Alberta Hospital Edmonton

I was admitted to the YOUNG ADULTS unit a couple different times. Both admission were such an amazing experience. Staff are so caring, understanding, and they listen. I got my need meet. Thank you to the staff!

tried calling to ask how being admitted into a psychiatric care works because i am afraid to be admitted & i wanted to know more about how it works to ease my mind & the lady (I believe her name was “Trudy”) was in credibly rude! definitely how you treat somebody who is feeling unwell enough to call about psychiatric care. 12/10 get some more empathetic staff.

Pros: Amenaties, wi-fi, various activites, movies, computer lab, gym, food(at times), video games, cards, some nice and humble staff, certain helpful programs, some patients make good company, visitors, fairly clean facility. Cons: Doctors and nurses have have too much power over patients which leads straight to abuse in many cases. People forced or overly pressured to take medication that often has too many side effects which can be dangerous and life-changing. Some staff and doctors have poor communication and english skills. Some patients make pretty bad company and sometimes there is inter-patient violence(likely because people are on-edge due to how they're treated). Suggestions: Don't play with peoples health, you should be confident enough that your services are going to help that you make them voluntary. Staff and doctors should try to educate themselves on what people are going through and consider individual walks of life; it doesn't help anyone to throw labels like 'ill' and 'incompetent' just because they don't fall under your definition of "normal". Doctors should broaden their education outside mental health because they might mistake something they don't comprehend for something that indicates an illness. Have higher standards for the chemicals you tell people to put in their body, meaning less side effects and more thorough research and development.

I had a really bad experience here in the Young Adult ward back in February. I'll try to be as to the point as I can in an attempt to fit all of my experience in. This review is ONLY for the YA Ward, as I never experienced the rest of the hospital. I want to also preface this with the fact that my issue turned out to be a chronic illness, so this is the experience of someone that wouldn't have found the help needed in the ward, anyways. So: • My psychologist at the time, Dr Adam Abba-Aji, coerced me to admit myself into the ward. I was (and am not) a danger to myself or others, and he made it seem like some kind of mental wellness camp. "You won't want to leave, and if you do, I'll pay you. You can leave whenever you want". He did not disclose that he works there, nor that it was a ward. • I was not given orientation once admitted. I was only given a tour around the ward. I mention this because I was not expecting the hourly night check-ups and this made it very hard to get any sleep. I'm aware they check-in for a very good reason, just a heads up is all that was needed. • When I started to freak out because I was locked in with people of a profession (medical) I struggle to trust, the staff made barely an effort to make me feel safe. I was only told that "everyone comes in like this" and all that tells me is that they're not good at being sympathetic and welcoming. - During my first attempt to be released, the acting psych told me, "You're not trapped here! :)", acting as if the all doors to leave weren't locked. • I tried to be released as I was promised I was free to do. The acting psych wouldn't let me because the program "is praised by the rest of the province" and I that should feel lucky to be in there. • I'd managed to secure a weekend pass, and reluctantly came back on Monday. I was told there were programs during the day, but I was never made aware that any were happening. The only people that came to see if I wanted to participate was the gym couple and a nutrition lady, and I enthusiastically joined both. • I was called back from the gym to meet with a physician to do a very basic examination. This old man, while cupping my face, decided to make a very inappropriate comment on my appearance. This made me very uncomfortable. • I was then called to see my assigned psych (Abdulah, I believe) who compared me, a disabled woman, to his abled son. He then proceeded to shame me for not being in the same place in life. • Medication time came, and I was being given 2 new meds without being told what they are. I asked the nurse what they were, and when I told her I was refusing the anti-depressant (history of them making me suicidal), she got visibly upset with me. Later on, I got the other med taken off my list too because my actual psych said it was too big of a risk for me to be on it! • Morning came. My nurse comes in and flashes me in the face with a flashlight to wake me up. Didn't try anything else, just jumped straight to the flashlight. Very dehumanizing, in my opinion. I get they can't just shake you awake, but is there really no other way? Maybe just let us sleep since y'all don't really supply us with things to do anyways? • I'm changed to my regular psychs "care" and I tell him I'd like to be discharged. He begins to try to guilt me into staying, attempting to act like he knows my mother and how she'd feel about me leaving. I've since fired him as my psych. • Staff tried guilting me too by loudly talking about me to each other outside my door. So, no actual "programs" seemed to be going on, I was dehumanized and shamed in my short time there, met resistance when I questioned medication, said medication turned out to be things incredibly bad for me, harassed by the physician, and met with manipulation attempts when trying to leave. Avoid that ward like the plague, if you can. There's no possible way you can convince me they help anyone in a positive way.

This hospital is a joke and try to keep you locked up indefinantly. I dont have any respect for them and the staff are just there for paychecks