Around 7:30 PM, our youngest son and I came to visit his mom. He has a long history of schizophrenia with cyclic hospitalizations. He's been off his meds since his last discharge from Binghamton General. It was amazing that he wanted to come to the hospital with me, as he had been reclusive, paranoid, and refused to even talk with us for a couple of months. He had demanded and achieved emancipation from the Catholic Charities ACT Team, which had been attempting to see him 2x per week. He called me several times, saying that "Mom is ready to be discharged and we need to pick her up." He was adamant and demanded to go with me to pick up his mom. I repeatedly advised him that his mom needed to be in the hospital. She told him there were more tests and she'd leave when the doctor discharged her.

Since he was finally talking to us, I chose to take him to see his mom. He was happy to see his mom and tried to get her up to leave, but she and I tried to convince him that she needed to be there. Then he wanted to remove her IV and get her a Band-Aid. That was when he proceeded to the nurses' station, where he attempted to demand her discharge. The staff immediately picked up on my signal that he was mentally ill and reacted in a kind, understanding manner. He wasn't going to budge. We tried to convince him that it was time to go home and that his mom was in good hands.

One nurse told me that she had called security, which we had hoped to avoid. I don't remember what finally got him to walk toward the elevator, but that's when Nurse Jennifer Plohetski managed to engage him and gently persuaded him to follow her into the elevator and all the way to the doorway to the parking lot. This literally happened while a half-dozen or so uniformed security staff discretely walked past us, a confrontation averted. What was so amazing was how she got him talking about the seasons, which one he liked, and why. She was a great interactive listener and showed genuine interest in him. She was off shift and took the time to help him (and me), which resulted in a peaceful ride to his apartment, where he settled in for the night. The whole staff was great. Jennifer made an amazing, instantaneous connection with a well-meaning, but delusional individual. This situation was ever so close to requiring physical intervention and a trip to the crisis center.

The climax of this saga was that our son accompanied me the next evening when she was discharged. He saw that his mom was then safely home, and his deep concerns had been addressed.