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Could Alaska Psychiatric Institute Have Prevented an Attack on a 7-Year-Old? (KTVA.com Exclusive)After pleas for psychiatric help, why wasn't Byron Syvinski institutionalized?Related Content
“Patients are released from API when they no longer meet medical necessity criteria and the psychiatrist and treatment team believe treatment in an acute care setting has been completed,” said Adler. “Patients are always discharged with a referral and aftercare plan with a community provider.” At the end of the day API is a place that Adler is “proud” to be a part of. For Syvinski, his non-admission to API was a missed opportunity for a chance to heal and be a part of a program that could have prevented a near-tragic event. Syvinski now faces seven charges, including two for first-degree assault and one for first-degree robbery. And young Am-Marie Martin lives with the trauma every day. Was she let down by a system that failed her attacker, one who had repeatedly cried out for help? |
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Karen said on Thursday, Aug 2 at 8:57 PM
I remember back in the early 80's when an estranged man left API without authorization. The next day he shot and killed four 16 year olds in a nearby park. When people do get out of there, they don't seem to take it seriously that they need to find them ASAP. It was very sad!
98313216as a kid of anchorage said on Saturday, Jul 21 at 10:45 AM
I remember API had the nickname "Alcatraz" due to the house guest mass murderer called Al. and the children unit was called the "Dungeon" as rumor was screams would come from there at night...creepy!
97052256chris said on Wednesday, Jul 18 at 9:04 PM
Yeah! come on API why havent you started up your pre-crime unit yet!? How dare you not know the future! If you dont know the future you had better lock everyone who comes through your doors up for good!
96815726Money money money... said on Wednesday, Jul 18 at 12:32 PM
the State of Alaska...they just think of money... and frauds...a HUGE fraud with Medicaid took place in the late 7o's-80's...that is rumored to be why Palin resigned...the property owned by --- was 16 blocks of Anchorage and not reported to Medicaid? Really? Sarah Palin's sister has a gas station on one of the blocks...can anyone say REPO man is coming? That is some serious fraud... All they care about is how much money they can make from anyone admitted...even children...that is wrong and illegal on so many levels of law... May be that is why Governor Frank Murkowski reversed the Statute of Limitations in 2003... So the victims of abuse and rape can sue the State of Alaska for damages...I would like to see if resources of some were taken and transferred to restore that to the person...for gods sakes... that is like stealing from the blind and morally reprehensible to allow that fraud to take place!
96773701Anonymous said on Wednesday, Jul 18 at 10:26 AM
I remember in the 70's that place was like ConAir. It had the worst of the worst in there, and to be a kid and have to get sent to the "dungeon" unit? Sucked. Kids got raped by Fred. no one cared. Al would terrorize you at every meal in the cafeteria. Those were the days. Rumblings. Fires. Staff left the children until they talked them to let them out in the yard. Maintenance man was mad! Mad Max...lol...
96758142Anonymous said on Wednesday, Jul 18 at 10:20 AM
is it me or do you find it really IRONIC that they had a piece on a former patient that talked to a teddy bear? ok? uh..cough cough...they got a MOVIE about a talking teddy bear...now you are confusing the poor girl...lol...I am sure she knows now, but I bet she just shook her head... Wow and they call me names? lol...
96757396TedtheBear said on Tuesday, Jul 17 at 8:20 PM
Let us not forget that Providence Hospital's mental ward released a man who immediately stole a cab and committed suicide at the port grounds. Mental health in Anchorage appears to be lacking. If API is not going to be use for what it is,,,,close it down and save money.
96696076disappointed said on Tuesday, Jul 17 at 5:47 PM
My sister was court-ordered to API and was sent home 3 days later after she told them she was "better". . .why aren't these places understanding when someone really needs their help and not just a roof over their head for the night? My sister later on admitted to us that she "knows how to work the system"... its disappointing when a person who needs psychiatric help cannot get it from even the "best" places around here.
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