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

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|Title= Dorothea Dix Hospital
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|Title= Harlem Valley State Hospital
|Image= DDix Hosp Hist1.jpg
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|Image= Harlem.jpg
 
|Width= 150px
 
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|Body= In the autumn of 1848 when Dorothea Lynde Dix came to North Carolina, attitudes toward mental illness in this state, like the scanty facilities, remained generally quite primitive. Nevertheless, the North Carolina Legislature was not unaware of the concept of a state hospital for the mentally ill. Earlier in 1825 a resolution had been passed requesting information needed to plan for the establishment of a "lunatic asylum". Nothing came of it then, and again in 1838-1839 action stirred in this regard with no concrete results. In 1844, Governor Morehead strongly recommended that the state build institutions for the unfortunate insane, blind and deaf; but the issue died without positive action. So things stood still in the fall of 1848 with Delaware and North Carolina remaining the two states of the original thirteen which had no state institution for the mentally ill.
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|Body= One day after the incorporation of the Board of Managers, Harlem Valley State Hospital came into being. It opened on April 24th, 1924 "for the care and treatment of the insane" as part of an act to discontinue the farm and industrial prison at Wingdale. Buildings A, B and C had already been constructed at the State Road (Route 22) site and money was soon requested to buy adjoining farmland and buildings to build a root cellar, dairy barn, piggery and poultry house for 3000 chickens. With 24 patients admitted on August 11 from New York City and Long Island, the hospital was ready to become part of the history of Harlem Valley.
  
Dorothea toured North Carolina. The conditions for the mentally ill that she found in 36 North Carolina counties were much the same as in other states, ranging from extremely poor to above average, with a census of about a thousand mentally ill in jails, poorhouses and private homes. She returned to Raleigh and compiled the information she had gathered into a "memorial" which she hoped to present to the legislature.
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Between 1925 and 1929, the certified capacity of the new hospital rose from 250 to 1294. During that time, the Board of Managers, which, in later years, became the Board of Visitors, approved changing the course of the State Route 22 so that it would skirt most of the grounds instead of running directly through. By 1928 Buildings F and H were competed and Kitchen G was readied. In addition, tennis courts were built, physical culture classes were started and a baseball team for employees was organized. Then, by 1929 new staff quarters were completed and a switchboard was installed that served for 60 years. In the fall of the year, the School of Nursing, constructed in 1926, opened on September 23 with 14 enrolled. [[Harlem Valley State Hospital|Click here for more...]]
 
 
The report submitted to the legislature was a county-by-county report on her findings. She emphasized the need to remove the insane from jails for their own benefit and that of other inmates. Dorothea had a practical approach as well as an idealistic one. She listed costs in other states and economies that had been achieved. She recommended "moderate employment, moderate exercise" among the approaches to the treatment of the mentally ill, along with specifics of buildings and equipment.[[Dorothea Dix Hospital|Click here for more...]]
 
 
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Revision as of 03:25, 15 September 2019

Featured Article Of The Week

Harlem Valley State Hospital


Harlem.jpg

One day after the incorporation of the Board of Managers, Harlem Valley State Hospital came into being. It opened on April 24th, 1924 "for the care and treatment of the insane" as part of an act to discontinue the farm and industrial prison at Wingdale. Buildings A, B and C had already been constructed at the State Road (Route 22) site and money was soon requested to buy adjoining farmland and buildings to build a root cellar, dairy barn, piggery and poultry house for 3000 chickens. With 24 patients admitted on August 11 from New York City and Long Island, the hospital was ready to become part of the history of Harlem Valley.

Between 1925 and 1929, the certified capacity of the new hospital rose from 250 to 1294. During that time, the Board of Managers, which, in later years, became the Board of Visitors, approved changing the course of the State Route 22 so that it would skirt most of the grounds instead of running directly through. By 1928 Buildings F and H were competed and Kitchen G was readied. In addition, tennis courts were built, physical culture classes were started and a baseball team for employees was organized. Then, by 1929 new staff quarters were completed and a switchboard was installed that served for 60 years. In the fall of the year, the School of Nursing, constructed in 1926, opened on September 23 with 14 enrolled. Click here for more...