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

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|Title= Waverly Hills Sanitarium
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|Title= Friends Hospital
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|Body= In 1900, Louisville, Kentucky had the highest tuberculosis death rate in the country. This was due to the fact Louisville is such a low valley area and before development, was basically all swampland and perfect breeding ground for the Tuberculosis bacteria. As with many other towns and cities across the country, hospitals were needed to care for the sick. In 1910, a wooden, two-story hospital with 40 beds opened on one of the highest elevated hills in southern Jefferson County to try and contain this ravaging disease.
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|Body= The original building, now known as the 'Scattergood Building' was designed to be North facing, and 322 feet high with a stone edifice. It was placed at considerable distance from the public road, which is now Roosevelt Blvd., some five hundred feet. Two wings, 100 feet long, flanking the front of the structure were completed on both sides. However, unlike Kirkbride's plans, they were not intended to discriminate between a clinical population. This building was made fellow to a small adjoining library, as well as a hospital garden, which was perceived as being crucial to the treatment of the insane in the 19th century.
  
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Officials soon found that this small hospital was simply too small, as they were soon housing more than 130 cases of tuberculosis. Louisville needed a much larger facility and money began to be raised for its construction. Land was donated and $11 million was used to started construction on the new hospital in 1924.
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The asylum was originally purposed for the care and treatment for members of the Society of Friends exclusively. However, with a change in Pennsylvania law, the Board of Managers put it to a vote and elected to remove the sectarian restrictions in 1834. Dr. Thomas Story Kirkbride, the father of American Psychiatry is record as having done his medical residency at Friends Asylum, before going on to found the Institute of the Pennsylvania Hospital in 1841.
  
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The hospital, known as Waverly Hills, was opened in 1926 and was considered to be the most advanced tuberculosis hospital in the country. If a patient had any chance of surviving the disease, Waverly Hills was the place to come for treatment. Of course, treatment in those days was primitive at best, meaning that many simply came here to die. In those days, it was believed that the best cure for tuberculosis was plenty of nutritional food, plenty of rest and plenty of fresh air. Many patients came to Waverly and were actually cured and became well enough to once again enter society. For those not as fortunate, Waverly was the last place they ever saw. Records have been lost, but it is estimated that tens of thousands died at Waverly. At the height of the tuberculosis epidemic, it is reported that one patient an hour died.
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As with many asylums, a superintendent's house was constructed on the campus in 1859, for the easy access of medical staff. Likewise, the steward's house was built nearby in 1910. These buildings, Lawnside and Greystone, were operational until recently, until they were re-purposed by the administration of Friends Hospital.
  
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In 1961, Waverly Hills Sanatorium was closed because there was no longer a need for a tuberculosis facility. The buildings were reopened in 1962 as Woodhaven Geriatrics Sanitarium. [[Waverly Hills Sanitarium|Click here for more...]]
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In 1871, extensive changes were made to the Scattergood building . $20,000 were secured from the Society of Friends for this reason. In this renovation a small bronze plaque was placed along the side of the building to commemorate its history. That plaque is still in place and recounts the founding of the hospital and its prominent Quaker origins. [[Friends Hospital|Click here for more...]]
 
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Revision as of 04:52, 11 February 2013

Featured Article Of The Week

Friends Hospital


Friends.gif

The original building, now known as the 'Scattergood Building' was designed to be North facing, and 322 feet high with a stone edifice. It was placed at considerable distance from the public road, which is now Roosevelt Blvd., some five hundred feet. Two wings, 100 feet long, flanking the front of the structure were completed on both sides. However, unlike Kirkbride's plans, they were not intended to discriminate between a clinical population. This building was made fellow to a small adjoining library, as well as a hospital garden, which was perceived as being crucial to the treatment of the insane in the 19th century.

The asylum was originally purposed for the care and treatment for members of the Society of Friends exclusively. However, with a change in Pennsylvania law, the Board of Managers put it to a vote and elected to remove the sectarian restrictions in 1834. Dr. Thomas Story Kirkbride, the father of American Psychiatry is record as having done his medical residency at Friends Asylum, before going on to found the Institute of the Pennsylvania Hospital in 1841.

As with many asylums, a superintendent's house was constructed on the campus in 1859, for the easy access of medical staff. Likewise, the steward's house was built nearby in 1910. These buildings, Lawnside and Greystone, were operational until recently, until they were re-purposed by the administration of Friends Hospital.

In 1871, extensive changes were made to the Scattergood building . $20,000 were secured from the Society of Friends for this reason. In this renovation a small bronze plaque was placed along the side of the building to commemorate its history. That plaque is still in place and recounts the founding of the hospital and its prominent Quaker origins. Click here for more...

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