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

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|Title= Jesse Lee Home
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|Title= Mendota Mental Health Institute
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|Body= The Jesse Lee Home, begun by the Methodist Church, had its beginnings as an orphanage in Alaska in 1890. In 1925, the home was moved to Seward, where it eventually grew to several buildings on a 100-acre site. The home offered housing, education, and health care to resident children until 1964 when it sustained severe damage in the Good Friday Earthquake. Goode Hall, one of the original dormitories, was demolished after the earthquake due to extensive damage.
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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.
  
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Many Alaska Native children lived in the home, often sent there as a result of the ravages of epidemics of influenza and tuberculosis that hit villages for years throughout Alaska. Among its more famous residents were Benny Benson, designer of Alaska’s flag; Peter Gordon Gould, founder of Alaska Methodist University; and Simeon Oliver, pianist, composer, and writer. Another former resident, James Lewis Simpson, said he arrived at the home in 1929 when he was four years old. He remained there until he graduated from high school at age 17.
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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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Simpson, who is Ahtna Athabascan, spent his earliest years in Chickaloon, his mother’s home. When his family ran into difficulties and was not able to care for him, he was put on the train in Anchorage and sent to the home in Seward. He doesn’t recall being frightened when he arrived late in the day, but rather very amazed and curious about his new surroundings. He said he amazed his caregivers to nearly the same degree when he told them he needed to say his prayers before getting into bed.
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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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Simpson declines to analyze the type of care he got at the home, but simply suggests that his service in World War II, followed by the attainment of a bachelor’s degree and teaching certificate and eventually master’s and doctorate degrees speak for themselves. After a successful teaching career in Alaska, he and his wife retired to Oregon.  [[Jesse Lee Home|Click here for more...]]
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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...

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