Has anyone ever been to a nice hospital, where it's one of those fancy, almost spa like places, in like a desert or at the beach, the way they are always sending famous people off too...or addiction treatment places....they always look so beautiful. the hospitals by me are awful - i've been to a few, and worried it might be time again soon...how do i get to one of those nice places?

[splitimage]

Quite literally, how much cash do you have and what country are you in? The more you or your insurance is prepared to spend the more range of choice you'll have and the nicer the facility will be.

I've been in a couple of rehabs for alcohol addiction, one private and one through a publicly funded hospital.

The private rehab my company paid for me to go to. Beautiful modern building on a historic estate, beautiful gardens which were a bonus as I was there during the summer, decent gym on site and a hot tub. But bottom line, I still new I was in an institution. The food was insititutional and I had a room mate. As a minor detail the care was also crap and completely unsuitable for anyone with a concurrent disorder.

Rehab # 2. Outpatient this time, so I didn't have to deal with a room mate, but basically the hospital had been built in the 70's and seen very little renovation since then. Instructional videotapes were by and large from the 70's and 80's. But the staff were amazing, the care first rate, and they were set up to handle concurrent disorders. If I'd gone there in the first place, the whole course of my life in the past 6 years might have been different.

Re hospitals. Once again unless you're going super high end private the fact is that most hospital infrastructure is old, and until very recently nobody really gave a crap about the physical conditions for treating mental health.

I've been inpatient twice - same hospital but at two different sites.

Inpatient stay #1 typical psych patient ward. Early 70's industrial concrete and cinder block design. Shared bathrooms with no locks on the stalls and shared showers. Two people to a room, unless you got lucky and got a private room or got unlucky and landed in a tripple. your Dx and how well staff liked you were largely determining factors in room assignment. But the hospital had at least made an effort to brighten the place up by hanging nice art on the walls and having lots of plants. But the staff were excellent, lots of good group therapy, and a semi decent recreation program.

Inpatient stay #2 totally different experience. My psych hospital is undergoing a major redevelopment to improve its physical infrastructure & transform how patient care is delivered. I was in one of the new buildings and it was like being in a university dorm. Private room with a door I could lock. Private shower and bathroom attached. 6 rooms / floor with a shared living / dining area. Big windows. Nice courtyard with floors that you could go outside and sit in. Again the actual MH care was superb, but being in the new building made the experience totally positive.

And my psych hospital is entirely publically & donation funded.

-splitimage

[Elana05]

Hi jaded...

I know this sounds odd but... Could you call directly and ask to speak to someone about sponsorship or something? I always imagine that they have some funding aside for this... Maybe they do? I hear you, I have thought about this myself. (I don't have the money either). The truth is, everyone should have access to a nice, good, caring place when they are struggling. You are brave to ask for help and know what you need. Hugs...

E.

[TheDragon]

That sounds more like a rehab. Sometimes rehabs are really really nice places that are basically get away spas as you were describing. Hospitals are usually different, although some mental health treatment places are somewhat nice, sometimes on a farm or woods.

My first inpatient experience was in a great place...tons of activities, arts and crafts, we could go outside a lot...i was there a very long time and when i came home I came back with all kinds of plants i'd made in horticulture....yes, horticulture. Fast forward 10+ years and it is a shadow of it's former self. It was just like any other place. Dope you up and get you out.

I think I'm just at the point where i need an escape from my current life...I don't have the money for a private hospital, nor the kind of insurance that would pay for one. The last outpatient program i went to that was decent is almost an hour away, each way. I almost feel like running away. If I could just get some money together I'd be all set.
Just a very bad week.

[SpiritRunner]

I was just in hospital and it was a decent place as far as care goes; most of the nurses were nice. But still, I had to have a roommate, there wasn't a lot to do except go to boring groups that didn't really help me a whole lot. I hate arts and crafts, so read a book during that time/ I talked to a pdoc every day, which was nice, got different meds......but was basically left alone to do nothing but read. No going outside as I was on the 7th floor. Limited visitation....
At least the food was nice. But if you stay there long, you will get fat as there is really little exercise equipment, except a few old machines, available.
I feel worse than when I went. I don't understand how it helped me at all. Just cost money is all. I am home and in no shape to deal with life at all......
I guess I could have gotten more out of the experience if I had chosen to....but it was so depressing really to be there and i felt like an inmate, locked in and bored out of my skull. No help. But I probably should go back, as I am not fit for living real life right now....

[Sanada]

I live in the U.K. The hospitals here can be quite "Victorian". That's why I've avoided them like the plague. I have visited friends in those types of hospitals (i did not like what i saw). If I had any money I may put myself into a modern one. I have friends who through work have had it paid for them.

Its a difficult situation between money and state hospitals, in the U.K they are cutting back on everything in Whitehall. So I don't give the U.K hospitals (in all areas), much of a chance. I have to have faith that some multi million pound company decides to build some decent hospitals.

Portugal, has the best Re-Hab and mental hospitals on the planet, because they gave up the "war" on drugs, took all that money from the police and put it into hospitals. So even if someone is poor they get the same treatment as everybody else. A good idea.

Ya, all of my research seems to point to some rehabs being super nice, fancy, cushy and extremely pricey - unfortunately i can't swing that and also fortunately, i don't have an addiction problem.
3 more days till PDoc/T
i can do this.