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May 8, 2012 Former Harrisburg State Hospital grounds on list of state properties that could be for sale

Department of General Services Secretary Sheri Phillips told the Senate State Government Committee that the state could generate up to $9.3 million through the sale of five unused properties, including a piece of the former Harrisburg State Hospital and the Scotland School for Veterans Children.

May 8, 2012 Pennsylvania seeks to sell Allentown State Hospital

Pennsylvania is seeking to sell Allentown State Hospital in Allentown and the Weaversville Secure Treatment Facility in East Allen Township, both of which are closed and vacant. They are among five unused properties the state hopes to sell as part of a plan to generate $9.3 million and save $3.6 million in annual maintenance costs.

April 27, 2012 Demolition continues at former state hospital site

Demolition at the former site of the Brainerd State Hospital is continuing this spring, bringing an end to a facility that once employed many workers and in 1967 cared for an average daily population of 1,294 residents. Opening in 1958, the state hospital saw its patient numbers steadily decline from the early 1970s until the early 1990s, when smaller, community-based treatment facilities became more prevalent. The state campus was a landmark at the junction of Highways 25 and 18.

April 26, 2012 Fate of Taunton State Hospital remains uncertain

The House has supported the Patrick administration's plan to close Taunton State Hospital but approved an amendment requiring some privately run mental health beds in Southeastern Massachusetts. "We're not done with this issue yet. This is just a first step," said Rep. Antonio F.D. Cabral, D-New Bedford. "We have secured at least an initial number of 30 beds to remain in the region, and that's important." But Sen. Marc Pacheco, D-Taunton, said he is disappointed in the House and the fact that the amendment passed late Tuesday by a voice vote. The Patrick-Murray administration stunned SouthCoast in January by announcing it would close the state mental hospital in Taunton on Dec. 31. The plan calls for moving most of the hospital's beds to a new facility in Worcester and the rest of them to Tewksbury Hospital. The roughly 400 employees at Taunton State Hospital will have job opportunities at the new center in Worcester, according to the administration.

April 25, 2012 Developer has big plans for old State Hospital in Bartonville

The old building is still filled with asbestos, but Richard Weiss is already booking overnight stays in the genuinely creepy building that was once called the Illinois Asylum for the Incurable Insane. "I'm thrilled," Weiss said Wednesday. "The city seems happy, too, but it was still 50/50 and the mayor had to break the tie. But everything's good news now that we have the approval." The Village Board agreed to use tax increment financing money to remove asbestos inside the 50,000-square-foot Bowen Building, one of the last remaining buildings on the grounds of the old State Hospital that closed in 1973.

April 22, 2012 Stall in plans for memorial for Oregon cremains

The cremains of thousands of Oregon State Hospital patients — some abandoned, others forgotten — still linger within corroded copper canisters; their location a closely guarded secret. A historic building constructed in 1896 is expected to house the remains, transforming the space into a public memorial and final resting place for the unclaimed souls. But the dead will have to wait. Plans to create the memorial, initially scheduled for completion this year, have come to a halt after the Salem Historic Landmarks Commission recently decided the project didn’t meet all the national standards for restoring historic buildings.

April 19, 2012 Henryton Hospital Fires Put Firefighters at Risk

The fire at Henryton State Hospital this weekend that required the assistance of four counties, 48,000 gallons of water and a couple thousand feet of hose has become a familiar occurrence for local firefighters. The location has always been a nuisance for the Sykesville Freedom District Fire Department, said Bill Rehkopf, volunteer firefighter and public information officer. Rehkopf has worked at the department for about 10 years. According to reports and Rehkopf's anecdotal experiences, fires have been breaking out at the abandoned hospital for at least that long. The last few years have seen a noted increase in frequency.

April 5, 2012 Last patients to leave Dorothea Dix in August

Dorothea Dix Hospital will close its doors to its last patients in August, the Council of State voted Tuesday, ending an era of treating the mentally ill that began in 1856. State officials agreed to transfer the last 30 beds, including 22 patients, that are part of the forensic minimum security unit to Central Regional Hospital in Butner. It was expected to be the final step in what has been a decades-long process of closing the psychiatric hospital located just south of downtown Raleigh.

March 19, 2012 Norwich council happily votes not to block sale of hospital site

In a widely expected move, the Norwich City Council on Monday voted not to match a $300,000 offer for the purchase of its portion of the former Norwich State Hospital property on Laurel Hill Road. The 6-0 vote clears the way for a private developer to acquire the state-owned 49.6 acres, returning the land to city tax rolls once the transaction is complete. “I can really sum this up by saying, ‘hooray,’ ” Council President Pro Tempore Peter Desaulniers said. “Now, perhaps we can get some money back for this property. I think it’s a good deal.”

March 15, 2012 Closure of A.G. Hospital raises questions about what will happen to TB patients

More than 60 years after the A.G. Holley State Hospital opened in Palm Beach County, lawmakers decided last week to shutter Florida's last tuberculosis hospital. But questions remain about how the state will handle the relatively few --- but complex and contagious --- TB patients who would otherwise get treatment from A.G. Holley in the future. The state Department of Health will have to submit a plan by May 31 for closing the hospital and taking care of patients, with the plan fully in effect by Jan. 1. But the questions center on issues such as which other hospitals would treat the patients and how much Medicaid money would be available.

