Difference between revisions of "Portal:Featured Article Of The Week"

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|Title= Oregon State Tuberculosis Hospital
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|Title= Bolivar State Hospital
|Image= Salemtb.jpg
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|Image= Bolivar_State_Hospital_2.jpg
 
|Width= 150px
 
|Width= 150px
|Body= The first sanatorium in the Pacific Northwest was opened on Milwaukie Heights in 1905. However, those who were not financially able remained neglected. A state facility was needed, and finally the abandoned Deaf-Mute School in Salem was purchased to accommodate the Oregon State Tuberculosis Hospital, the first state owned and operated tuberculosis sanatorium in the West.
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|Body= Western State Mental Hospital, located near Bolivar, was the last state mental hospital to be constructed and habitually the one least funded. In December 1885 the site commissioners chose the farm of Paul T. Jones as the location for the proposed facility.
  
In 1909 the Oregon State Legislature enacted laws designating that a tuberculosis sanatorium was to be operated to provide treatment for tuberculosis patients who were unable to secure proper care elsewhere, where patients were to be educated in the proper techniques of healthful living and how to avoid spreading the disease and also to segregate those in the advanced state of the disease to eliminate the danger of infection. This was the first such action taken by any of the Western states.
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The institution's patient population grew from a few hundred in the 1890s to over 2,000 in the 1960s as patients remained hospitalized for decades. Many were crowded into large dormitories and had little privacy. With a limited number of doctors and attendants and a large patient population, many were simply "warehoused."
  
Prior to this, in 1894, construction was started on a building designated to be the Oregon State Deaf-Mute School, and was so occupied during the years of 1896 and 1897, but because of the inability to transport supplies over the nearly non-existent roads this building southeast of Salem was abandoned. After the Legislature enacted the laws for a sanatorium for treatment of the tubercular, one of the senators of that time saw this site, nestled in the foothills with available buildings, and action was taken to utilize this for the proposed Oregon State Tuberculosis Hospital.  [[Oregon State Tuberculosis Hospital|Click here for more...]]
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Patients at Western received the treatments available in their period of institutionalization. These treatments ranged from hydrotherapy and insulin shock therapy to lobotomies and electric shock therapy. With the severe staff limitations, however, patients were fortunate to receive ten minutes per week with a psychiatrist.
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The system for securing financing for patient care limited the operating budget. In Tennessee, there were three classes of patients: the state-pay patients, the county-pay patients, and the private-pay patients. State agencies agreed to pay for one patient out of a population of one thousand. Once this portion of the payment had been satisfied, the county was responsible for additional costs. The county payments consistently lagged behind, and superintendents had to engage in deficit spending to keep the hospital operating. The two most influential superintendents, Dr. Edwin Cocke and Dr. Edwin Levy, often faced political pressure from state officials, but both managed to make some improvements in the care offered at Western.  [[Bolivar State Hospital|Click here for more...]]
 
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Revision as of 08:00, 19 February 2017

Featured Article Of The Week

Bolivar State Hospital


Bolivar State Hospital 2.jpg

Western State Mental Hospital, located near Bolivar, was the last state mental hospital to be constructed and habitually the one least funded. In December 1885 the site commissioners chose the farm of Paul T. Jones as the location for the proposed facility.

The institution's patient population grew from a few hundred in the 1890s to over 2,000 in the 1960s as patients remained hospitalized for decades. Many were crowded into large dormitories and had little privacy. With a limited number of doctors and attendants and a large patient population, many were simply "warehoused."

Patients at Western received the treatments available in their period of institutionalization. These treatments ranged from hydrotherapy and insulin shock therapy to lobotomies and electric shock therapy. With the severe staff limitations, however, patients were fortunate to receive ten minutes per week with a psychiatrist.

The system for securing financing for patient care limited the operating budget. In Tennessee, there were three classes of patients: the state-pay patients, the county-pay patients, and the private-pay patients. State agencies agreed to pay for one patient out of a population of one thousand. Once this portion of the payment had been satisfied, the county was responsible for additional costs. The county payments consistently lagged behind, and superintendents had to engage in deficit spending to keep the hospital operating. The two most influential superintendents, Dr. Edwin Cocke and Dr. Edwin Levy, often faced political pressure from state officials, but both managed to make some improvements in the care offered at Western. Click here for more...