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

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{{FAformat
 
{{FAformat
|Title= Henryton State Hospital
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|Title= Mendota Mental Health Institute
|Image= HenrytonSH 17.jpg
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|Image= Mendota03.jpg
 
|Width= 150px
 
|Width= 150px
|Body= Established in 1922 by Chapter 464, Acts of 1922, Henryton State Hospital is located in a wooded, steeply sloped rural area in the southeast corner of the County. The facility was established in 1922 as a tuberculosis hospital for the “Negro” population. In July of 1963 the hospital was transferred to the Department of Mental Hygiene and was converted to a special training and habilitation program for severely retarded, ambulatory adults. Admission was handled through Rosewood State Hospital. Occupancy was to be 400 once when conversion was completed. Henryton closed in 1985.
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|Body= Mendota opened on July 14, 1860 when it admitted a patient who had been brought all the way from Oconto County...a long trip by horse and wagon. Even though the hospital was not yet ready to open, that Saturday it was decided that, because of the distance the patient had been brought, he should be received. Thus began Mendota's ready response to the needs of patients and communities, which has been its tradition.
  
The Henryton campus consists of eighteen buildings, with a total of 228,000 square feet. The campus is located on 46 acres in the middle of a State Park. The main buildings at Henryton include three connecting multi-story structures, built between the 1920’s and 1940, containing approximately 119,000 square feet. The earliest building comprised the original tuberculosis hospital. Two additions were built and renovations were made to the original building between the time of the original construction and 1940. There are also five support buildings located nearby. These were built between 1936 and 1952 and contain approximately 96,000 square feet. Seven small maintenance buildings or sheds scattered throughout the campus were constructed between the 1920’s and 1940 and have a total of 8,000 square feet of space. Finally, there are three other maintenance buildings constructed between 1957 and 1960.
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Mendota has gone through many changes since then, some of them dramatized in the changes in its name. It opened as an "Asylum", appropriate in an era when little could be done for the mentally ill except to house and care for them...i.e. to give them asylum...when their families and communities could no longer cope with their needs.
  
Henryton has become a popular hangout for vandals, scrappers, and taggers. Since it's closure, the hospital has suffered greatly and is currently only a shell of it's former self. On Dec 19, 2007 80 Firefighters from three counties responded to a large fire in the auditorium. Because of the unsafe nature of the building, firefighters could only control the fire from the exterior. The auditorium and cafeteria have both since been demolished. [[Henryton State Hospital|Click here for more...]]
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In a later era, when patients were recognized as having an illness...mental illness...the name was changed to Mendota State Hospital, reflecting its responsibility for providing treatment.
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In more recent times, with the discovery of psychiatric medications and with new approaches (some of which resulted from research at Mendota itself) it became possible for the mentally ill to be treated in community hospitals and clinics. But there remained a need for a place for those who required more specialized treatment than most community hospitals and clinics could provide, and where the tradition of research, education, and consultation that Mendota had already established could continue. Mendota was then changed to its present name of Mendota Mental Health Institute. [[Mendota Mental Health Institute|Click here for more...]]
 
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Revision as of 04:45, 2 August 2020

Featured Article Of The Week

Mendota Mental Health Institute


Mendota03.jpg

Mendota opened on July 14, 1860 when it admitted a patient who had been brought all the way from Oconto County...a long trip by horse and wagon. Even though the hospital was not yet ready to open, that Saturday it was decided that, because of the distance the patient had been brought, he should be received. Thus began Mendota's ready response to the needs of patients and communities, which has been its tradition.

Mendota has gone through many changes since then, some of them dramatized in the changes in its name. It opened as an "Asylum", appropriate in an era when little could be done for the mentally ill except to house and care for them...i.e. to give them asylum...when their families and communities could no longer cope with their needs.

In a later era, when patients were recognized as having an illness...mental illness...the name was changed to Mendota State Hospital, reflecting its responsibility for providing treatment.

In more recent times, with the discovery of psychiatric medications and with new approaches (some of which resulted from research at Mendota itself) it became possible for the mentally ill to be treated in community hospitals and clinics. But there remained a need for a place for those who required more specialized treatment than most community hospitals and clinics could provide, and where the tradition of research, education, and consultation that Mendota had already established could continue. Mendota was then changed to its present name of Mendota Mental Health Institute. Click here for more...