Waning Experience

A Special CrazyComposer Editorial

The news that yet another talented and highly experienced employee associated with the (dare I say “now defunct”?) Psychiatric Rehabilitation Program at the Royal Ottawa Mental Health Centre had been left with no alternative but to leave their place of employment came as little surprise, though it grieved me deeply for the loss that it represented. When I initially learned that the PSR program had been slated for the chopping block I knew it would be inevitable that many talented individuals would ultimately be leaving the hospital. Within a few weeks one of the most experienced psychiatric nurses decided to take the option of early retirement rather than have to endure any more mistreatment at the hands of the administration. Others followed shortly thereafter. Now a talented Occupational Therapist is joining their ranks and she will be followed by a Psychologist and … well, how many more will there be?

The philosophy that attrition is the better part of valour has become entrenched in the warped economic plans of this feckless board of directors, or so it would seem, and it is far easier on an administrator’s conscience, where one exists, when they are able to manipulate their employees into leaving – seemingly on their own volition – rather than having to hand them their pink slips in person. Of course, this hardly addresses the true cost of this situation. While the PSR program was put on the chopping block in an effort to save money in our budget-strapped health care system, it would seem as though there hasn’t been a single attempt to analyse the ramifications of the loss of so many specialised mental health care workers.

This ongoing drama made me recall a memory from my childhood, growing up in Sudbury, Ontario; on a warm summer’s day (yes, they happened) I was sitting in a playground at the end of the street we lived on, watching some older boys playing on the monkey bars, doing things that I could not do because I was too small. To be older, to have more experience, to have more … what was it that came with age, I wondered, height … intelligence … so many things that might come in handy. As I rode my bike home the thoughts that went through my head were quite simple: being young was fine, but I now knew that there was nothing to fear from growing older; with age came all of the things that made life worth living. After all, you can only play in a sandbox for so long before it begins to chafe.

What the administration at the ROMHC has failed to recognize is that they are driving away decades of accumulated experience and wisdom that cannot be replaced by five times the number of newly minted graduates – if the vacated positions are ever refilled (which is doubtful). When a psychologist with nearly 25 years experience leaves the hospital at the end of this month – for the simple reason that rehabilitation (preventative therapy!) is not a priority of our health care system – a resource that has been cultivated over a period of a quarter century will be lost to the patients and any staff that may want to call upon his considered experience and wisdom. How does this serve the community?

The loss of an Occupational Therapist with several years experience here in Ottawa, as well as a number of years in mental health care treatment centres in Toronto is another irrevocable loss of experience, wisdom, and tremendous humanity. There is no new graduate OT that can draw upon the wealth of lifetime experiences that have now been consigned to the trash heap by the visionless administration, steering this hospital like the Titanic – directly on course for the iceberg that would send it to the bottom of the ocean.

There is no value in a shiny new building if it is inhabited by shadows and incompetents; driving out the best resources you have – your employees – is not how to lay a solid foundation for any organization, let alone one that purports to serve the needs of the community. This new building, now more than a year old and still unfinished, is suffering from the deficiencies perpetrated by those whose plans are now tearing apart the heart of what the ROH represented: providing patients with the tools for recovery.

It seems an ironic note that in re-branding the Royal Ottawa Hospital the choice should fall to: ROMHC, standing for Royal Ottawa Mental Health Centre: What word is missing? Perhaps a better acronym should have been ROMHCC, for Royal Ottawa Mental Health Care Centre: You see, that is the real problem here, they have taken the Care out of the Royal – they may not care, others still do. We must stop the drain of talented, experienced individuals before it is too late.

CrazyComposer, out.