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Asylum News   (news you can edit!)

June 15, 2010 Transfer of patients into Wernersville State Hospital from Allentown nearly complete

The transfer of patients to Wernersville State Hospital from Allentown State Hospital is drawing to a close. The hospital's chief executive officer, Andrea B. Kepler, said 49 patients have come over since the end of April and only a handful remain to be transferred to the inpatient treatment center for serious and persistent mental illness.

June 12, 2010 In Florida, a Lifeline to Patients With TB

The last of the nation’s original tuberculosis sanitariums sits, improbably, just off Interstate 95, near a Dunkin’ Donuts and a Motel 6, and just behind fields of children playing soccer. The fading signs out front simply say A.G. Holley Hospital. There is nothing to suggest that one of history’s greatest killers lurks inside.

June 10, 2010 Despite slow economy, Danvers state project forges ahead

It has endured a fire and a poor economy, but the long-awaited redevelopment of the former Danvers State Hospital site is gradually taking shape.

June 1, 2010 Center building demolition begins

Demolition of the historic Center Building of the former Topeka State Hospital began Tuesday, said Ron Harbaugh, spokesman for Topeka Unified School District. In February 2009, USD 501 acquired 152 acres of land and 30 buildings near S.W. 6th and MacVicar, which was home to the former hospital.

May 28, 2010 Sale Of Bryce Hospital To UA Complete

TUSCALOOSA, AL - The sale of Bryce Hospital to the University of Alabama is complete. The official documents were signed by university President, Robert Witt, Governor Bob Riley and Mental Health Commissioner John Houston on May 27.

May 25, 2010 A Crisis in Costs, Day 3: Economic change may alter construction plan

Building two new mental hospitals to replace the Oregon State Hospital in Salem doesn't make sense during the worst recession in generations, critics say. The two-hospital plan grew out of a state-commissioned report issued in 2006 — before the economy tanked, spinning off double-digit unemployment, reduced tax revenue to pay for state government and looming budget deficits.

May 25, 2010 Kansas Mental Hospitals Beyond Capacity

The Kansas Department of Social and Rehabilitation Services has suspended voluntary admissions to the state’s three hospitals for the mentally ill. All three facilities are full beyond licensed capacities, officials said.

May 24, 2010 Jack's Journal: The Tunnels Underneath Building 50

Building 50 is a Traverse City landmark, but do you know what's under it? A series of mysterious, and dangerous, tunnels. In today's Jack's Journal, Jack O'Malley takes us behind the scenes, and deep inside, one of those very tunnels.

May 17, 2010 End nears for TSH building

A chain link fence and two big pieces of construction machinery are the first indications the historic Center Building of the former Topeka State Hospital is about to be razed.

May 16, 2010 2 Toledo burial grounds finally receive markers

Two unmarked South Toledo cemeteries where nearly 2,000 almost-forgotten psychiatric patients were buried received long-delayed historical markers yesterday, more than 120 years after the first body was laid to rest.

May 7, 2010 Hidden Columbia: The S.C. State Hospital, Part 5

With over 170,000 patients in its 176 year history, it shouldn't be a surprise to find your own family members were once patients. Nevertheless, it was a huge surprise to find my great grandmother on the patient rolls here. Here time here was a time of major transitions for the hospital. Click on the video player to see my search for her, what it tells us about the hospital, and how it might you find your own family.

May 5, 2010 Graves project seeks dignity for the forgotten

On May 15, the Toledo State Hospital Cemetery Reclamation Committee's annual memorial program will include dedication of two Ohio Historical Society historical markers and a memorial monument to honor the nearly 2,000 forgotten souls in the two Toledo State Hospital cemeteries off Arlington Avenue near South Detroit Avenue in South Toledo.

May 2, 2010 If those hospital's walls could talk …Murals, as digital art will endure facility's closing

When patients and staff complete their move from Westborough State Hospital, they will be leaving behind beautiful grounds, a beach on Lake Chauncy and a set of murals that will be reborn as digital art and continue to brighten lives at a new hospital in Worcester.

April 27, 2010 Hidden Columbia: The S.C. State Hospital - Part 4

Part 4 of Anderson Burns' series on the South Carolina State Hospital. The modern era of the S.C. State Hospital is one of revitalization and expansion. The campus we see now was begun in earnest in the 1920's.

April 25, 2010 Suspicious fire at former Psych Center

Officials continue to investigate two fires in long-empty buildings at the former Hudson River State Hospital campus off Route 9 in the Town of Poughkeepsie. Chief Tory Gallante of the Fairview Fire District said today there was no new information about the cause of the blaze.

April 19, 2010 New building could mark new era for St. Elizabeths Hospital

From a single structure in 1855, it grew into a campus of more than 130 buildings in Southeast Washington. It was, by the early 20th century, known as St. Elizabeths, for the colonial land grant on which it was built, and it had become, in the words of an admirer, one of the "great, grand" dames of American psychiatric hospitals.

April 19, 2010 Proposal to cut 50 beds at Terrell State Hospital draws concern

A proposal to cut 50 beds at the region's public psychiatric hospital is generating concern from North Texas officials. The loss of 50 beds at the 300-bed Terrell State Hospital is one of many proposed cuts to close a state budget gap of up to $15 billion. But local officials said it would be one of the most painful.

April 18, 2010 Vermont State Hospital's future still in limbo

The Senate Institutions Committee wants to set aside $15 million from a one-time allocation of extra federal Medicaid money to cover the cost of constructing a 15-bed secure residential facility for some patients now at the Vermont State Hospital.

April 14, 2010 Hidden Columbia: The S.C. State Hospital - Part 3

In part 3 of Anderson Burns' series on the S.C. State Hospital, he chronicles the demise of conditions at the asylum following the Civil War.

April 11, 2010 Video: A peek inside the state hospital

A Portland State University professor's documentary, which people can catch today, looks at Oregon State Hospital and its people.

April 11, 2010 Westboro State Hospital set to close

Westborough State Hospital is only the latest on the list of state hospitals to be shuttered.

April 11, 2010 $200,000 fire damages Richardson Complex

A two-alarm fire caused an estimated $200,000 in damage early Saturday to the main “towers” building at the landmark H. H. Richardson Complex on Forest Avenue.

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