What to Know About the Geropsychiatric Unit

Accommodations and Items to Bring

Your loved one will have a private bedroom and bathroom. To make your loved one’s stay as comfortable as possible, we recommend bringing the following items:

• Two changes of everyday clothes: socks, underwear, pullover shirts, pants, sleepwear, and comfortable shoes are recommended. Please do not bring any clothes or shoes with belts, ribbons, strings, drawstrings, or shoestrings.

• We provide laundry services to ensure your loved one has clean clothing.

• Toiletries: toothpaste, toothbrush, shampoo, conditioner, deodorant, hairbrush, denture cleaner

• We provide many of these items if you do not bring them from home.

Please leave the following items at home:

• Large amounts of money; please do not bring your loved one more than $5

• Cell phones or laptops

• Expensive jewelry

• Handheld electronic devices such as Kindles or iPads

• MP3 players/iPods

• Razors

• Glass bottles

• Aluminum cans

• Mirrors

• Matches

• Cigarettes

• Plastic wire hangers

• Scissors

• Medications

• Plastic bags

There is a limited amount of storage space on the unit; please try to limit the number of personal items brought from home. We are able to supply basic toiletries, including toothpaste, combs and brushes, denture adhesive, and deodorant.

Please be aware that patients will sometimes remove their hearing aids or dentures without staff knowledge. We cannot be responsible for safekeeping if this occurs. Assistive devices such as hearing aids and dentures are often necessary for patients to adequately function in our therapeutic milieu or to communicate with others. This must be weighed against the risk of their potential loss in our complex environment. Please consider sending these items home until discharge if the risk of their potential loss is intolerable, recognizing that your loved one may remove and/or lose these items.

Meals

We provide three meals and two snacks each day. Please inform the staff of any dietary considerations, food preferences, or allergies your loved one may have so we can do our best to accommodate. At times, we may need to monitor your loved one’s food and fluid intake to ensure they are getting proper nutrition and hydration.

Crisis Intervention

Any kind of violence, real or pretend, including verbal threats, is not accepted on the unit. We attempt to minimize cursing, yelling, and physical aggression, and do not allow inappropriate sexual behaviors. Our staff are highly trained in verbal and physical de-escalation strategies, and will only use these interventions when absolutely necessary.