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

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|Title= Milwaukee County Asylum
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|Title= Hawaii State Hospital
|Image= wiscmilwaukee.png
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|Image= HawaiiSH2.jpg
 
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|Body= Milwaukee's first mental hospital, known as the Milwaukee County Asylum for the Chronic Insane, opened in 1880 on the County Grounds in Wauwatosa. The state reimbursed the county $1.50 a week for every patient in its care. At the peak of institutionalization in the 1940s and '50s, Milwaukee County housed some 6,000 people with mental illness in several locations. Accommodations were anything but lavish, usually two to a room, sleeping on cots and sharing a sink. There was no psychiatry or meaningful therapy, said Bill Baker, who worked there as an internist. People were basically drugged and warehoused.
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|Body= On January 6, 1930 the Oahu Asylum closed and the U.S. Army moved the 549 patients to the new Territorial Hospital in Kaneohe. Even at its opening in 1930, the newly named Territorial Hospital was over-crowded, Overburdened facilities have been the situation ever since. It was not yet been possible for the Legislature to provide sufficient appropriations so that adequate buildings and staff could be maintained by the hospital, in spite of great advances in the hospital program itself. In 1939, the control of the Territorial Hospital was changed from the Board of Health, where it had been since its opening, to the newly formed Department of Institutions.
  
There were three wards at what we then called the Milwaukee County Infirmary when I, B. Hanson, worked in the Activity Department in the late 1970's; two wards for men and one for women. There were 60 residents to a ward. Their beds were about 4 feet apart, with a nightstand for personal effects.
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World War II prevented further growth in the psychiatric field for a few years, but almost immediately after the war, starting in about 1946, a rapid surge of growth of our psychiatric facilities was noted. The private practice of psychiatry as a specialty received more interest, and additional offices opened one by one. The Territorial Hospital in Kaneohe was able to further modernize and develop its treatment program. The year 1948 marked the organization of the Neuro-Psychiatric Society of Hawaii.
  
The activities department was run by OT professionals. There were dexterity and mental projects provided to the residents, as well as field trips, walks outside, arts and crafts and basic education for them to keep busy. Teams of all the staff involved, from doctors to the janitor, met monthly to discuss each resident's situation in order to be aware of medical, social or behavioral issues. I remember a discussion with the doctors regarding too much anti-psychotic meds for a resident--I felt his tongue lolling might embarrass him on a bowling excursion in public. The meds were adjusted.  [[Milwaukee County Asylum|Click here for more...]]
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In 1972 there were only 200 patients actually in residence at the State Hospital (even though the rate of first admissions has continued to climb as the population of the State soars over 750,000). Some of the older original buildings are now used by the Windward Community School.  [[Hawaii State Hospital|Click here for more...]]
 
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Revision as of 05:58, 16 February 2020

Featured Article Of The Week

Hawaii State Hospital


HawaiiSH2.jpg

On January 6, 1930 the Oahu Asylum closed and the U.S. Army moved the 549 patients to the new Territorial Hospital in Kaneohe. Even at its opening in 1930, the newly named Territorial Hospital was over-crowded, Overburdened facilities have been the situation ever since. It was not yet been possible for the Legislature to provide sufficient appropriations so that adequate buildings and staff could be maintained by the hospital, in spite of great advances in the hospital program itself. In 1939, the control of the Territorial Hospital was changed from the Board of Health, where it had been since its opening, to the newly formed Department of Institutions.

World War II prevented further growth in the psychiatric field for a few years, but almost immediately after the war, starting in about 1946, a rapid surge of growth of our psychiatric facilities was noted. The private practice of psychiatry as a specialty received more interest, and additional offices opened one by one. The Territorial Hospital in Kaneohe was able to further modernize and develop its treatment program. The year 1948 marked the organization of the Neuro-Psychiatric Society of Hawaii.

In 1972 there were only 200 patients actually in residence at the State Hospital (even though the rate of first admissions has continued to climb as the population of the State soars over 750,000). Some of the older original buildings are now used by the Windward Community School. Click here for more...