Sociology class observes patients at Northcoast Behavioral center

by William Belson and Justin Fish

The sociology class took a field trip to Toledo to visit Northcoast Behavioral Health Care to learn more about mental illness. “The main purpose for the trip was the just let the kids see how the people actually were treated in the mental health field,” said sociology teacher Mr. Irelan.

On this field trip they learned a variety of things. One of the things the class did was take a tour of the Mental Recovery Recreation Room. Also in the mental hospital they have the patients play certain video games, such as Dance Dance Revolution (DDR) and the Nintendo Wii, to help them stay in shape because of the medication they take and the food that they eat. The trip was beneficial to the students’ understanding. “It helped me understand what the mental people have to deal with every day, and what problems they have,” said senior Ben Wines.

The hospital volunteers also helped the students understand what is going on in someone’s head that has schizophrenia. Schizophrenia is a psychiatric diagnosis that describes a mental disorder characterized by abnormalities in the perception or expression of reality. For this experience you have someone asking you questions about how you are feeling and you have two different people talking to you who are your “voices in your head.” Everybody there tries hard, and cares about each other and the patients. “My favorite part about the field trip was to see the people doing the best they can to help all of the mental people,” explained Wines.

To further explain the recuperation process, one of the staff members at the hospital sang something called the “Side Affects Song.” The song is both humorous and seriously explains that side affects are much better than a relapse when you have a mental illness. At the psychiatric hospital there all different types of patients, from level one (having to be in the hospital all the time) to level five (self-admittance, and can leave the premises).

In the late 1800s there were 1,000 people buried in the hospital’s cemetery. Most of the headstones are buried underground. The sociology class also got to go find the headstones that were buried underground. We were given steel rods to poke in the ground and try and find the headstone between 3-6 inches. After a headstone was found they would dig up the headstone with a shovel, then fill the hole with sand and make the headstone flush with the ground to make it stand out. “We got to help out people who have been dead for 100 years or so that nobody remembered, which was nice,” said Mr. Irelan.