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

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|Title= Nevada State Asylum
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|Title= Hawaii State Hospital
|Image= Nevada_State_Hospital.jpg
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|Image= HawaiiSH2.jpg
 
|Width= 150px
 
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|Body= The Nevada Insane Asylum opened its doors to 1481 Nevada citizens on July 1, 1882. The "poor unfortunates" arrived by train at 4:30 AM2 from Stockton, California. Prior to their arrival at Reno, they were housed and cared for by Doctors Langdon and Clark at their Woodbridge asylum near Stockton. The patients were welcomed back to Nevada to a brand new facility, the pride of the State.
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|Body= On January 6, 1930 the Oahu Asylum closed and the U.S. Army moved the 549 patients to the new Territorial Hospital in Kaneohe. Even at its opening in 1930, the newly named Territorial Hospital was over-crowded, Overburdened facilities have been the situation ever since. It was not yet been possible for the Legislature to provide sufficient appropriations so that adequate buildings and staff could be maintained by the hospital, in spite of great advances in the hospital program itself. In 1939, the control of the Territorial Hospital was changed from the Board of Health, where it had been since its opening, to the newly formed Department of Institutions.
  
From the beginning, due to its great distance from Reno (three miles out of town and no Sparks until 1905) and in keeping with the times, the "Asylum" was a working farm and remained so through the 1960s. They grew alfalfa, fruit trees and vegetables, raised cattle, pigs, and chickens, and had a dairy. Irrigation was provided via ditches from the Truckee River and domestic water was pumped to a water tower on the grounds (see the wooden water tank on above roof in the photo above). You can still find remnants of the irrigation ditches if you walk the grounds. Later on, the river powered a generator for electricity for the site. Most of the product from the farm operation was used to feed the patients and staff, with occasional surplus being sold. Since the facility was principally self-sufficient, there were numerous support buildings as well, including barns, maintenance shops, a boiler plant, laundry, a morgue, and, of course, a cemetery.
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World War II prevented further growth in the psychiatric field for a few years, but almost immediately after the war, starting in about 1946, a rapid surge of growth of our psychiatric facilities was noted. The private practice of psychiatry as a specialty received more interest, and additional offices opened one by one. The Territorial Hospital in Kaneohe was able to further modernize and develop its treatment program. The year 1948 marked the organization of the Neuro-Psychiatric Society of Hawaii.
  
Who were the people at the Asylum in the early days? First of all, there were the patients (called inmates at the time) who came from all walks of life. The majority of the male population were farmers, laborers, and miners (makes sense) and the females were mostly housewives. Patients who were able, were given the opportunity to participate in the chores that kept the place running.  [[Nevada State Asylum|Click here for more...]]
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In 1972 there were only 200 patients actually in residence at the State Hospital (even though the rate of first admissions has continued to climb as the population of the State soars over 750,000). Some of the older original buildings are now used by the Windward Community School.  [[Hawaii State Hospital|Click here for more...]]
 
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Revision as of 02:40, 23 March 2015

Featured Article Of The Week

Hawaii State Hospital


HawaiiSH2.jpg

On January 6, 1930 the Oahu Asylum closed and the U.S. Army moved the 549 patients to the new Territorial Hospital in Kaneohe. Even at its opening in 1930, the newly named Territorial Hospital was over-crowded, Overburdened facilities have been the situation ever since. It was not yet been possible for the Legislature to provide sufficient appropriations so that adequate buildings and staff could be maintained by the hospital, in spite of great advances in the hospital program itself. In 1939, the control of the Territorial Hospital was changed from the Board of Health, where it had been since its opening, to the newly formed Department of Institutions.

World War II prevented further growth in the psychiatric field for a few years, but almost immediately after the war, starting in about 1946, a rapid surge of growth of our psychiatric facilities was noted. The private practice of psychiatry as a specialty received more interest, and additional offices opened one by one. The Territorial Hospital in Kaneohe was able to further modernize and develop its treatment program. The year 1948 marked the organization of the Neuro-Psychiatric Society of Hawaii.

In 1972 there were only 200 patients actually in residence at the State Hospital (even though the rate of first admissions has continued to climb as the population of the State soars over 750,000). Some of the older original buildings are now used by the Windward Community School. Click here for more...