70-year-old Mom and Grandmother, Cindi Fisher, and allies, will be in front of Western State Hospital (WSH) Tuesday, August 2, 2021. They will be demanding Siddharta Fisher be released immediately under the discharge plan that the WSH Case Consult Team agreed upon on Thursday, June 24.
Mom Cindi will be on Day 31 of a Hunger Strike to Free Siddharta. She also wants to draw attention to the public that Western State Hospital was decertified in 2018 and defunded its annual $53 million budget since then. This was due to the extremely dangerous conditions for staff and patients, and the hospital’s continuously failed discharge planning, which she believes is a form of false imprisonment.
Cindi wants the public to know that there is a better way than building newer, smaller hospitals–even if they are closer to home. Smaller scale does not change the culture of disempowerment, delayed discharge/false imprisonment, staff shortages, punishment and retaliation, all of which breed violence.
Cindi says, “There really is a better way. Open Dialogue, Peer-Run Respites, and Soteria Houses in our neighborhoods and communities are alternatives proven to be more effective, more humane, and far more cost efficient in the long run. And for a truly lasting, profound change, the voice of those most impacted, must have the greater say at the decision making table.”