My name is Adam Babbitt.
My father was schizophrenic, my mother suffers from depression, and around age 16 I was diagnosed with a version of bipolar; back then they called it manic-depressive disorder, or something like that.
I have been in treatment with the Providence Center since age 4, when my father was sentenced to death for murder.
I have had a hard time keeping appointments for years. This is in part due to my mental illness, and also because I have worked full time for years, and a big problem I have had is with the punctuality of the case workers, doctors, and such that I have made appointments with through the years.
Some days it is a real time crunch making it to appointments, and with my illness, it is hard enough to find an appropriate job, let alone to keep it for any length of time, so cancellation of appointments has been a regular occurrence for me especially over the last two years, as I have tried to maintain employment, something that thousands of people with the same illness from which I suffer do not even attempt.
I was hospitalized at Butler twice last year due to manic episodes. I have not been hospitalized this year, which is a miracle, but it is only May, so we will see how 2019 goes.
I lost my last job due to the fact I was being hospitalized for the second time in a year.
All that history being explained, I will now get into the complaint that I have with a new case worker named Tenita Valles.
She returned my call to the Providence Center last week to tell me that I had "blown off my last two appointments" and that I would be sent a letter about having my treatment discontinued if I didn't go to my appointment, scheduled for two this afternoon.
I disconnected the call when she would not stop warning me about treatment being discontinued, after I did not bother explaining to her that there were reasons that I canceled both appointments. She told me that she makes her own schedule, but still could not see me for a week.
At any rate, I was early for the appointment, and when Ms Valles was 10 minutes late according to the clock posted on the wall in the waiting room, I wrote a note stating that I would once again need to reschedule. I left, went outside and reconsidered, went back in, and found out that in the 5 minutes in which I had been outside of the building, she had appeared and taken my note.
I went in and told the secretary that I had reconsidered, since Ms Valles was already aware that I was out of medication. I had made her aware of that the Thursday, before on a very contentious and rude phone call and she told me she was booked until May 23, so I had to wait a week, which I did.
In Ms Valles' office she warned me that my behavior would not be tolerated on her unit, although she was not clear as to her meaning. Granted, I had switched teams twice, because my first case worker did not keep her word regarding helping me with public assistance, so I did it myself. On the second team that I was assigned, I found out a month or so later there was no therapist, so I was forced to request yet another switch up so that I can have a trained person to talk to at my appointments, someone trained to care about my illness.
I asked Ms Valles to proceed, since the meeting was already running late, at which point she began in the rudest and haughtiest manner possible to look for a doctor for me, or a therapist, I'm not sure. She scrolled through a database for about a minute talking to herself about how "this is ridiculous" (I assume she meant dealing with me).
She asked me whether or not I receive Social Security benefits. I replied in the negative. Then she inquired as to my living arrangements. I told her I live in an apartment. Then she asked me or the second time whether or not I receive Social Security benefits. I replied, "As I said before, I do not."
She the told me that I was too condescending, and to leave her office and to reschedule the appointment. That was beyond the pale, as I was reminding her of my previous answer that it seemed like she had forgotten a minute later.
Sending the mentally ill on to the street without medication is cruel.
https://npidb.org/doctors/behavioral_health/counselor_101y00000x/1467992313.aspx?src=2
The link above is the counselor's National Provider Identifier Database entry.
She needs empathy training.
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