"The Lord our Shepherd who has 100 sheep will leave the 99 to search high and low for the lost sheep" Parable of the lost sheep (Matthew 18: 10-14)

Our mental health care system is severely broken.

Our loved one has suffered with Bipolar for 40+ years. She is in crisis. It has been 10 months of suffering this current episode. Living on the streets of Syracuse in a severe manic state. Beat up, held at gun point, robbed, mentally and physically abused, taken in by strangers who then abuse and/or rob her. 

She is in full on mania and has stopped taking her meds She is self medicating.

St.Joseph Hospital/ Trinity Health a Catholic Hospital is at fault and failed to treat her in the 2 weeks they held her beginning October 16th.  This was the 2nd time St Joe's failed an opportunity to treat her Bipolar illness in 2023. If she had been treated effectively in July she would not have remained in the severe manic state she is in. This has caused her to be subjected to fraud with her significant retirement funds account, be arrested as well as the loss of her new vehicle that's been in impound since May.

She was also at St Joseph's Hospital Trinity on an inpatient basis for 30 days in July of this year with no post treatment or followup. St Joe's had seen her weekly in their ER for help only to have them let her leave, each time ignoring her mental health needs.

She is not capable, in her frame of mind, to make decisions for herself.  It is impossible for her to do so since her brain needs treatment. She needs to take the bipolar medications to regulate her brain functions.

She appeared before St Joseph's Hospital Trinity Court with Judge Antonacci presiding.  The judge ignored the arrest that was the basis for her being admitted into CPEP.  She was released with no home address.

NYS Senator Mannion's representative has offered heartfelt support and advised an appeal to Judge Antonacci's ruling to release her.  An inquiry with the Director from Onondaga County Mental Health Dept on 11/7 uncovered no appeal process to the Judge's ruling. 

Onondaga County Adult Protective has been contacted and briefed. Their failure to renew her mandatory weekly health checks in March 2023 also contributed to her current condition

This is the 10th+ and the most severe crisis she has experienced  that requires treatment against her will in over these 40 years. She was first diagnosed with Bipolar in 1984 by Dr Roger Levine and has taken meds to treat her illness since. 

Dr Falcone. CMO at St Joe's/Trinity Health took an oath and needs to step up and make this right.

NY ranks low at #29 for effectively treating Mental Health. Vermont's success is #1. The new OC Task Force should re-engineer the treatment model to replicate VT's program. Our CO Executive should invite the champion from VT's Program Development to come to Onondaga County and help them model a new treatment program.

If OC can't help, if the hospitals won't help, then we need to work together to shed light on these inefficient treatments. The family's input matters! In our case 40+ years of experience working with and at times against our family member to get help means everything. 

Our sincere thanks goes out to our law enforcement professionals for their compassion over all these years. They have gone above and beyond trying to help our loved one, our family and friends to the very best of their lawful abilities.  These men & women are forced into walking the fine line between Sworn Officer and Social Worker since their involvement with the mentally ill is typically after 5pm weekdays and on weekends when SWs are not available to them in the field. 

Change can happen when we peacefully take action to create awareness. Thank you for your part in signing this petition.