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

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|Title= Adams County Almshouse
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|Title= Mendota Mental Health Institute
|Image= Adams_County_Almshouse_(2).jpg
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|Image= Mendota03.jpg
 
|Width= 150px
 
|Width= 150px
|Body= The Adams County Almshouse was built in 1820 to care for the poor of Adams County one mile from Gettysburg on the Harrisburg Turnpike. The almshouse property included 270 aces of land which was worked for the institutions benefit. The original almshouse complex consisted of three buildings, the almshouse proper, the infirmary, and the old insane hospital. The main building was a two story brick structure with a basement, measuring 70 by 40 ft. The old insane building was also was a two story brick structure with basement, measuring 95 by 20 ft. The infirmary, which housed the counties sick measured 60 by 32 feet and was also a two story structure of brick. The capacity of these structures was 125 people.
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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.
  
During the Battle of Gettysburg the Almshouse property was located in close proximity to the battle, its location being just northeast of Gettysburg and along the initial Union Line on the first day of fighting. Just north of the Almshouse was a knoll, which the Almshouse's cemetery was located on. General Barlow's division, part of the Union XI Corps took position on the Knoll. However their location on the edge of the Union line and the knoll's position further forward of supporting divisions created a salient. Barlow's position was hit from both flanks and overrun, leading to the collapse of the Union right flank and the confederate lines moving past the Almshouse by the end of the first day. This area is know called Barlow's Knoll. From the beginning the Almshouse was utilized by both armies as a field hospital to care for the wounded.  [[Adams County Almshouse|Click here for more...]]
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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.
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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...