Barbed wire around proposed mental health facility at Lakeshore Hospital in Meridian? How did it get there?
Noah Walker is looking for a “crazy” experience.
June 23, 2024 at 5:30 pm | 4 min read
Photo: Daniel Bernard via Unsplash | Columbia County Observer Graphics
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More LSHA stories can be found here.
COLUMBIA COUNTY, Fla. – The Lake Shore Hospital Authority has come under intense scrutiny recently. Lake City’s new mayor-in-waiting, Noah Walker, has denounced the agency’s behavioral health and mental illness practices. He’s getting support from friend and fellow Rotarian Shawn Holmgren.
At last Thursday’s County 5 workshop, security issues in Meridian came to the fore again, when Walker’s fellow Rotarian, Shawn Holmgren, made comments he believed were made by Walker: We’ll cover what happened at County 5 in Part II.
Walker’s first foray into the authority and the Meridian situation came on June 10, 2024, four years after CHS announced it was buying out the lease and leaving the authority, when he attended his first LSHA meeting.
June 10, 2024: Noah Walker addresses the Governor’s LSHA Board of Directors
During his time at LCMC, he was looking for a “crazy” experience.
Walker told the committee that he worked at Lake City Medical Center for six years and that one of his favorite things to do while he was there was “go to the cafeteria at breakfast or lunch time and sit with a random nurse, usually a senior nurse.”
Walker said he enjoys hearing about their experiences in their careers.
He said, “One of the questions I always ask is, ‘What’s your craziest experience?’ It’s the craziest experience in medicine.”
Walker estimated that “90 percent of respondents work in medical psychiatry or mental health settings.”
Walker continued: “Patient fights, angry and violent patients, temporary restraints of patients, the Baker Act, preventing rape, having excrement thrown at them, etc.”
Walker talks about Meridian security and “Bat Naked”
Noah Walker (File)
Regarding security at Meridian, Walker said, “They have assured us that it is a containment facility and that no one will be released onto the streets.”
Lake DeSoto is at Meridian’s back door, and it’s unclear whether Meridian would “release” its customers to the lake if it were to occupy the vacant hospital.
Mr. Walker continued: “What guarantees are they making? [Meridian] What did you do about the people who got to the door and couldn’t be overpowered? Because that’s what happens in medicine, and those people are naked.”
Not far from the proposed site of the Lakeshore Meridian Homes is a small playground funded by Rotary that is accessible to people with disabilities.
Mr Walker said he has a young daughter and loves taking his family to the playground. He suggested the playground would no longer be safe after the “violent altercation” between a nurse and a patient and asked “what happens after that?”
Walker’s Masterpiece: Department of Corrections (DOC)
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Meridian Campus in Gainesville It is clean, unfenced, and not surrounded by barbed wire or wire. Mismanagement and delayed response by Meridian CEO Don Savoie and LSHA Manager Dale Williams has resulted in tens of thousands of dollars in wasted money, misinformation, confusion and bad feelings.
Quality of care The subject was never mentioned by any officer other than Bd. Member Lorry Chancy.
Walker continued, surprising everyone, “I’ll tell you one more thing. I was doing a Rotary presentation at our 7:00 AM club and Meridian came, which is the real reason I’m here. I gave a presentation about what Meridian is doing with their community work, their mental health response unit, their hospital. Part of it was a contract with DOC (Department of Corrections) to bring some of the mentally ill people that are in prison and house them here for treatment.”
“There’s a huge stigma around mental health and individual mental health is incredibly important,” Walker said.
“I think Meridian might not be a good fit for downtown,” Walker concluded.
Providing quality care for the mentally ill is a national problem. Without adequate mental health facilities, many of the mentally ill end up in prison or local jails. At one time, many in Columbia County thought Meridian could fill that role. Local police have supported Meridian at Lake Shore.
Meridian has never said to this reporter or at any public meetings that the proposed Lakeshore facility would house violent offenders.
Board member Rory Chancey blows the dog whistle himself:
“There will be sex offenders there.”
Board member Rory Chance commented, “Noah, I agree with you. We have a play area here. We don’t want to take kids to a place where child abusers might come. And we don’t want to attract all the drug dealers. That comes with a psychiatric hospital, too. Look, come on.”
Director Don Kennedy: Barbed wire to the rescue
LSHA Director Don Kennedy
Trustee Kennedy said he has vetted Meridian, saying, “I’ve walked the streets downtown. I’ve talked to business owners and property owners. I’ve talked to clergy. I’ve talked to politicians. I’ve talked to city and county law enforcement. I’ve talked to the courts.”
Kennedy continued, “I can assure you that before we make a final commitment to Meridian, they will have the tightest security in place. When I met with Mr. Savoy, he assured me that their security is tight. If it requires us to put up a 12-foot barbed wire fence around the perimeter of the complex, we may request it.”
Kennedy thanked Walker for mentioning the contract with the Department of Corrections, whose inmates he believes are receiving treatment in Raiford and elsewhere, and said the inmates are “mentally unstable.”
epilogue
The lack of effective leadership in Columbia County/Lake City continues. The LSHA Board illegally constituted by the Governor remains ineffective and ill-informed. LSHA Manager Dale Williams is not up to the task.
Meridian CEO Don Savoie has let both Meridian and its clients down, as his lack of direct local engagement and failure to attend the authority’s board meetings has allowed mental health dog whistles to flourish at the expense of those who need care.
Now we know where the 12 foot razor comes from.
