Kaiser mental-health workers were on the picket lines today, demanding that the health-care giant, which brags of earning $1 billion a month, hire enough staff to meet patient needs.
We spoke to clinicians who had horror stories, of suicidal patients having to wait six to eight weeks for an appointment, of young people with eating disorders hospitalized and at risk of organ damage before they can see a therapist, of staffers leaving because they can’t take it any more.
Here are some of the stories from the front lines:
Sarah Phillips: “They are choosing profits over people.”
Brian Wolfe: “The top-tier people are acting like Republicans.”
Susan Seip: “We have suicidal people waiting six to eight weeks for an appointment … that’s not therapy.”
