New Jersey Sanitorium for Tuberculosis Diseases
| New Jersey Sanitorium for Tuberculosis Diseases | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Established | 1907 |
| Opened | 1907 |
| Closed | 2012 |
| Current Status | Closed |
| Building Style | Cottage Plan |
| Location | Glen Gardner, NJ |
| Alternate Names |
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Contents
History
In 1907, New Jersey opened its only state owned and operated sanatorium in Glen Gardner. It was intended to be a model institution, providing individual and public health benefits to an expected 500 case annually. Described at the time as “largely educational in character, which would give a practical demonstration of up-to-date methods of treating .... tuberculosis”, the facility treated more than 10,000 between 1907 and 1929.
The sanatorium's mission was broadened and the effects of long-term care assessed by the 1920s. The scope was broadened to incorporate cases in all levels of severity, regardless of the original intention to only treat "incipients, or 'curables'". The sanatorium's treatment remained reatively unchanged until the middle of the twentieth century when medication became the prevailing treatment. In 1950, the sanatorium broaden it's scope once again, but this to to include all chest diseases, and the name was changed to the New Jersey Hospital for Chest Diseases.
In 1977, the hospital changed its name again to the Senator Garret W. Hagedorn Gero-Psychiatric Hospital as it focused on its new calling as a state nursing home and eventually a 288-bed psychiatric hospital. The hospital’s premier location high up on a mountaintop with 600 acres of provided inpatient, comprehensive psychiatric treatment for adult patients. The hospital stated as its mission “to provide quality interdisciplinary psychiatric services that maximize potential and community reintegration within a safe and caring environment.”
In 2011, New Jersey decided to close the smallest of New Jersey’s four public mental hospitals. Even with a one-year reprieve by New Jersey’s legislature, Governor Chris Christie has targeted Hagedorn as the one to close. Governor Christie explained that by closing Hagedorn New Jersey would save $9 million annually. It would also result in the closure of Freedom House (a center for treating addiction on the Hagedorn campus). Local residents expressed concern about the future of the 600-acre property.
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References
