Ray Sandford lives in a small assisted living group facility called “Victory House” north of Minneapolis. It is in a basement room at Victory House that Ray is awoken regularly for his ongoing involuntary outpatient electroshock.
Name:
Victory House of Columbia Heights
City/State: Columbia Heights, Minnesota
The director is listed as Adesola Ogundipe. A staff assistant is apparently a relative, Fola Ogundipe.
Connection to Ray’s case: This is Ray’s small group home out in the community. Unfortunately, a staff member in the house, Fola Ogundipe, did not express support for Ray’s campaign.
When asked if it was true that Ray was awoken in the morning for forced electroshock, Fola responded that Ray was big and his escort was small, and Ray could escape if he wanted to. However, this is not accurate. Everyone including Ray knows that if he physically resisted his forced electroshock he would soon be apprehended and then experience one of his worst nightmares: being locked up inside a psychiatric institution again. Ray wants to be free of forced electroshock, without having to be locked up against in an institution.
Fola has angrily and abruptly hung up the phone when MindFreedom attempted to communicate with him about these matters.
According to sources who attended the December 2008 re-hearing for Ray, it appeared that staff at Victory House may have argued that Ray’s condition deteriorated because of his involvement in his campaign for stopping electroshock, though this has not been confirmed.
Public position on Ray Sandford’s forced outpatient electroshock: The staff say that confidentiality prevents them from discussing Ray’s forced electroshock.
Public position in general on outpatient involuntary electroshock over expressed wishes of subject: Will not say.
So far, this organization has not yet taken a public position against Ray’s forced shock, or in general against outpatient involuntary shock over the expressed wishes of the subject.
IMPORTANT NOTE:MindFreedom and Ray endorse nonviolence principles. Even if an individual or agency opposes Ray’s human rights, MindFreedom and Ray ask that any communication be civil.
More information:
On MDOH website, Victory House is in Anoka County. Based on that, Victory House has a permit as Housing with Services License # 341129, which was renewed 8/1/08 to 7/31/09.
Contact for Victory House:
Victory House
4427 Monroe St.
Columbia Heights, MN 55421-2880 USA
Their fax # 651-631-2538.
Apparently, the company that runs Victory House is:
Goodness & Mercy Health Services Inc
831 Oakwood Drive
New Brighton, MN 55112 USA