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

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{{FAformat
|Title= Concord State Hospital
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|Title= Mendota Mental Health Institute
|Image= Concord4.jpg
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|Image= Mendota03.jpg
 
|Width= 150px
 
|Width= 150px
|Body= About the year 1830 the condition of the insane of New Hampshire began to awaken a deep interest in the hearts of philanthropic persons in all sections of the state. As the public interest in the subject deepened, a settled conviction was formed in leading minds that the state should take the initiative in whatever measures might be adopted. Influenced in part, perhaps, by this general sentiment, but feeling deeply the importance of the enterprise, Governor Dinsmore, in his message to the Legislature in June, 1832, thus called attention to the condition of the insane: "I feel no apology need be made, in an age so distinguished for its public and private charities, for calling your attention to a subject which has so much reason and humanity on its side as a measure for the security and recovery of the lunatic or insane. The Legislature of the state has never yet recognized these unfortunate beings as entitled to any special favor from the government."
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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.
  
He also recommended, as a preparatory step, the institution of an inquiry: "To ascertain, with as much exactness as practicable, the whole number of insane within the state, distinguishing paupers from others, the number which have been committed to jail within a given time by authority of court, or by their friends or others, without the order or sanction of judicial proceedings, and the length of their respective terms of confinement; and to ascertain, in like manner, the actual or probable amount of cost of court and jailers' fees, and expenses of their support and maintenance in cases of confinement."
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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.
  
In accordance with this recommendation, the Governor was directed "To take proper means to ascertain the number of insane persons in the state." [[Concord 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...