This story was told by a person incarcerated at Vacaville.
UCI: So, what facility are you currently housed at?
Caller: CMF Vacaville.
UCI: What has the COVID situation been like at your facility?
Caller: It’s been awful, it has caused medical attention, healthcare to be way slow. Not that it has to the excuse as that. And I’ve been denied a surgery for over a year. So the COVID pandemic has caused me much suffering, and much pain in several different ways.
UCI: Can you elaborate on that?
Caller: Yes. Since the COVID pandemic, CMF has had less staff, less man power which caused us to not be able to get the healthcare that we need. Less nurses, less doctors means less care. It means that quality of care, which was substandard from the beginning, to be more substandard.
Which, bottom line, I suffer from anxiety and depression. I’m in the EOP program here at CMF, I’m a mental-health patient, for one.
And last year, the – over a year ago, when the pandemic was really, really hot, I had a surgery scheduled and the doctor said some things that – that frightened me, you know, along with my family. You know what I’m saying? “You know, COVID’s really, really hot out there right now, you’re safe in here.
If you can last any longer, maybe you should consider lasting a little while longer and putting your surgery off.” Me thinking my surgery was to put off – be put off a month or two or so, decided to – okay, ask for a delay in my surgery. That cost me over a year.
I have a – a very defective shoulder, I need a complete shoulder replacement. And all the steps are being just totally dragged, just totally slow.
You know, we requested, you know, after waiting a year, I requested another MRI and another x-ray, which that – my surgeon advised me to request “We want another x-ray, we want another MRI” to see just what condition it is, because conditions change in a year.
So I did that – we did that and the x-ray was taken months ago, after waiting over a year. And now the x-ray was done, the MRI should have been done. Now here it is, three months later, the MRI isn’t done and all I’m getting is excuses for over a year about everything. Everything.
That’s – that’s my left shoulder. I need now the right shoulder. I have – I’ve been diagnosed with severe arthritis in every joint. I mean, it’s just – it’s hereditary.
Their first story was “It’s minor,” and “It’s not hereditary, it’s just arthritis, normal.” It’s very severe. It’s been severe, it’s just pass that I suffer terribly right now.
I can – my left arm rolls out, I can’t use it. Just continuous – I can’t get any medication beyond Gaba and Tylenol. It’s just – it’s awful, it’s awful.
I just need help. I need help and I’m not getting it. Period.
UCI: How did your faci– how does the facility there, how do they handle the positive COVID cases?
Caller: How do they handle the problems with COVID cases?
UCI: The positive COVID cases.
Caller: Oh they – oh, wow. They isolate – they’re isolated and I mean, it seems to be that steps are being taken to – to keep the – to keep it under control. But it’s – it’s not like you would think.
I mean, it’s just, yeah. I mean, me being of an understanding heart, of a discerning heart, a discerning mind, in my opinion, I think they’re taking – they’re taking necessary steps to protect us, to keep it away. But the steps that are being taken is more punitive than they are anything.
UCI: Can you elaborate on what you mean by that?
Caller: It’s just – it’s, I mean, there’s – there’s – I mean, it’s – it’s just the steps that are being taken is – they’re not as proactive as could be, they’re more punitive than anything, seems to me. But I mean, the steps are being taken and to protect us, and that’s the main thing is that we’re being protected. We’re being protected.
UCI: That’s all – that’s all we can wish for.
Caller: Excuse me?
UCI: That’s all we can wish for is just to be protected.
Caller: Yes. We – we are being protected. You know, if a person – they’re isolated, they’re kept away, we’re kept away. It may seem – it seems punitive but it’s– it’s – and the way I see it, it’s protecting us.
UCI: How has the COVID situation at your facility affected your loved ones?
Caller: Terribly. They’re afraid – afraid, they’re always worried. I’m afraid, I’m always worried.
But the good thing is that we’re allowed to call. We’re allowed to call, even you know, even our calls have been cut down, they’ve been cut back. And even that – even that, you know, it may seem punitive but it’s all about protection.
And – and I see it – you know, it seems to be, it may seem punitive but it’s the main thing is that they’re doing what they can. It seems that things are being done to protect us and that being the most important, that being our primary goal, I mean, hell. What can – you know, that just seems to be the main thing, that the steps that are being taken are taken to protect us.
UCI: How have you been coping with this crisis?
Caller: Well, my anxiety is through the roof. I just go through it. I go through it terribly. I go through it terribly.
I was seeking to discharge my – my – this level of care, this month. And with this second wave being as it is, I can’t. I’m just– I’m scared to death. I’m scared to death.
UCI: What would have made the situation at your facility better?
Caller: Better healthcare, less greed, let the ones go who need to be let go. And not let certain reason for discrimination come into play. And not let, you know, it’s not about the money all the time, it’s about the person, it’s about the care.
It’s about what can be done. You know, some things may seem proactive that are not proactive.
You know, when you can – when you can see when one is suffering terribly and needs decisions to be made and those decisions are just being dragged out for whatever reason. And that you can see that there’s discrimination coming into play, that you can see they’re picking and choosing. That – that’s enough to, you know, if one’s not of strong – one’s not of, you know, strong – if one doesn’t have any courage or, y’know, any fortitude, he may do something drastic.
You know, I believe that things are being done. Things are being done. Not as much can be done, but things are being done.
And I’m just – I’m going – I was – I’m – there’s things I have to go through, there’s things we’re all going through. There’s things we’re all going through. And I’m just going to struggle through it. I feel sorry for if another, if another can’t.
I do all I can to help guys and help things, help things be better. You know, but I believe that more can be done. If we had better care, if we had better healthcare.
Period. Some doctors are just not doctors. We have doctors here who – who don’t give a shit about your health.
UCI: Wow.
Caller: No really, really, wow. Oh my God. Wow is not the word for it. It’s unreal. It’s unreal when you have a doctor at – when you have a doctor laugh in your face and tell you it’s nothing.
And you know it’s so, so much more than nothing. That can be heartening – that can be disheartening, it can be heartbreaking. It’s enough to – you know, it’s unreal.
It’s unreal. You know, we have doctors here that, you know, would not – I mean, you know, really just unreal. You know, my doctor – my pers – my PCP is not a doctor.
In my opinion and so many other’s opinions. He’s not a doctor, he shouldn’t be practicing medicine. Yet he’s protected under the state and that’s just all there is to it.
There’s nothing you can do but hope for things to get better. And nothing gets better. Nothing gets better. And you suffer.
Like I said, I’ve been waiting over a year for a surgery. And it’s not that the surgery’s not there, it’s that my doctor – it’s a case of deliberate interference. It’s a case of deliberate indifference. In the worst way. The worst way.
UCI: What else do you want people to know about your experience?
Caller: That I need help. I need help. I need help, we need help. We need help.
We need help more than we do punishment. People think that this thing is – California is idiotic when it comes to justice. California’s lost their brain to idiotic, they’re not smart at all.
And – and people need to know the truth, that it’s – this thing is not about – oh my God, they don’t give a shit about nothing. You know what, I’m going to cut off now. I’m going to call back some other time, Okay?
UCI: All right, well I thank you very much for participating. Our line is open Monday through Friday, from five to nine p.m. so if you want to call, you can call, like, in an hour or two. Or you can call next week, Monday through Friday.
Caller: Okay, thank you.
UCI: I appreciate it.
Caller: And we need help. We need help.
UCI: God bless you.
