newsobserver.com projects - Dorothea Dix - Comments

Re: DHHS nixes Dix scripts

tangoz — Wed, 08 Oct 2008 20:38:52 -0400

Secretary Benton needs to be investigated. I would say by the State Ethics Commission but they do not investigate Democrats. Hey a novel idea, have the State Auditor Les Merritt do it. Oh wait, the General Assembly of Democrats may get called back to pass a law against that. What do we do, what do we do?

Paul Terrell III
http://terrellforhouse33.blogspot.com

Re: DHHS nixes Dix scripts

McCroryManager — Wed, 08 Oct 2008 18:01:12 -0400

This probably lhappened to circumvent the law because they were operating both hospitals under one certificate. Somebody should look into that.

Re: Mental hospitals face Catch-22

McCroryManager — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 10:03:12 -0400

What a mess! We weren't sure who to blame until Lt. Governor Perdue said in the WTVD debate that she has been the "#1 leader in healthcare for North Caroina." Great leadership, Lt. Governor Perdue.

Re: McCrory objects to faster Butner opening

ginnyrachel — Wed, 09 Jul 2008 23:01:22 -0400

It is reassuring that both guberbatorial candidates think bypassing laws to get what you want is not a good thing. I can only hope that will be their view when the one left standing in November is elected. Ms. Perdue was quick to say that she "has no clout" in the legislature to halt the closing of Dix and Umstead Hospitals.
I have reserved my opinion on Dempsey Benton until now while trying to give him the benefit of the doubt. After Tuesday's decision to close Dix and the manner in which it was carried out convinces me that he is no better than Carmen Hooker Odom. The Governor wanted the patients off the property period. That one thing is for certain and Mr. Benton put his blinders on and plowed ahead. He had thinktank groups who gave him critical advice but he would not listen.
The bad guys won today;the patients lost.What respect I had for Mr. Benton was left on the steps of Dix. Think of the patients while they are moving to Butner. Saying the new hospital is safe countless times does not make it safe.

Re: Perdue disagrees with faster Butner opening

mbrock49 — Wed, 09 Jul 2008 13:20:20 -0400

Thanks, Lt. Gov. Perdue--we need you to take on this issue publicly and across the state. We need someone who cares about mental health clients to be elected governor, as we have not had that in decades.

Perdue - "I have no clout."

Senate — Wed, 09 Jul 2008 11:08:46 -0400

Too bad she lacks the clout to do anything about it.

Re: Some early signs

Proctor — Sun, 15 Jul 2007 19:50:08 -0400

And did you notice that "Southern look" sported by Hannah Storm. You would think she went to Vanderbilt instead of Notre Dame because that Chicago gal looked more like she was from Savannah or Tupelo. Why, Miss Hannah looked as Southern as Elizabeth Gardner, but then she did work in North Carolina once on her way to the big time in New York so it's not like she hasn't had some good professional "larnin'" along the way.

The Early Show did a fantastic job, and for once it took Ricky Skaggs more than two minutes to go picking his way through a song since he had to wait until the featured late-concert segment of the show.

Kudos also to Dave Price, who pulled a terrific "Barney skit" in trying to change tires like the Pit Row pros do: did Dave plan it out that way like Don Knotts used to do in rehearsing his scenes? Yes, indeed, "This was big, Andy, this was big!" Why, it had every bit as much excitement and down-home charm as the Saturday morning Dixieland music show at Big Ed's.

Even in storied Chapel Hill, where some of us were watching the program at the breakfast counter at Sutton's on Franklin Street, The Early Show's Fayetteville Street extravaganza stirred the locals to the amazing conclusion that yes, there is life in downtown Raleigh too!

All that was missing was a political news segment featuring The News & Observer's Rob Christensen telling CBS viewers across the country how Raleigh and North Carolina are reacting to the developing presidential race or a commentary by The N&O's Barry Saunders on just where barbecue fits into the contemporary Southern urban social scene. And oh yes, perhaps a special guest interview of Bruce Hornsby and Ricky Skaggs by the accomplished WRAL morning news anchor and singer-songwriter Bill Leslie.

But hey, The Early Show folks did a fantastic program, and no doubt former CBS journalist and North Carolina native Charles Kuralt would have been pleased to see the Capital City of the Tar Heel State given such a fine showcasing by the CBS morning crew.

David McKnight--Durham

Re: Some early signs

DallasWoodho — Fri, 13 Jul 2007 13:46:26 -0400

I saw some Bill Graham on TV as well.

Re: Off the hook?

ginnyrachel — Sun, 13 May 2007 10:46:23 -0400

This is just another in a long line of abuses and irregularies from this administration that have doomed Dorothea Dix Hospital from the start. Easley and Odom wanted it closed and the legislators voted in the middle of the night to do so. End of story, so they thought. It must be nice having a job that you can wield so much power and influence but to incure so little criticism. Local press and tv have only lately been looking into what has been happening but still no one ever questioned Easley on his role in terminating Dix.

All of the so called radical reforms by Odom were set into motion by the closing of Dix. They said that Granville County could not take the hit financially by closing their hospital but Wake County could. That might have been true if her department had chosen to actually fund continuum community care for the patients instead of just talking about doing it.

Mr. Crawford ,whose county has benefitted greatly from this secretive deal to shut Dix down, insists that the closing of Dix can go on without reports (designated by law) that Odom should supply. Is Crawford saying that we do not need laws or just ones that apply to how he wants to frame the conversation?

I admire Ms. Ross for her candor but she obviously among a small number willing to stand up for legal procedures. Legislators might as well admit that they have been duped by Easley and Odom and their partners in crime. When are they going to wake up and realize that their job is supposed to be looking out for the public, not to line their pockets with favors and greenbacks?

We as citizens should ask for our leaders to be accountable for their actions on this matter. Dix should remain open while an investigation takes place. Easley says he wants to prosecute providers for cheating. Well I say go a step further and demand that he answer for his inadequate leadership and failed policies. Our media needs to ask questions instead of allowing these folks to continue abusing our mentally ill.

At the first real sign of pressure by providers, advocates and media, Odom wilted under the strain and the realization that she had not protected our less fortunate. Since last Saturday's N&O article on Odom's resignation, there has been nothing in print since. WRAL's Friday six and eleven o'clock newscasts chose not to mention her resignation at all. Who says our politicians are not insulated by the media?

This has been a well orchestrated plan for thirty years to close the hospital and house state employees instead of paying leases downtown. It began with Jim Hunt and has continued with exectution like precision by Easley. Hunt's legacy is intact due to selling off land for Centennial Village while Wake County has spent less and less on mental health services. The patients were never thought of in this equation and thus begin the land grab by various groups to use the land as they felt entitled to.

Crawford's last shot about not requiring the report from Odom to close Dix was too much for me not to react to. Odom has been getting a free ride all along with the press so I guess I should not expect anything less from her fellow state leaders. Our mentally ill have been railroaded for years and this will not stop until somebody with some backbone stands up to these pompous politicians. Easley says he wants accountability for the providers who have been less than stellar at their jobs. The same rules should apply to him too. Or is that asking too much?

Re: Off the hook?

Johnburnsnc — Fri, 11 May 2007 17:18:41 -0400

Attagirl, Deb.