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

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{{FAformat
|Title= Osawatomie State Hospital
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|Title= Mendota Mental Health Institute
|Image= 00052877a.jpg
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|Image= Mendota03.jpg
 
|Width= 150px
 
|Width= 150px
|Body= Osawatomie State Hospital The first territorial legislature in 1855 passed an act providing for the appointment of guardians for persons of unsound mind, and in 1859 the provisions of the law were extended to include habitual drunkards. Guardians of such persons were required to assume the management of any estate owned by the ward, and to report to the proper judicial authorities at stated times. The first step toward the erection of an asylum for the insane of Kansas was the passage of the act of March 2, 1863, naming William Chestnut of Miami county, I. Hiner of Anderson county, and James Hanway of Franklin county as commissioners "to determine the location of the State Insane Asylum of the State of Kansas." The commissioners were somewhat restricted in the selection of a site, the act confining them to "some point within the township of Osawatomie township, in the county of Miami." It was further provided that a tract of land, not less than 160 acres, should constitute the site of the proposed institution, and that title to this land should be secured by donation. No appropriation was made for the erection of buildings until after the location was selected and approved.
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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.
  
On Oct. 17, 1863, the commissioners reported as follows: "We, the undersigned appointed commissioners to locate the state insane asylum, met at Osawatomie, Kan., on the 7th day of October, A. D., 1863, and selected the southeast quarter of section 2, township 18, range 22, for the reason that this was the only eligible site where a proper title could be obtained with the means at command of the township, and other material advantages for the establishment of such an institution." [[Osawatomie State Hospital|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.
 +
 
 +
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...