RPD, Health Care System and Community Negligent in Mental Health Issues

Questions that should be asked about Israel "Izzy" Andino

While everyone is talking about the death of Israel “Izzy” Andino in regard to the shooting itself.  The  questions that need to be asked and answered are being ignored.  

Based on what I have read in the media and heard from a variety of people,  Izzy had a mental illness.  He had been acting erratic before the day of the shooting.  Some of the reports said he was bipolar and he had been off his medication.  The questions that come to my mind are:

Was he getting treatment, if so did his doctor know he was off his medication?  If not why?

If people saw that he was acting erratic, did anyone try to intervene and get him back on his medication or get him help in some way?

If people thought he was acting unpredictable and possibly suicidal, did anyone try to get him to the hospital or call his doctor?

Why was there a gun in his family's house accessible when they are aware that he is acting erratically?

Mental illness effects every family, community, town and city.
However, the stigma  in our society of mental illness prevents  many people who need treatment from getting it.   Additionally, it is a problem that people in need,  especially the poor or uninsured, are treated to a broken, inadequate system that cares more about statistics and money rather than about the patient or client. One psychiatric nurse I spoke with told me that they are required to meet a certain number of service points, and that they are evaluated based
not on the care but the number of points they achieve. If they do not make their “quota” they could be written up.  Even when someone is hospitalized, they do not get the individual care they need. In the past when people were hospitalized they would receive a  combination of talk therapy and drug therapy.   The nurses met with the patients to help them identify what happened that led to the hospitalization and introduce skills that might help them when they were released.  Now, the nurses hand out pills and techs run unhelpful,  generic classes that do no deal with a patients specific issues.

The Rochester Police are known for their lack of skills when handling a mentally ill person.  One instance was related to me by a mental health worker. The incident occurred when a mental health clinic had to call the police for a mental hygiene arrest.  When the call was made, the client was very combative, but the staff were able to calm the client down before the police arrived.  When the police arrived, they yelled at the client to get on the floor and then maced the person.  The person relating the incident told me that the client was calm and that the police used unnecessary force.  

Maybe the community needs to look at how we treat the mentally ill, address our broken mental health care system, demand adequate training and accountability of the RPD in regard to the mentally ill and care about our friends, family and other community members to try to intervene, so there is never another incident like the one with Israel.