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

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|Title= Kalamazoo State Hospital
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|Title= Philadelphia State Hospital
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|Body= The choice of Kalamazoo as the location for the Michigan Asylum at Kalamazoo was helped by the fact that the governor was Epaphroditus Ransom, who once resided in Kalamazoo. Although the asylum was originally planned for a site in what is now the Stuart neighborhood, it was decided that this location was too close to downtown. So planners instead chose to place the hospital far out in the country, where they would never be bothered by these people. That location was on what is now Oakland Drive, where the hospital is still located.
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|Body= This large complex has its humble beginnings as a small work farm for the mentally challenged in a section of Philadelphia called Byberry, in 1906. Construction for a large asylum complex was in progress from 1910 to the mid-1920s, which included several dormitories, an infirmary, kitchens, laundry, administration, and two coal power plants. Many buildings were built with scrap and other materials because of the World War I shortage, which resulted in quick deterioration of many of the structures in the complex.
  
The asylum was on the cutting edge of many forms of treatment. Through its close proximity to town, it was able to establish an innovative outpatient clinic in 1916 as well as a unique "family-care" program that placed patients in certified homes. The hospital also made use of colony farms, adjunct properties on which patients with milder illnesses — and those who today might be considered developmentally delayed — lived in familial farm settings. (One of these was near Kalamazoo's Asylum Lake.) They often raised livestock and produce for use at the hospital. The farms are examples of the limited treatment options for the mentally ill that were available before the 1950s. Electroshock therapy, insulin-induced comas and some barbiturate drugs resulted in limited reversals in thoughts and behavior of patients, he said.
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The Philadelphia Hospital for Mental Diseases opened its doors to its first patient in 1907. Its population quickly grew, but with this also came tales of abuse and neglect. With insufficient funds, the asylum had quickly fallen into disrepair, and patients wound up sleeping in hallways, and raw sewage was found on the bathroom floors during an inspection of the facility.
  
Then the world began to change. Narcoleptic or anti psychotic drugs, such as Thorazine, that would revolutionize psychiatric treatment and the role of psychiatric hospitals in society. Patients who had been in the hospital for decades were suddenly responsive, able to care for themselves, and moving back to live with their families. By 1987, the number of patients had dropped to 550. [[Kalamazoo State Hospital|Click here for more...]]
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In 1936, the institution was finally signed over to the state, although it did nothing to alleviate the problems in the facility until the early 1940s. This is when the new owners of the institution sought to change the old Byberry into the new "Philadelphia State Hospital," and the facility underwent an enormous expansion at the rate of one building each year until 1953. Still, articles such as Albert Deutch's 1948 publication "Shame of the States," articles such as Life's "Bedlam 1946" and Times' "Herded Like Cattle" (1948) described life inside the hospital as despicable. [[Philadelphia State Hospital|Click here for more...]]
 
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Revision as of 03:58, 9 May 2011

Featured Article Of The Week

Philadelphia State Hospital


ByBerry TitleBar2.jpg

This large complex has its humble beginnings as a small work farm for the mentally challenged in a section of Philadelphia called Byberry, in 1906. Construction for a large asylum complex was in progress from 1910 to the mid-1920s, which included several dormitories, an infirmary, kitchens, laundry, administration, and two coal power plants. Many buildings were built with scrap and other materials because of the World War I shortage, which resulted in quick deterioration of many of the structures in the complex.

The Philadelphia Hospital for Mental Diseases opened its doors to its first patient in 1907. Its population quickly grew, but with this also came tales of abuse and neglect. With insufficient funds, the asylum had quickly fallen into disrepair, and patients wound up sleeping in hallways, and raw sewage was found on the bathroom floors during an inspection of the facility.

In 1936, the institution was finally signed over to the state, although it did nothing to alleviate the problems in the facility until the early 1940s. This is when the new owners of the institution sought to change the old Byberry into the new "Philadelphia State Hospital," and the facility underwent an enormous expansion at the rate of one building each year until 1953. Still, articles such as Albert Deutch's 1948 publication "Shame of the States," articles such as Life's "Bedlam 1946" and Times' "Herded Like Cattle" (1948) described life inside the hospital as despicable. Click here for more...