The Social Services at MSP - Yamoussoukro

Today, I am presenting you the social services at our Psychiatric Hospital. Mr Rene, the social assistant, is our person of interest here, and he is the only staff member with a small office. Fortunately, he doesn’t complain about it. He knows, as well as all other staff members, that his office is not limited at the hospital. It is in the society, the villages surrounding the hospital, even out of the country's boarders. In the fact, he is the staff member with a big office! As he explains it, his job starts when the patient enters the hospital the first day. While the nurse follows the patient while in the hospital, Mr Rene goes beyond the hospitalization period and follows the patient even at home. Everyone knows him because he knows everyone.

At MSP, 95% of all hospitalized patients have social issues that necessitate a special attention toward their successful recovery. Most of the time, these patients come from broken families, poor families with no financial means to support the recovery process, or have problems related to employment and relationships. As a patient comes at the hospital, he is received first by the welcoming team which takes the preliminary information and prepares him for consultation. The social assistant works in concordance with the welcoming team to get the first glance of information needed to conduct his activities. After consultation with the psychiatrist, the patient is sent to the nursing team who takes over with different therapies or prepares him for hospitalization. It is when the patient is to be hospitalized that the social assistant starts his intense inquiries with the family and the patient. It is always crucial that the social assistant gets most of the information on the first day when the family members are present. In cases when no family member is available, as it happens sometimes, the social assistant relies on the information provided by the patient and other interviews done where the patient was found (in the city, market…). In the long run, most of patients provide reliable information that helps the social assistant to track their families and relatives. In other instances, after the first day, some families disappear from all contacts with the hospital. It is the role of the social assistant to do follow up in search for these families to remind them of their responsibilities.

It is always important to work with families throughout the period of hospitalization and to involve them in the therapies as much as possible so that the process continues even after the hospital. The analysis at MSP has shown that most of patients who get re-hospitalized are due to the failure of the family involvement in the after-care.

Every day, the social assistant is the last person to leave the hospital. Given the amount of responsibilities he has, he plays a crucial role in the recovery and rehabilitation of our patients. One thing he is proud of telling when you talk to him is the stories of his traveling when he goes to visit families of our patients even in places where there is no transport. How he goes there? It is his secret.
To get more of other services, don't miss our next article!

By Jean-Clement, RN, BSN

Hôpital psychiatrique St Vincent de Paul : Une main tendue aux malades errant dans la ville

A Yamoussoukro, les malades mentaux ne sont pas abandonnés à eux-mêmes. Sur un fond religieux, l’hôpital psychiatrique Saint Vincent de Paul leur ouvre les bras afin de les soulager et leur offrir une chance de retrouver une vie normale.

«Nos ressources sont limitées, vu que la plupart des parents ne paient pas, alors que nous ne pouvons pas abandonner un malade sans soins», commente frère Félicien. Il insiste sur le credo de l’institut : « Notre devise : Deus Caritas Est (Dieu est Amour). Notre joie, c’est de voir la population comprendre que la maladie mentale peut être soignée et qu’un malade mental est une personne…».
Lisez toute l'article ici

Ecrit par "Ousmane Diallo" à Yamoussoukro

Continuing Education at MSP

At MSP, every once a month, all the medical staff takes at least 2 hours of continuing formation in mental health. Thanks to Dr Diomande, the visiting psychiatrist at MSP, we get to discuss and get more of the mental health issues that we come across in our daily activities. This last Friday, the 20th August, the theme of the discussion was on “Psychosis and paranoid personalities”.

Continuing education is one of the objectives set up by MSP to make sure that all the staff is updated in both knowledge and skills needed to provide competent and professional care to our clients.

Two weeks ago, the 13th August, the team of ergo-therapy took the lead to expose to the staff the new schedule of their activities. At MSP, Ergo-therapy occupies an important role. It provides activities and therapies such as occupational therapy, physical therapy, rehabilitation, education, relaxation, etc. In the future, the team plans to involve actively parents and family of our residents for sessions and family therapy.

Click here for photos

Jean-Clement, fc
MSP Yamoussoukro

City of the "insane" or city of "hope"?

Coming at MSP during the day is like going to the moon. Probably you would say that you want to have the first ticket. “Going to the moon?” I would be the first too. Perhaps, it is not as really exciting as you would imagine. MSP is located outside of the city, a place where public transport is not accustomed to go, like to the moon…It makes sense. But this is not the moving part of the story. The first time I was taking the taxi from the city I asked the taxi-man to take me to MSP which is on the way to Oumé. The taxi-man seemed not to understand what I was saying. I thought that it was my “French” which was not understandable. So, I repeated the same thing, “I want to go to MSP, how much?” The guy looked at me and told me, “is it that place where they treat crazy people?” Grudgingly, I said, “yes”. From there I was able to discuss the price with the taxi-man without any problem. Since then I came to understand that MSP was publicly known as the “city of crazy people” or “where crazy people are being treated” (là où on soigne les fous). Hopefully, the taxi-man did not think that I was also a crazy man who wanted to go there for treatment; otherwise he would not have taken me.

In reality, when you leave the city during the night taking the road toward MSP, some miles before the hospital, what you see is an isolated type of city, surrounded by bright lights, in the center of a forest. As you drive along the road, no other light you see other than the ones at MSP. As you approach the city, you start seeing everything clearly: beautiful buildings surrounded by large gardens with lights everywhere. Only those who have been inside these buildings know what city it is all about.

Me, I call it the “city of hope”. This is the place where everyone who comes in goes out transformed. They call them crazy people when they come in, but you have to wait till they go out to see how joyful they are. This is a place where these individuals are given “back” what they have lost out there: dignity, ability, love, but mostly, hope. One resident who was admitted with suicidal ideation shared with us a week later that he was no more thinking about killing himself, because he was “loved more than he has been even at his own home”. He loved the care, the ambiance, the atmosphere, and the place. Being here, he realized the really joy of living. When his parents came to visit him later, they jumped with joy.

Yet, our “city of insane” as the public calls it, still has a long journey to go and challenges to surmount. The foremost is community sensitization. We want to spread the city of hope out of the walls of MSP. This hope that those who come at MSP go out with should be kept even when in the community. It is always devastating when we receive former residents who come back due to failure to carry on their hope. The most reason that is given is that the community was not compliant and supportive to their recovery. It is only when the community understand what its members are living that the stability of health can be achieved.

The MSP is elaborating a program to work with parents of our residents because they are the ambassadors of our mission. These are the individuals who understand the really challenges we face because they share them for the big the big part. Parents will be the first missionaries to bring out the message that what lies behind the walls of MSP is not a city of insane where “crazy people are treated”, but a city of hope where “individuals are given back their dignity”.

Jean-Clement Ishimwe, fc