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

From Asylum Projects
Jump to: navigation, search
(423 intermediate revisions by the same user not shown)
Line 1: Line 1:
 
{{FAformat
 
{{FAformat
|Title= Fairfield Hospital
+
|Title= Mendota Mental Health Institute
|Image= Fairfieldhospital1860.jpg
+
|Image= Mendota03.jpg
 
|Width= 150px
 
|Width= 150px
|Body= The Original building known as the Bedford Asylum was erected by an Act of Parliament in 1812 and was a handsome brick building on Ampthill Road, Bedford. The Asylum cost £13,000 to build and could accommodate 65 inmates.
+
|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 1845 Act for the Regulation, Care and Treatment of Lunatics made it compulsory for each County to provide an Asylum for the care of its pauper lunatics, and so in 1846 it became The Three Counties Asylum catering for the counties of Bedford, Hertford and Huntingdon.
+
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.
  
As admissions to the Asylum increased, so did the calls for a larger building or extensions to the present building. Matters became far worse following the 1853 Act which banned the use of all restraining devices for lunatics in Workhouses. leading to a sharp increase in the number of lunatics transferred from Workhouses into Asylums.
+
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.
  
Pressure for increased accommodation mounted on the Three Counties Asylum, eventually leading to a move in premises in 1860. The new Asylum buildings were located in Stotfold, Bedfordshire and became known as Arlesey Three Counties Asylum. The grounds consisted of 253 acres of which 230 acres were cultivated, and the Asylum was an extensive and elegant yellow brick building standing upon ground 222 above sea level. Extensive views of the surrounding country could be seen from this picturesque landmark.  [[Fairfield Hospital|Click here for more...]]
+
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...]]
 
}}
 
}}

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...