Neu: 2001-10-26 Contents of this issue:
1. Shocking Treatment 2. THE WEATHER ======================================================================== October 26th, 2001 1. Shocking Treatment: In Niuean, the message said: "I have been given electric shock by the people, Mum. The pain is very bad." The writer Hakeaga (Hake) Halo, then aged 13, writing to his grandmother in Auckland from Lake Alice Psychiatric Hospital near Wanganui in 1975. In a report in the NZ Herald Weekend edition Simon Collins writes: The medium: a speech bubble written in Niuean next to a smiling face at the end of a letter. In the letter itself the boy assured his family, in English, that the nurses and psychiatrists at Lake Alice were treating him well. "You are not allowed to seal the letters, so they can read them and make sure nothing had been written bad about the staff and the hospital," he says. "If anything happens bad, they just rip it up and throw it in the rubbish. That happened to everyone that writes some letters. "You have to write a letter saying, 'No problem.' But all the time, deep down, you are still thinking and wondering, 'What can I do to get my message out to my parents?' "I just praise the Lord for the guy that explained to me to draw a happy face at the end of the letter and write a message in Niuean in the speech bubble. They thought, 'He's just saying, Hi Mum'." Hake Halo's messages, with help from a courageous teacher at Lake Alice, Anna Natusch, eventually reached the Auckland Committee on Racism and Discrimination (Acord) and, through it, the Herald, which published a front-page story in December 1976. The next month, the Government appointed a judicial inquiry. Although the judge, W. J. Mitchell, found that electric shocks were not used as a punishment, he confirmed that Halo was given shocks eight times, six of them without anaesthetic. A quarter of a century later, another Government finally apologised this month to Halo and 94 other "children of Lake Alice" who fought a four-year battle for compensation. The state has paid them $6.5 million, of which just over $2.5 million has gone to their lawyers. The case is not just of historical interest. Electric shock treatment is still practised in 18 New Zealand public hospitals, although these days with anaesthetic. And it is doubtful whether we yet have the ideal answer for difficult children of the kind sent to Lake Alice. Hake Halo was born in Niue in 1962 and adopted by his grandparents. The family moved to Auckland when he was 5 and he started school knowing no English. He suffered from epilepsy. He told the Weekend Herald this week: "They put me into a special class ... I couldn't speak English, so they said I'm a handicapped." Judge Mitchell's report said the boy was referred to the School Psychological Service because of "behavioural difficulties" in his first year of school. Two years later, he was admitted to the children's hospital for "hyperactivity." After cutting his hand on a window when he was shut out of class, he was sent to a psychopaedic hospital. He changed schools, but began appearing on police files when he was just 11. "I was getting into trouble with the law all the time and stealing - mixing around with the wrong friends," he says. Judge Mitchell's report said that, at 13, Hake Halo threatened his mother with scissors and tied string around the neck of a baby cousin. He was sent to Owairaka Boys' Home, and soon afterwards to Lake Alice. His psychiatrist there, Dr Selwyn Leeks, in a passage which outraged Acord, reported: "He was to be a living memorial to the inadequacies of the immigration system in New Zealand. He behaved very much like an uncontrollable animal and immediately stole a considerable amount of staff money and stuffed it into his rectum. He was faecal smearing, attacking and biting all who came near him." The medical records confirm that he had a course of electro-convulsive therapy (ECT). The way he describes it now, he actually got electric shocks of two kinds. When the shocks were for "treatment", the shock was so intense that he became unconscious instantly. In his report, Judge Mitchell accepted the psychiatrists' word that ECT always had this effect. But Halo says there were other times when he did not lose consciousness, and felt "the worst pain that you can ever feel". "It just feels like someone is whacking your head with a sledgehammer, like someone whacking at full speed," he says. "There are purple lines going through your eyes, ringing in your ears at the same time. "But the worst part is the pain. You are lying down, then your whole body is jumping up on the bed. Once they turn it off, you fall back down on the bed." On these occasions, Halo believes that he did not have ECT at all, but what psychiatrists call "aversion therapy" - what you or I would call "punishment". He was alleged to have held a child's hand on a hot radiator, and to have bitten other children - claims he denies. "I was named as an 'uncontrollable animal' in there. I swear to God I was never that." He believes he was also given the drug paraldehyde as a punishment. This was injected just above the buttocks and was so painful that it was impossible to sit down for several hours. "Dr Leeks or the staff nurses will do it - Dempsey Corkran and Brian Stabb are the only two that I can remember," he says. Before going to Lake Alice, he says, the epilepsy he had suffered in early childhood had gone. But after the electric shocks it returned, and he still suffers from both epilepsy and "these old attacks". He still suffers memory loss which began with the electric shocks. "You go to jobs, they tell you what to do, then you forget about it." Halo is married with four children aged 8 to 19. He is now a lay preacher in the Church of God and works as a volunteer with the elderly. But throughout his life the memory loss and recurring epileptic fits have made it impossible for him to keep a job, apart from one seven-year stint at PDL Plastics "because the foreman understood my problems". What Lake Alice did to Halo and other children in the 1970s is in some ways unique. It became a psychiatric hospital only in 1966, and closed in 1999. The Child and Adolescent Unit was created in 1972, and closed in 1978 after the public horror aroused initially by the Halo case. Apart from the 95 former patients who have just won their case against the Crown, there may be around 50 others who were in the unit up to 1977, when Dr Leeks left. The Government is offering compensation to them, too, if they contact the Ministry of Health. 2. THE WEATHER THIS WEEK not even Madden nor Julian could squeeze rain from dusty Niuean clouds. The usually accurate WAFS model was overly optimistic Monday calling for a small but moderately intense area of showers to pass over Niue mid-week. There seemed little reason to doubt at least one substantial raincloud deluging, as overhead the meteorological mechanics appeared quite positive and favorable for convection. Most notable was a "Madden-Julian Oscillation" moving from west to east over Niue during the week. The "MJO", a wave of energy in the upper atmosphere that appears and moves around the globe periodically, usually around every 30-45 days acts to enhance vertical motion or ventilation aloft, making it easier for rising, unstable air to continue rising and diverge ....."exhaust" and spread out. During the week temperatures eased up near the 30C mark as warmer winds began to converge in our direction from the north. An approaching cold front from the southwest looked set to provide "lift" to any low-level moisture that might sneak our way from the equator. Aside from a few small thundershowers over central Tonga on Tuesday, the cold front passed through our neighborhood producing only dripless overcast Wednesday afternoon. By Thursday winds were moderate southerly and humidity and temperature were headed downward. Friday sunrise revealed early market-goers huddled together in sweaters and winter jackets. THE WEEKEND should be a happy one for those who delight in days high and dry. Most locals, however will be disappointed as no rain is forecast for thirsty gardens by any of the computer models. In fact, brilliant sun should be ablaze Saturday after 7am, evaporating scant dew and quickly generating warmth before the first morning breeze stirs after 8. An area of clouds associated with the MJO might make it as far south as Niue from Samoa and the northern Cooks, shading Saturday afternoon sun. Sunday looks fine, warm and dry. Southeast winds moderate in the afternoon should easily dry the laundry. Good sleeping under the half-moon with the sounds of crickets shivering in the upper teens, Celsius. NEXT WEEK gamblers might be piling their chips on "DRY" if they have glanced at the NOGAPS 144 hour forecast animation. A moderate High to the south of Niue slowly expands and flattens for the week with lazy easterly trades along 20S depicted on the wind charts. The dry air overhead should warm rapidly in sun and cool quickly under stars. Plan on short sleeves and the favorite blanket for day and night activities. No significant weather is forecast by the models. __END__
