683. Poplar Springs Hospital

The Poplar Springs Hospital in Petersburg, Florida has been seen a number of cases where teenagers have run away. Also the reviews of former patients seem not to be that positive.

Here are some of the testimonies:

Had a horrible experience here, upon my arrival people were on me like leeches, multiple females wanted to fight me. I got into two fights, staff did nothing. A female bit me in front of staff and all they said was “Did she break skin” “looks fine to me”. The staff was nonchalant about everything. My family bought me my necessities and the staff claimed they “couldn’t find” my belongings. Poor experience, don’t do drugs.

I was here in 2015 for 7 days, I think. I was under a TDO and I got there really early in the morning and they took hours to finally get me onto the adolescent unit. I saw a lot of fights. I think I counted 11 fights in the 7 days I was there. I also noticed that they sent almost every single patient to the residential unit. I had to beg them to not send me to the residential unit. The staff was honestly a joke, minus like 2 people. I don’t even remember going to groups or my court hearing. Literally, the only good thing that came out of it was they gave me nicotine patches with my moms permission.

Running as hospital for minors require supervision. It seems that the hospital does care more about profit than the safety of the patients. It cannot be fun being a teenage patient in this hospital.

Sources:

• Police searching for runaway teens who left Poplar Springs Hospital (WTVR news)
• Polar Springs Hospital complaints (UHS behind closed doors)