The Intern was tasked to get more of the Psych Ward patients to engage in some sort of activity.  The Intern was giving it some thought and verbalized one of his ideas to Pedro one of the patients that regularly participates in activity. The Intern said I wonder how many patients will engage in a card tournament if there was a prize? Pedro joked that the Intern don’t need to offer a prize; all he needs to do is offer something as little as a bag of chips. Not even a big bag, but a small bag will do; or an 8-ounce bottle of soda. Pedro mentioned that some of the patients do not know how to play spades and the simple gesture of offering the chips or soda will get them motivated to actually sit down and learn how to play. Keep in mind that the combined mental illness and medication has impaired their thinking process. This makes learning new things that require some sort of higher mental processing difficult even if it is as simple as learning to play spades. Also for those who do manage to learn how to play; the game cannot last too long because the majority of the patients in the Psych Ward have a short attention span.

The Intern was a bit confused. Not too long ago he engaged some of the patients in a game of dominoes and taught some of them how to play. Pedro stated that playing dominoes is a simple game that does not require any strategy, and that all that needs to be done is to match the numbers. There is nothing to think about. Now the Intern recognizes why the many board games that is available for the patients are left untouched. The insight that Pedro gave makes sense. It is a wonder because Pedro is also a patient in the Psych Ward. This gives merit to the notion that just because someone is mentally ill, it doesn’t mean they are stupid.

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