ABOUT ALAMEDA HEALTH SYSTEM – JOHN GEORGE PSYCHIATRIC HOSPITAL
Founded in 1992 and located 10 miles from downtown Oakland, in California’s Bay Area, John George Psychiatric Hospital (JGPH) offers outpatient programs, inpatient care, psychiatric emergency services, and psychiatric consultation services for adults struggling with mental health disorders and/or substance abuse. JGPH can accommodate both voluntary and involuntary admissions. It is part of the 37.8% of facilities in California that offer inpatient treatment.
The center is operated by Alameda Health Systems, which also runs four medical hospitals and four wellness centers.
TREATMENT & ASSESSMENT
John George Psychiatric Hospital follows a multidisciplinary approach, using a number of techniques and teams from a variety of backgrounds to treat clients. The center has dedicated services for young adults, pregnant women and recent mothers, as well as those struggling with trauma and PTSD.
Inpatient care to designed to stabilize the individual and refer them to a less-intensive level of care. Inpatient care may include medication management, psychotherapy, group therapy, occupational therapy, and activity therapy, plus holistic offerings such as pet therapy and chaplain-led spiritual counseling.
Outpatient services — consisting of partial hospitalization programs (PHPs) and intensive outpatient programs (IOPs) — are available through the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Health of Alameda Health System, on the Highland Hospital and Fairmont Hospital campuses, which are also operated by Alameda Health Systems.
STAFF CREDENTIALS
JGPH’s team includes psychiatrists, internal medicine physicians, psychologists, registered nurses, marriage and family therapists, licensed clinical social workers, occupation therapists, and chaplains.
ACCOMMODATIONS & AMENITIES
JGPH is an 80-bed inpatient facility that accepts visits from family and friends between 8 a.m. and 8 p.m., seven days per week. Smoking is not permitted on the grounds. The single alum polled by Best-rehabs.com to date gave the facility two out of five stars for its cleanliness and its meals, and three stars for its accommodations and exercise and leisure provisions.
WHAT ALUMNI SAY
“The program was good,” was the appraisal of the single alum polled by Best-rehabs.com to date. The anonymous reviewer gave the facility five out of five stars for its treatment effectiveness, but somewhat lower ratings in other treatment metrics, including three stars for its holistic offerings and just one star for its level family participation in treatment.
Secondary review sites yielded mostly negative coverage at the time of this writing. On Facebook, where the facility may have the ability to manage its own page, John George has an average rating of four out of five stars based on nine reviews. Out of five stars, the facility also has a two-star average rating based on 41 reviews on Google, as well as a two-star average rating based on 22 reviews on Yelp.
Negative reviewers repeatedly cited unpleasant conditions, including people sleeping on mats, as well as a lack of adequate treatment and aggressive or difficult fellow clients. “This place is a mess. Patients are all over the place and the only thing to entertain them is group and tv. There are only couches to sleep and sit on. At night, they give you mats for no pillow. The doctor doesn’t even check on you everyday. This is just a broken institution,” T.C. wrote in a representative review on Google.
However, there were a handful of positive reviews posted on secondary sites. These often defended the staff from other reviewers’ criticisms. “Decent food, decent yard, nice showers (would like one of these at my house), & very generous phone privileges. extremely over-worked staff – and they are really great,” J.P. wrote in a representative review on Facebook.
FINANCIAL
JGPH accepts Medi-Cal and Medicare, as well as insurances from Beacon, Care1st, Center for Elders Independence, Health Net, HealthPAC, and Kaiser Permanente. The single alum polled by Best-rehabs.com to date gave the facility one out of five stars for its affordability.
CONCLUSION
A long-running investigation by local Fox affiliate KTVU-2 in 2016 found problems with violent incidents, as well as “dangerous and overcrowded conditions (staff) describe as ‘inhumane’ and befitting ‘a third world country'”. In late September 2016, KTVU-2 reported that the hospital was in the process of implementing several plans to address the problems, including the introduction of triage physicians and, in the long term, introducing more beds.