BHC Alhambra Hospital — Attraction in Temple City

UPDATE: Just as we urgently warned Dr. Jones, our loved one who is gravely disabled and unable to care for himself—was wrongfully released. Despite our repeated pleas, documented evidence, and deep knowledge of his psychiatric history, the medical team ignored our concerns and failed in their duty of care. We told them clearly: releasing him would result in a crisis. They dismissed our family’s input, relying only on a superficial evaluation. This gross oversimplification of a serious psychiatric condition was not just negligent—it was dangerous. As predicted, our loved one disappeared for nearly 10 days, wandering the streets without food, medication, shelter, or money, while in a full-blown psychotic episode. Now tragically, he has been incarcerated. Instead of receiving treatment, he is being held in solitary confinement—completely isolated, w/o proper clothing or basic dignity, and still in a state of active psychosis. He does not belong in jail. He belongs in a hospital, under compassionate psychiatric care. This entire situation was preventable. Dr. Leonard Jones and Jennifer Rousch ignored over ten detailed warnings from our family. We gave them clear documentation, shared his history of hospitalizations, and even submitted written testimonies from family members. Still, they turned their backs on him—and on us. The emotional toll is unbearable. We are speaking out because we refuse to let this happen in silence. These providers must be held accountable not only for their inaction, but for the irreversible harm they caused. Negligent, dehumanizing, and dangerously unprofessional care. Our family’s experience with Dr. Leonard Jones, Jennifer Rousch, and case manager Akeio Clarke has been absolutely devastating. Despite providing detailed documentation of my loved one’s complex psychiatric history—and repeatedly warning that a board and care facility would be unsafe—our concerns were dismissed without any meaningful consideration. Within less than an hour of being placed, my loved one fled the facility. It has now been over five days, and they are still out on the streets—without food, water, shelter, a phone, or life-saving medication. We warned this exact outcome would happen, and yet the team chose to ignore us. Instead of partnering with our family, Dr. Jones and Jennifer Rousch insisted that our loved one was “at baseline” and “excited” for board and care—statements that were not only inaccurate but dangerously negligent. We begged them to initiate the LPS conservatorship process, which could have protected him. They refused. A single piece of paperwork could have changed everything. Now, our loved one is a critically missing person, and our entire family is suffering deeply. We are living in constant fear for his life.The emotional toll has been overwhelming—my mother is now experiencing severe panic attacks and breathing difficulties due to the trauma and stress caused by this team’s inaction. To make matters worse, Dr Rousch made an unprofessional and deeply inappropriate comment implying that our loved one would have received better care if he had “better insurance.” This type of insurance-shaming is unacceptable, especially from someone entrusted with supporting our most vulnerable. These providers took advantage of someone who was mentally ill and in crisis. They showed no compassion, no accountability—only detachment and a concerning focus on procedure over people. Their lack of action and empathy reflects a systemic failure that contributes to the homelessness crisis we see every day. They are part of the problem. We are now working hard to ensure this doesn’t happen to another family. We will be filing formal complaints and reporting each person involved. These individuals should not be in positions of power—they should be fired. What happened to our loved one is not just tragic—it was...

The images advertised only show what are the best parts of the facility. (I am going into immense detail as visitors were not allowed in the patients' rooms, only the smoking area/basketball court with some plastic chairs and a few outside thermoplastic-coated round picnic tables with umbrellas for an hour).

While the staff I interacted with in my ward were lovely during the afternoon shift, others tended to react to patients with some level of apathy or frustration (understandble in that environment but not calming for any patients undergoing a 72 hour or more hold). We were checked in on hourly.

The rooms we were introduced to in our "not aggressive/physically violent ward" (comprised of patients possessing depression, alchoholism, drug addiction, anxiety, schizophrenia, etc.,) had three beds per room made of a matress and light disposable sheets as well as a pillow and a disposable pillow case which provided minimal warmth against the air conditioned vents. We each had a small shelf next to our beds (slightly shorter than our bedframes) where we could put notebooks that we had given to us, our introductory packets, writing implements, etc.,

That ward was mixed gender, with am alternating arrangement of a male room and a female room from the lobby to the recreational room where lessons would be held ranging from coloring and drawing (yes, this was the adult ward) to worksheets and sharing OR, during our allotted freetime, we had access to the television, an array of books from a small shelf (including bibles), board games, and notebooks to draw or write in.

