Pain (Mis)Management at Fluvanna

Fluvanna Correctional Center handles the disabilities of a lot of the women that are housed here. Many, as well as myself, have seizures of different types. Mine are stress related and at any time can happen. When I initially came here, I was assigned a bottom bunk bottom tier cell permanently. Then the permanent ones became every six months. Then they were supposed to have been renewed upon re-evaluation. Well the re-evaluation somehow disappeared. So this means that even with the fact that we have been previously deemed approved, it no longer matters. This also means that if they no longer feel that you need to be on certain meds that you will also be removed from those as well due to suspicion of abuse or possible addiction. Never mind that this has worked for however amount of time that you have been on them for whatever reason. The profiles are being eliminated slowly but our health issues still remain with no resolve in sight.

So the constant disregard for our new or present need for care has been swept under the rug that seems to have a never ending depth. I hope that we can come up with some type of resolve for the issues that we in each facility are experiencing because regardless of our present housing situation, we are still human beings that deserve the same medical care as any other human beings. Thank you for listening. Gwendolyn

A note from CFJ: Because of the threat of contraband drugs, incarcerated women who legitimately have issues with pain, are increasingly being taken off of nuerontin and put on drugs that used more in psych care than for pain relief. We have cited our concerns with the DOC Health Services staff and will continue to advocate for responsible health care for prisoners.