Psychiatric Hospital

Navos Psychiatric Hospital Navos Psychiatric Hospital is like a human zoo, unlike any other hospital in Seattle. The patients at Navos are street folks that society has locked up and caged like wild tigers running loose on the prairie. No one patient is like the next patient; they’re all different like night and day. Some patients come in slobbering like a babies, who are teething, and unable to put any words together to form complete a sentence. Some come here strapped to gurneys with their hands and feet tied together with four Velcro straps to restrain them from moving in any position. This facility is filled with panhandlers who want to just have three hot meals and a paper thin green flat mattress to rest their heads on. I’m sure they also appreciate the filtered heat that’s provided to them in this cold blustery winter season. Navos Psychiatric Hospital has given me an appreciation for being sane and having all my marbles. The two psych wards here at Navos are rarely peaceful and quiet. Patients are always yelling vague, rude, and racist comments at the top of their lungs. Their scratchy high pitch voices are never a good sign on the unit. Raspy, loud, irritating voices echo through the two tan painted narrow hallways that give the unit a cozy feeling almost too close for comfort. Most patients are loud, but they’re a few who choose to use their inside voices like normal people. Some folks used a low soft spoken voice which I have to strain my ear drum or clean some of the wax out of my ear to understand what the heck they’re uttering. Sometimes I hop up on the filthy white counter at the nurse’s station and stick out my ear to understand the words that they’re trying to communicate to me. There are times when I wish the patients could find a middle ground between the loud irritating voices and the low hard to hear voices. I appreciate having a calming voice and a stable mind frame. Some people on the unit choose to go bare letting