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

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|Title= Western State Hospital Hopkinsville
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|Title= Trenton State Hospital
|Image= WHS3.jpg
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|Image= Trenton_State_Hospital_NH002.jpg
 
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|Body= Some time in the year 1863 the present able and successful Superintendent, Dr. James Rodman, took charge of the asylum. The total number of patients received and treated up to October 10, 1871, was 1.273. of whom 321 were then in the asylum. Calculated upon the number of patients received, 50.847 per cent were discharged restored, eight were discharged more or less improved, two were unimproved, one escaped and twenty-two died. There is (nearly) one insane person (October, 1871) in every 1,000 persons of the population, at least 1,400 in Kentucky, of whom there is room in the two asylums for only 850, and both are full.
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|Body= The necessity of erecting an asylum for the care and treatment of the insane was advocated by Dr. Lyndon A. Smith, of Newark, in an address read before the Medical Society of New Jersey in 1837, on the occasion of his taking the chair as president of the society. This was the first appeal for the state to assume its duty to this class of unfortunates. The interest of the medical men being aroused by this address, they exerted their influence in the various communities, which led to an appeal to the Legislature in 1839. A joint resolution was accordingly passed by the Legislature authorizing the Governor to appoint commissioners to ascertain as accurately as practicable the number, age, sex and condition of lunatics in the state; and if, on such investigation being made, a lunatic asylum should be thought the best remedy for their relief, then to ascertain the necessary cost of the establishment of such an institution, the locality for the same, etc. An appropriation of $500 was made to defray the investigation's expenses. Governor Pennington appointed as commissioners Doctors Lyndon A. Smith, of Newark; Lewis Condict, of Norristown; A. F. Taylor, of New Brunswick; C. G. McChesney, of Trenton, and L. Q. C. Elmer, Esq., of Cumberland County. The fact that four out of five of the commissioners were medical men, one of whom was Dr. Lyndon A. Smith, who first advocated this public measure when president of the State Medical Society, indicates clearly that the Governor was strongly impressed with the idea that the medical men were the most earnest advocates of the movement.  [[Trenton State Hospital|Click here for more...]]
 
 
The Kentucky General Assembly changed the name of the hospital to Western State Hospital in 1919. Investigations by state officials and the Welfare Committee in the late 1930s resulted in renovations and higher standards. In 1950, 2,200 patients were admitted as "incompetent" with loss of rights. Tranquilizers came into use in 1955. By the late 1950s, several psychotropic medications were being marketed and there was a deinstitutionalization effort to weed out patients that did not need to be at the facility.
 
 
 
Today Western State Hospital is a 222-bed psychiatric hospital serving individuals 18 or older from a 34-county area in western Kentucky. It provides acute psychiatric care for mentally ill patients, psychiatric rehabilitation for chronic mental illness and provides acute psychiatric care for geriatric patients. Its other two buildings include Western State Nursing Facility — a 144-bed treatment facility for mentally disabled geriatric residents that provides care for adults with severe and persistent mental illness who require nursing-facility level of care. Patients can only be admitted as transfers from state psychiatric facilities within Kentucky.  [[Western State Hospital Hopkinsville|Click here for more...]]
 
 
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Latest revision as of 17:20, 7 December 2025

Featured Article Of The Week

Trenton State Hospital


Trenton State Hospital NH002.jpg

The necessity of erecting an asylum for the care and treatment of the insane was advocated by Dr. Lyndon A. Smith, of Newark, in an address read before the Medical Society of New Jersey in 1837, on the occasion of his taking the chair as president of the society. This was the first appeal for the state to assume its duty to this class of unfortunates. The interest of the medical men being aroused by this address, they exerted their influence in the various communities, which led to an appeal to the Legislature in 1839. A joint resolution was accordingly passed by the Legislature authorizing the Governor to appoint commissioners to ascertain as accurately as practicable the number, age, sex and condition of lunatics in the state; and if, on such investigation being made, a lunatic asylum should be thought the best remedy for their relief, then to ascertain the necessary cost of the establishment of such an institution, the locality for the same, etc. An appropriation of $500 was made to defray the investigation's expenses. Governor Pennington appointed as commissioners Doctors Lyndon A. Smith, of Newark; Lewis Condict, of Norristown; A. F. Taylor, of New Brunswick; C. G. McChesney, of Trenton, and L. Q. C. Elmer, Esq., of Cumberland County. The fact that four out of five of the commissioners were medical men, one of whom was Dr. Lyndon A. Smith, who first advocated this public measure when president of the State Medical Society, indicates clearly that the Governor was strongly impressed with the idea that the medical men were the most earnest advocates of the movement. Click here for more...