This story was told by a person incarcerated at Vacaville.
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.
