A shout-out to Officer Don Penly and Mental Health Officer Joanna Hollenback for the following recognition they received from St. Mary's Hospital.
"Hi, I am one of the ED social workers at St. Mary's hospital and have had the pleasure of working with officers Joanna Hollenback and Don Penly tonight. They have both been patient, understanding and very helpful with a difficult patient. Officer Penly was in with the patient earlier tonight to try to trouble shoot where he was going to stay tonight. Officer Penly went out of his way to get the patient a sandwhich to eat and a soda to drink while using the waiting room as our meeting area to try to figure out a plan. The patient was not being admitted into the ED at that time. We were trying to trouble shoot the situation as he uses many of Madison's EDs for getting to the shelter.
Crisis and officer Hollenback were called in to help create a plan for tonight and moving forward. The pt is now being EDed to Mendota as he can go to the geriatric unit to determine how much of his behavior is mental health related.
Thank you for the wonderful work and training your officers have gotten for working with people with mental health issues."
Thank you to these officers and all MPD officers for their hard work, dedication and commitment to our citizens every day!