Top Mental Health Care for Children

by A.
(Long Island, New York)

Well this isn't exactly leisure but it's important and located on Long Island.

I'm sharing some information about what is, in my eyes, a top in-patient mental health care facility called Sagamore Children's Psychiatric Center.

It’s for children through 17 years of age. Admittance is voluntary or in some cases court ordered. Sagamore is a state facility and is run like a group home with strict discipline. The rules are infinite and the care is optimal. The children are always taken care of, every NEED is met.

The children live on units and attend school during the day. They shower twice a day and are fed well. The patients are offered off-unit activities in their free time, physical and creative. The kids go by a point system to learn discipline and focus on “target skills” such as following directions, accepting no, and expressing feelings.

The children see doctors and therapists who regulate medications and provide counseling. Privileges are earned as positive behavior improves. Some children make levels 2 or 3 which allows them to go on supervised trips off the facility's grounds, and to spend weekends at home. Regardless of level, children always have the option to visit with family on hospital grounds.

Sagamore is a long term facility where patients usually stay for a few months. The Sagamore staff is highly qualified and thoroughly screened. The staff is always willing to help a child who is willing to receive help.

There is hope for everyone and Sagamore is safe and can help. Private hospitals in my experience are not as effective for more seriously ill children, when discipline is needed Sagamore is best. It has to follow state regulations, it’s safer that way.

I know some Sagamore survivors (including myself) and they are doing great today! Any questions you can email me at:
mandee3200 (at) yahoo (dot) com

Sagamore Children's Psychiatric Center
197 Half Hollow Road
Dix Hills, NY 11746
(631) 370-1700

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Top Mental Health Care for Children

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Dec 20, 2009
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This place is bad.
by: Leon

So if you haven't hard already, they use electro shock here, they sit on kids backs and inject their spine with thorazine, they throw them in 'the hole' (isolation rooms), they give them unsafe combinations and concentrations of medications that often make the kids physically and mentally ill, they often taunt and goad kids to justify injecting, they feed children inadequate food and often expired drinks, and their idea of putting a child on a diet is starving them.

Most of the kids sent there are good kids with no more than a few behavioral problems, most of which are situational. Children who self harm when they are raped for years don't need to be drugged and put in a straight jacket, they need therapy.

A lot of children get diagnosed with disorders they don't have because of drug induced symptoms. There have been cases of ruptured internal organs and children have even died in their care. If you care anything about your child, keep them far away from this place.

Sep 16, 2009
Rating

Abusive Monsters
by: Anonymous

They hurt kids badly there. Don't send your kids there.

Sep 03, 2009
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Keep your children out of this place.
by: Children's Voice

They do horrible things to the children in this place, especially on their "E-Unit". They have the perfect set up too, no one's ever going to believe the mental patient over the doctor, people naturally trust authority figures anyway so who's going to listen to some recovered lunatic who claims to have been tortured right?

They make the clinic look like a happy elementary school, on the first floor they have everything set up to look all innocent. Parents visiting can be forgiven for being mislead by the façade, especially when they herd all the children into the gym after a week of conditioning and set them loose. It looks like any normal school, the kids look like they're playing and having fun. They even have an old playground that no one ever gets to use in their pictures.

No one gets to see what goes on after the parents leave, or see the living conditions of these children in this place. Sometimes Child Protective Serves will investigate but they give warning ahead of time so everything's perfectly prepared. If you could see what these children are put though, see them injected and thrown in isolation rooms thrashing about from reactions to the drugs, see them scrubbing toilets with bleach (oh yes, they make them do that), see them begging for water because the medication makes them constantly thirsty, see the way the aids laugh at them and mock them and abuse them...

For the love of God if you love your children keep them out of this place. All that they show you is a facade, a disguise to hide the demon's heart within. The doctors there will lie to you and put on a right good show for you but if you could see what they keep from prying eyes you would see that this place is more akin to a dungeon than a hospital.

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Sep 03, 2009
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Submitted by: Children's Voice

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Comment
They do horrible things to the children in this place, especially on their "E-Unit". They have the perfect set up too, no one's ever going to believe the mental patient over the doctor, people naturally trust authority figures anyway so who's going to listen to some recovered lunatic who claims to have been tortured right? They make the clinic look like a happy elementary school, on the first floor they have everything set up to look all innocent. Parents visiting can be forgiven for being mislead by the façade, especially when they herd all the children into the gym after a week of conditioning and set them loose. It looks like any normal school, the kids look like they're playing and having fun. They even have an old playground that no one ever gets to use in their pictures. No one gets to see what goes on after the parents leave, or see the living conditions of these children in this place. Sometimes Child Protective Serves will investigate but they give warning ahead of time so everything's perfectly prepared. If you could see what these children are put though, see them injected and thrown in isolation rooms thrashing about from reactions to the drugs, see them scrubbing toilets with bleach (oh yes, they make them do that), see them begging for water because the medication makes them constantly thirsty, see the way the aids laugh at them and mock them and abuse them... For the love of God if you love your children keep them out of this place. All that they show you is a facade, a disguise to hide the demon's heart within. The doctors there will lie to you and put on a right good show for you but if you could see what they keep from prying eyes you would see that this place is more akin to a dungeon than a hospital.

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Sep 03, 2009
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They Experiment on Children
by: Sagamore Survivor

Sagamore has fronts that they put on and it has layers within it that most people don't see. What goes on in the E-Unit can be described as nothing short of torture. Racist aids single out caucasian patients in particular and they're always happy to give the kids an injection, no matter who the kid is. If you have a child keep them out of Sagamore, they lock kids in blue rooms after injecting them with psychotropics and laugh as these poor children clawing at the walls to escape drug induced hallucinations, full tactile hallucinations that can make any hell you imagine feel and smell and look and sound as real as the real thing. The nurses aids and the good doctor are monsters, what they do to children there can never be forgiven and should never be forgotten!