March 2, 2012 Patients moving into new Oregon State Hospital

A third and final wave of patients will move into new quarters at the rehabilitated Oregon State Hospital in March, capping years of effort to replace the decrepit institution that was once the site of the filming of "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest." The $280 million, 620-bed complex replaces run-down buildings on the Salem campus that more recently drew attention from investigators at the U.S. Justice Department. Dozens of structures were demolished, The Statesman Journal reported, including portions of the hospital's J Building, where the movie starring Jack Nicholson was filmed.

March 1, 2012 GC takes lead in Central State reuse plan, collaborates with city

The city of Milledgeville, Baldwin County and Georgia College are in the process of redeveloping Central State Hospital into a center for rural health care delivery and education. The Central State Hospital (CSH) reuse is anchored by a GC initiative called the Center of Excellence for Rural Health Care Delivery. The CSH campus will not only serve as a rural health care and education center, but it will also be an extension of GC’s health education programs.

February 24, 2012 Pink slips for dozens of Vt State Hospital workers

Becky Moore came to the Vermont Statehouse Friday hoping to persuade senators on the mental health bill. Instead she found herself defending her job."I was completely taken off guard and I'm concerned for my fellow workers," she said. Moore is a psychiatric supervisor at the Vermont State Hospital which was evacuated in August after Tropical Storm Irene.

February 17, 2012 Deal Struck for Worcester State Hospital Clock Tower

Preservation Worcester is claiming victory in its long fight to save the Worcester State Hospital Clock Tower, GoLocalWorcester has learned. “We’ve been working with the state for the past 6 or 7 years, and we’ve had a few setbacks. It’s a fantastic victory from the standpoint that last summer the entire structure was going to be demolished,” Preservation Worcester Executive Director, Deborah Packard, told GoLocalWorcester. The Clock Tower will be photographed and measured specifically from top to bottom, and replicated as a monument. The 114-foot Clock Tower was originally part of the Worcester Lunatic Hospital, which was the nation’s 1st hospital to care for the criminally insane. The structure dates back to 1875.

February 16, 2012 Staunton's New Western State Hospital

Staunton is home to a massive construction project you've probably never seen. In the rolling hills on the north side of town, contractors are building the new Western State Hospital at a cost of $125 million. With the 350,000 square-foot hospital now about halfway complete, staffers can finally start to understand how it all comes together. "I see where the hospital will be, the type of things we'll be doing and where they'll be located," said Director of Rehabilitative Services Jim Stevens. "You really get a sense of it now. It's pretty impressive."

February 16, 2012 Facility closings, budget cuts part of national trend

Closing state mental hospitals and trimming state dollars is not unique to Alabama. It's part of a nationwide trend that is an effect of the current recession, said Robert W. Glover, executive director of the National Association of State Mental Health Program Directors. “Each year, state budget cuts have taken a big hit,” Glover said. About $36.7 billion is spent on public mental health every year in the U.S., serving 6.8 million people annually. But because of decreased funding in most states, the mental health system nationwide has seen $3.4 billion in cuts since 2009, according to the national State Mental Health Association.

February 6, 2012 Construction under way on new Bryce Hospital

Construction on the new $81 million psychiatric hospital that will replace Bryce Hospital is under way. A new access road off Helen Keller Boulevard has been completed leading to the construction site, said John Ziegler, spokesman for the Alabama Department of Mental Health

January 25, 2012 Hudson River Psychiatric Center is 'like a ghost town'

Today is the last day for Hudson River Psychiatric Center, a Poughkeepsie institution that since 1871 has been home for those with mental illness, and until recently, a workplace for hundreds of people. As part of Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s downsizing agenda, the state will close the hospital and move patients to other facilities, primarily Rockland Psychiatric Center in Orangeburg.

January 24, 2012 Taunton State Hospital to close by year’s end

The Patrick Administration announced plans Tuesday to consolidate mental health services, resulting in the closure of Taunton State Hospital before the year’s end. Veteran nurse Karen Coughlin, who has worked at Taunton State Hospital for 28 years, said the announcement leaves her “disillusioned” with the way the state treats the mentally ill. “They said it’s not based on clinical need but on appropriations and money,” she said. “It’s absolutely sinful.”

January 24, 2012 Time running out for Worcester State Hospital clock tower

It appears the last gasp has escaped from those hoping to save the Worcester State Hospital Clock Tower. The state secretary of Energy and Environmental Affairs has decided against requiring an environmental impact report on a plan to demolish the 135-year-old High Victorian Gothic style tower, making way for the Worcester Hospital and Recovery Center to open this year. The state Division of Capital Asset Management has offered to compromise by saving and cataloging the rubble from the tower and reconstructing a replica on the same site.

January 20, 2012 Re-Purposment Plan for Central State Hospital Goes to State Legislation

For years, buildings at Central State Hospital in Milledgeville have remained untouched, and unoccupied. Now, there's a plan for the nearly 2,000 acre campus. "We've lost an awful lot of our mental health capacity, treatment capacity over the last 25 years," says Milledgeville Mayor Richard Bentley. In the 1960s, thousands of patients inhabited the hospital, now there's just 450. It's not just diminishing numbers that plague the grounds. "Old buildings degrade if you don't occupy them, we need to put them back to work now," says Milledgeville City Planner, Mike Couch.

January 1, 2012 Clock Tower may have one last chance

For the last several years, Preservation Worcester has led a determined but thus far unsuccessful effort to persuade state officials to commit to some plan to save the historic Worcester State Hospital Clock Tower. That effort reaches a critical stage this week. To judge from their latest report on the property, state officials now appear to be committed to demolishing the iconic clock tower, and hope to complete that process by about the time the new hospital opens this year.