WOMAN WITH BI-POLAR DENIED ACCESS TO CHURCH OF HER CHOICE

I'm offering the following stories without much comment. Mostly because we have little information, not enough to make an educated and informed decision. Cases involving mental illness are very complicated. I know this first hand as I have been connected to three persons with bi-polar disorder. None of them were family members, but they were friends or family of friends.

First, the woman in question, Barbara Gingrich, was found incompetent by a judge and was appointed a legal guardian. According to the story, Gingrich was not taking her diabetes or other medications, lived in filth including mold and dog feces. She has also had involuntary holds in a mental health facility. Typically, that means someone was a danger to themselves or others, but I cannot speculate if that was the case here because there is not enough information.

Gingrich was thenmoved into a nursing home by her public administrator. The PA then denied Gingrich access to her home church. The PA stated the nursing home had a church.

There are three stories from the St. Joe News. It makes for interesting reading and subsequent discussion.

Before advocacy

During advocacy

After advocacy

(By the way, it was an evil government agency that fought for this woman's rights and obtained hfor her the right to go back to church.)