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Views on many subjects where we can discover new understandings.
Cover photo by John Goldberg.
MENTAL HEALTH ON THE FRONTLINES: Episode With Dr. Yelena Koldolskaya and Isidro Alvarez
Commentaries from the Edge
31 minutes 51 seconds
11 months ago
MENTAL HEALTH ON THE FRONTLINES: Episode With Dr. Yelena Koldolskaya and Isidro Alvarez
We are continuing with a series of episodes on Street Psychiatry, learning about various parts of the Los Angeles County Department of Mental Health (LACDMH)’s program called The HOME Team. Guests on this episode are key to the program’s successes, treating people like in an open air hospital to save lives. They are Dr. Yelena Koldolskaya, Psychiatric Supervisor and Medical Director over a team of people working in the southern region of Los Angeles, California, and Isidro, Alvarez, Medical Caseworker. Together, we learn from them what happens when they meet someone with no housing in a critical condition who refuses to receive treatment. They monitor the person over time, and hope to create a partnership of care with them to see if they have to move the person into involuntary care, what is called a Conservatorship. This means that someone like a family member if possible, takes control over their life decisions as a way of preventing them from dying on the streets. It is an extreme decision and requires a Court decision. Dr. K. as she is commonly called, and Isidro, work together in this part of the HOME Team’s programming. Both of them see people in circumstances most never experience. Listen to the story of the woman living on the bus bench and what happens when Dr. K’s skills as a Medical Director and Isidro with his expertise in the Conservatorship process, come to address the woman’s dire situation. It is an example of a HOME Team success. Like in many cultures, there is the saying, “when you save one life, it is as if you have saved an entire world”.
The LACDMH 24/7 access number for help is 1-800-854-7771
The National Suicide Crisis Line is #988
Commentaries from the Edge
Views on many subjects where we can discover new understandings.
Cover photo by John Goldberg.