Melrose Wakefield Hospital Psychotherapy

"Where do I begin: 1) The unit has 22 beds and half of them are taken by the patients who were transferred from the geriatric building which shut down 3 years ago (which only becomes a problem when it comes to the group activities) 2) Most (not all) the staff are unprofessional and treat us mental health patients as "burdens" rather than as individuals who clearly need help 3) If you suffer from panic attacks (or something similar) make sure it happens in your room because then you will have a staff member like Manny who will say you are overreacting and that there is "proof" of that via the excessive amounts of security cameras surrounding the unit and the nurse who will come to "evaluate" you will do a horrendous job at it as was the case when I had a panic attack in the Sensory Room and lost my balance and even when i called for help it took over 25 minutes to pay any attention despite cameras also being in the Sensory Room 4) If you want to take a shower, don't bother because out of the 4 shower rooms: one hasn't worked in 2 years, one works half the time then stopped working while I was there, one works but it doesn't have hot water while the last one is the only one with hot water 5) They don't allow patients to access their phones except to get a number from it then it's under strict lock-and-key which didn't help my case because I had an online class to do while I was there and I had to go through a complicated channel just for them to allow me to use my phone for the class. After one incident I lost control of my rage and the nurse who was assigned to me during that shift treated me as if it was bad that I lost control of my emotions even though it was a psych unit and there are patients with similar-worse issues than me who have walked through those walls before me. 6) The food is OK but be careful if you have certain allergies or a specific diet because half the time the kitchen staff won't listen to what you selected on the menus 7) Visitations are bad: only allowing 15 minutes per person, and up-to 2 visitors' per patient (provided an appointment is made ahead of time) 8) Patients are allowed to go outside but the "Fresh-air Walk" space is tiny 9) The only upside is I didn't go through their Emergency Room (which is what most of the negative reviews are eluding to) but rather was transferred from Lowell General's Main Campus. Yes, a good chunk of my review is based on my experience and everyone has their own experiences, but even my experience has, at some point and in some form, been someone else's experience and as I read the other reviews I see that some things also applied to me while I was there. I was only there for 29 days and my discharge wasn't because they thought I was getting better but rather because I requested it out of my own sanity and well-being. Before this I was admitted to Emerson Hospital and they treated the patients with much more respect and dignity while ensuring we receive the care we went in for."

"Nightmare inpatient experience. Snake pit. Damaging, frightening."

"Very bad hospital I haven't seen I my life, today I had caught, fever 100, headache, back pain I have talk with receptionist and told her to tell the nurse that I have a strong headache after waiting more then 2hours of my check-in with the nurse, she doesn't care I told them I have to drink Tylenol if you will not help me to reduce a pain I'll go to cvs, she responded are you sure? It is not acceptable I'll call my insurance, you will think that it's normal because there are a lot of patients, yes but I was a head of a lot of people and I'm only waiting to do x-ray so she told me to wait I'll call you and nothing since that."

"A great place to rest and recover"