We were given four meals (breakfast, lunch, snack, and supper) that if you were on "level one" which you'd be on if it was your first day, missed your medication, hadn't gotten your heartrate measured, or you hadn't attended all of your lessons you would have to be given in that room. Specialized food needs WERE accounted for, within reason. (Allergies, vegetarians, etc.,)

If you were "level two", garnered by attending all your lessons, taking all of your medication as perscribed, and general good behavior, you were given a ticket and were allowed to cross from the ward to a lunch court via a short sidewalk inside the facility, while being monitored, where you could have options as for food.

On my final night and the next morning, due to my being a "docile patient" and the rooms in the aforementioned ward being full and needing space, I was moved to the eating disorder ward on the other side of the lobby. THESE are the rooms you see in the pictures. Well made beds with high headboards, a bunch of sheets, only two large beds with a writing desk each and a pinboard above those desks, storage on the headboard and below the bed as well as in wardrobes, and a smiliar (yet higher quality) restroom that didn't close due to safety reasons but had a shower, sink, toilet, and mirror (no possibilty of sharp objects to cause self harm with).

While different patients were treated differently, the lack of transparency in photos advertising the location makes it seem like the wards in the facility all possessed the same quality of comfort and care.

To reassure on other points, the staff did care, were attentive for the most part, food was regularly given, we were monitored as far as health and wellness, set to a regular schedule of waking up and going to sleep, checked our things we entered the facility with to make sure we were safe from potentially harming ourselves, allowed us our own clothing (if there were no safety concerns with the garments), and tried to answer any questions we had.

There were ways to improve compared to other hospitals but for what it DID possess, it certainly served...

After several admissions to different hospitals since I was 13 years old including here at BHC (as well as Reasons) this was by far the most life changing, individualized hospitalization I have ever had. It didn’t start out the best. I was in a very dark part of my life when I got back to BHC. I was admitted to a unit that I don’t normally go to and I was terrified and didn’t trust anybody that was trying to help me… slowly but surely I came to find that the staffing and my treatment team saw something in me that I didn’t see in myself. I didn’t see a future anymore and it was a scary time in my life. This time in the hospital, things were different. I, for the first time, had a team working with me that didn’t give me a generic treatment plan. Dr. Jennifer Rousch took on my case and is one of the main reasons I have come as far as have. I am on conservatorship and she was in contact with my treatment team from Orange County on a daily basis planning the special care that I needed and gave me pep-talks to keep me motivated and that little push to keep going. Thank you so much Dr. Rousch. She coordinated a special modified program for me where I got the dietary assistance from reasons while still getting the support from the mental health. I have been on the eating disorder unit several times here at BHC, this time instead of me doing full programming on EDO I stayed at the unit for the day but my dietician, Taylor, came to see me a couple times a week and helped me with my dietary needs with therapeutic approach. She made sure my health was restored, spent a good amount of time with me and made me feel okay eating again. For the first time in a long time, I trusted a dietician. Thank you so much Taylor. Martel( the unit coordinator of adult1) is one of the most dedicated, empathetic and compassionate nurses I have ever met. He made sure on a daily basis that everything was okay and that I was being treated okay, even down to just asking me how my sleep was the night before. He has amazing heart and it shows. Thank you Martel. Dr. McNeel was my psychiatrist and he has known me for several years. He has seen me at my best and he has seen me at my worst. I have really been a handful! But, he kept trying with me and helped me get mentally more stable. There was a lot of up’s and downs and lessons learned. But thank you Dr. McNeel for everything you did for me. You helped me in more ways than you know. Your fist bumps were the best! Another person who went above and beyond for me is the NP Adrienne. Thank you so much Adrienne for all of the time that you spent with me, how you never rushed me. You met with me almost every day that you worked and I will always remember our time together. JORGE MY BOY!!! Jorge, one of the main LVNs here at BHC took me under his wing and showed me how if feels to have someone truly care about you. Thank you Jorge, you’ll always be in my heart and I am so grateful for you. DAISY-DUKE, SAVANNAH-BANANA, MY GIRLS!! You two spent a lot of time with me being my 1:1 support and I grew to love and respect both of you so much. Thank you for being so amazing to me. Caring about me. Supporting me. 1,000x thank you to my girls. LOU!!!! “ hey youuuuuuu it’s Louuuu” Oh boy Lou, you’re one of a kind. Thank you for making me smile every single day that you work. I’ll miss you.

So to sum it up, I highly recommend BHC to anybody who is needing help. Even if you are at a place in your life where you don’t know if you want help or even need help, reach out because I didn’t think I was capable and BHC showed me that I am.

Thank you again to my BHC team. You all play a huge role in my journey. Thank...