity to talk about their problems with this particular employee. In fact, the role of SCS is not care at the place of residence, all help should be provided on the premises of the facility.
In the case
of Mr. Grzegorz, environmental help was far from sufficient despite the large expenditure of effort and resources and unfortunately the prognosis for the further course of the disease was unfavorable.
Would
it not be enough to place Mr. Grzegorz in a sheltered apartment?
Due to his condition, Mr. Grzegorz required round-the-clock care of another person. The monthly cost borne by the commune for the subsistence of a SCS participant
is approximately 1700 PLN / month. Adding to this the costs of about 3 assistant positions that would be necessary to provide Mr. Grzegorz with permanent care, it would turn out that the cost of his maintenance in the environment
exceeds the cost of keeping him in any Residential Care Home several times. Each human story should be approached individually and the forms of support should be adjusted to his health and situation. Therefore, let's use and adjust
the impacts, not forgetting that Residential Care Home is also a form of rehabilitation.
