bad news

I was all set to write about something else, but then I just got a really upsetting phone call. So I need to rant.

D's fabulous, fabulous case manager, (Cougar) L called to let us know that, because of state budget cuts, she and 7 or 8 other caseworkers in her office have lost their jobs. Plus 8 in the Wakefield office, 9 in Lawrence...and those are only the ones she's connected to. You can imagine it's the same all across the state. I was like, "but how can they get rid of their best employee?" And I had L almost crying as I told her how much I appreciate everything she's ever done for us and how I know D would have ended up back in the hospital had she not been the one to set up all his services and advocate for him.

And she said how proud she is of him and what a good kid he is and how happy she is that he has me. She started almost crying again as she described some of her clients who have *nobody*, no one to help them but her, and how she's afraid this wave of cutbacks is going to lead to deaths. And it will. Deaths, more people living on the streets, more people ending up in prison when their crime is being schizophrenic or bipolar. Nobody cares. Nobody fucking cares about poor, chronically mentally ill people. You don't see any telethons, or fucking [insert a color here] bracelets or ribbons, or celebrities begging for your money to cure psychotic disorders. It's not a cute disease and nobody likes to think about the fact that someone in their family might end up like that smelly guy eating out of the trash and talking to the voices in his head.

I'm so bitter.

Please, you all. Write to our new president and ask him to remember some of our most vulnerable citizens in these hard times. Please. For me.

xoxo