Fairmount Behavioral Health System

This places seriously needs to be investigated for sure. I had a loved one in there. They totally didn’t really treat the root of the problems. Take them in and churn them out seems to be the way that this place operates. Plus they seem to let patients get away with hurting one another too many times. I wish I had something nice to say about this place other than the surroundings outside look so pleasant compared to the inside «jail like» conditions. I only hope that no one else that I know comes here for help. I suppose I needed to give it a star for some of the staff who seemed nice, but their follow throughs have been quite contradictory.

If you feel depressed or suicidal, don’t do anything to harm yourself or others. Whatever you are dealing with, believe me, it can get much worse if you are placed in Fairmount BHS. If you end up in an ER due to mental illness, talking of or attempting suicide, harming yourself, harming others, making threats etc, you will get 302’d (involuntarily committed) into a psych ward and you don’t get to choose where they send you. They can, and likely will, hold you for 120 hours (5 days) before deciding if you can go home or stay up to another 20 days (303’d) and so on, up to permanent commitment. My family member was in for 12 days.
Some area Mental Health facilities aren’t so bad, (I’ve heard Horsham Clinic is good) but Fairmount BHS is basically a prison. The staff are generally nice to visitors, but virtually unresponsive to patients. If you are inside, you can ask questions, but don’t count on getting an answer. IF you get answers, they are more likely to be wrong than right. Information about visiting hours on the website is not always accurate. Neither is the information employees give over the phone or to patients. There is almost nothing to do there, no activities, except for maybe using crayons. The website is badly in need of updating. It contains conflicting information on the rules. There is no smoking AT ALL and you can’t have matches of lighters, but the site says staff will take smokers outside during regular smoke breaks and light their cigs. Well, they no longer have smoke breaks, ever. You can’t go outside, ever. Yet the website says you can. Hope you can give up smoking cold turkey with whatever else you are going through.
They check to see if you are breathing every 15 minutes all night, every night, by shining a flashlight in your face and making you respond, so you are quickly sleep deprived. The Geneva convention defines that as TORTURE. Obama has prohibited it as an interrogation method, but in hospitals it is done for the «SAFETY» of the patients? The food is awful too, so don’t be surprised if you find yourself spending lots of time on the toilet.
One day when I visited my family member there was a radio playing somewhere it the kitchen where visitation is held. When my family member mentioned it to a Tech, she was told she was having «auditory hallucinations!» Well, I wasn’t a patient and I heard it too, as did others. They almost re-​committed her because of what the Tech said. So Techs are making erroneous medical diagnoses of vulnerable, sleep deprived patients in a mental «health» facility, telling them that they are hallucinating! It wouldn’t be surprising if they were hearing things after a week with no sleep. It is literally criminal for them to treat patients that way.
Their website makes it look like a beautiful, sylvan setting with great supportive care, social activities and plenty to keep your mind occupied. Nothing could be further from the truth. You are locked inside a wasteland devoid of any stimulation and only perfunctory medical and psychological care. My family member came out worse off than when admitted.
It might be different if you voluntarily commit yourself (202), but I wouldn’t risk it unless you know people who have first hand knowledge and can tell you about their experiences.

If I could give a minus-​NEGATIVE Review I’d give this a –5. Unprofessional staff, nurses and doctor didn’t see me for 4 days, nurse overrides the doctor, nothing structured, patients out of control and so many other things that were god Awful about this rat hole. State needs to go and shut it down! All I needed was a stabilized blood pressure and this place made it higher. DIRTY, FILTHY, Mouse poop in the drawers where you store clothing, cockroach’s dead in the windows, dust piled on the walls and floors under the bed, moldy black mold and mildew all inside the showers and on bathroom shower. It was truly horrifying. They sent me to a nightmare in hell when I needed rest. HORRIBLE!

My family had a very poor experience here in the Spring. We found most staff to be extremely unprofessional. Didn’t identify themselves on the phone, were very curt. On Good Friday the phone in the child/​adolescent unit was not answered for about 2 hours, necessitating a call to Dept of Human Services. As an R.N. I was upset that we received a call requesting that my grandson’s medication be increased due to the pharmacy not having the dose he had been on. They also used benadryl including IM frequently without other interventions. They never ordered tests that should have been immediately initiated. My daughter has a video that has not been released of the receptionist laying back reclining on a chair chatting on her cell while parents and grandparents were waiting to check-​in to see their children. We were so relieved to have our little guy transferred. I sincerely hope that this facility can correct their issues and again find compassion for those who are in challenging situations.
* * * I want to add that since I published the google review, I heard from Administration and it really sounds like every effort is being made to promote positive change within the facility.

I’d give zero stars if I could. My girlfriend was recently here. Seriously screwed up place. People get in fights and staff does nothing. Men grabbed her. Staff did nothing. Said they have everyone dopes up in Thorazine. Pyschiatric there is mean and abusive and on a power trip. Tried changing all of her meds even though she has been on them without major problems. Went to visit and only have an hour to do so. They didn’t bring her out till 15 minutes into the hour allotted. This place needs to be investigated.

i hope you or anyone you know never ends up here. doctors seem to be an imaginary promise piling up paychecks, never got to meet or speak with them. release dates they gave were a blatant lie, when confronted they defended themselves with immense attitude. its a short term facility, yet patients had been there for months on end, pushing years. its a decaying holding cell and i cant see how anyone ever left better than how they came in. if you want help i hope you find the few staff members that see the patients as more than a burden, but they seem to be in short order.

This is the most deplorable system in pennsylvania. We waited for 6 hours to see a psychiatrist after our insurance company said they had outpatient, and after the receptionist swore they did as well (they don’t FYI). If you ever want actual help with whatever is going on with you definitely do not go here. No one knows whats going on in the administrative end of their business. Don’t bother making an appointment either because it means nothing to them

I was never given the opportunity to contact my own lawyer at my involuntary commitment hearing. When I asked the public defender if I could pay for an independent lawyer they said no, I could talk to a second assigned public defender if I wanted to. So I did, but then said well if they’re both assigned and I can’t pick an independent one on my own what’s the point.
Here’s the relevant part of the PA code.
«The person shall be informed of his right to counsel and be advised that if he cannot afford counsel, counsel can be provided.»
I was never informed of my right to counsel by anyone at the hospital or the hearing, I was just given a pre assigned lawyer. I feel if I had an independent lawyer, I would not have been held for 20 days against my will.

This hospital is a disgrace. I was here as an inpatient for suicidal ideation. I wouldn’t recommend Dr. Gratz or Fairmount to my worst enemy. The level of care that is provided here is completely inferior and not remotely acceptable by today’s standards.
I cannot say enough bad remarks about Dr. Gratz. She is the absolute worst physician I have ever encountered. If you want a doctor who you cannot trust and is completely devoid of morals, then she would be a great fit. I actually feel ill when I think about this doctor. She is completely incompetent and could care less about the welfare of her patients. I would avoid her at all costs.

My mother had an extended stay at this facility. They were horrible with communicating back to the family. There are a lot of battles to fight as a care giver of someone with mental illness and this facility did not help, communicate or educate the care giver (meaning family). We tried several times to communicate with the doctors on staff and we constantly got pushed to their voicemails with no returned calls. We found this facility to be less than adequate and highly unprofessional.