Jul 21, 2009
Rating

Very concerned.
by: Anonymous

A close friend of mine had been admitted to Sagamore's in-patient program. Some of the experiences she described to me, mainly involving staff, were completely mind-blowing.

If your child has depression, anxiety...basically behavior that ISN'T necessariy disciplinary, but more emotional, DO NOT send him or her to Sagamore. The staff DOES NOT recognize a child's specific emotional needs. Kids who rob stores and start brawls are mixed in with children who are so stressed or anxious that they want to commit suicide. These two groups should be seperate, for the treatment they recieve should be different. It is not.

It's okay to be strict and disciplinary in some cases, but not ALL cases.

I'd like to share a story with you. To better show how some of these "nurses" work.

My friend was having trouble sleeping one night (which isn't surprising, as she described sleeping in her bed as, "like sleeping on a rock with a thin sheet for a blanket." A nurse comes in and tells her she has to go to sleep, and askes her if she'd like some help. By "help" she means a shot of Thorazine, a drug that changes the order of chemicals in your brain temporarily, normally administered to patients having extremely serious/violent outbursts (though it has been given to patients who were simply crying loudly in their room.) My friend knows what she means by "help", and understands what the drug will do to her (not to mention the pain she'd feel when they literally JAM the large needle into the back of her upper thigh.) She says "No thanks, I'll just go to sleep on my own." The nurse says "okay" and leaves. About 15 minutes go by. My friend is practically asleep. She hears the door open, and sees three different nurses, one holding a needle. One nurse says, "We were told you were having trouble sleeping." My friend responds, "I don't need it, I'm practically asleep" or something to that effect.
Now here's the disgusting part.
The nurse says, "Oh..well we already have the needle here. We don't want to waste it." They walk to her bed. She's now bawling, screaming that she'll go to sleep. They hold her down and forcefully stick the needle into her side.

My friend doesn't remember anything after that, but her roomate told her the next morning that she was "crawling around on the floor all night, acting like a lizard."

The therapy they talk about is simply doing activities (arts and crafts, sports, etc.) together. My friend saw her therapist ONCE a week if she was lucky, as everyone in her ward all went to him. And boy, I could tell you stories about that guy.

Please, choose a different hospital. Mather Hospital is a much, much better place to go. It's a private hospital, but they really do care about the kids there and treat them how they SHOULD be treated. Please parents, don't send your children to Sagamore unless they have some SERIOUS aggression and behavioral problems. And even then...try to find another alternative.

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Jul 21, 2009
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Submitted by: Anonymous

Title

Comment
A close friend of mine had been admitted to Sagamore's in-patient program. Some of the experiences she described to me, mainly involving staff, were completely mind-blowing. If your child has depression, anxiety...basically behavior that ISN'T necessariy disciplinary, but more emotional, DO NOT send him or her to Sagamore. The staff DOES NOT recognize a child's specific emotional needs. Kids who rob stores and start brawls are mixed in with children who are so stressed or anxious that they want to commit suicide. These two groups should be seperate, for the treatment they recieve should be different. It is not. It's okay to be strict and disciplinary in some cases, but not ALL cases. I'd like to share a story with you. To better show how some of these "nurses" work. My friend was having trouble sleeping one night (which isn't surprising, as she described sleeping in her bed as, "like sleeping on a rock with a thin sheet for a blanket." A nurse comes in and tells her she has to go to sleep, and askes her if she'd like some help. By "help" she means a shot of Thorazine, a drug that changes the order of chemicals in your brain temporarily, normally administered to patients having extremely serious/violent outbursts (though it has been given to patients who were simply crying loudly in their room.) My friend knows what she means by "help", and understands what the drug will do to her (not to mention the pain she'd feel when they literally JAM the large needle into the back of her upper thigh.) She says "No thanks, I'll just go to sleep on my own." The nurse says "okay" and leaves. About 15 minutes go by. My friend is practically asleep. She hears the door open, and sees three different nurses, one holding a needle. One nurse says, "We were told you were having trouble sleeping." My friend responds, "I don't need it, I'm practically asleep" or something to that effect. Now here's the disgusting part. The nurse says, "Oh..well we already have the needle here. We don't want to waste it." They walk to her bed. She's now bawling, screaming that she'll go to sleep. They hold her down and forcefully stick the needle into her side. My friend doesn't remember anything after that, but her roomate told her the next morning that she was "crawling around on the floor all night, acting like a lizard." The therapy they talk about is simply doing activities (arts and crafts, sports, etc.) together. My friend saw her therapist ONCE a week if she was lucky, as everyone in her ward all went to him. And boy, I could tell you stories about that guy. Please, choose a different hospital. Mather Hospital is a much, much better place to go. It's a private hospital, but they really do care about the kids there and treat them how they SHOULD be treated. Please parents, don't send your children to Sagamore unless they have some SERIOUS aggression and behavioral problems. And even then...try to find another alternative.

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Feb 27, 2009
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Not good
by: Anonymous

they abuse the kids they suck i been there

Jun 01, 2008
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Excellent Facility
by: Bill Drago

I know a young woman who spent a few months there. They did a great job with her and she came back a different person.

I would not hesitate to admit any of my children to Sagamore. It may seem horrifying, but they do a great job with the kids there. The hospital is well managed and the doctors are excellent.

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Top Mental Health Care for Children

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Top Mental Health Care for Children