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

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|Title= Warren State Hospital
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|Title= Mendota Mental Health Institute
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|Image= WSH_Vintage_23.jpg
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|Image= Mendota03.jpg
 
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|Body= By act of Assembly approved August 14, 1873 (P. L. 333), the Governor of Pennsylvania was authorized to appoint three commissioners to select a site and build a hospital for the insane of the Northwestern district of the state, composed of the counties of Erie, Crawford, Mercer, Venango, Warren, McKean, Elk, Forest, Cameron and Clarion, and for such purpose they were empowered to purchase in the name of the commonwealth a farm or tract of land containing not less than 250 acres. The commission appointed was composed of Dr. William Corson, General James A. Beaver and Dr. John Curwen. General Beaver won distinction during the Civil War, became Governor of Pennsylvania and an associate judge of the Superior Court. The other members of the commission were gentlemen of experience in the state care of the insane. The commissioners entering at once upon their duties purchased three contiguous farms in Conewago township, in the County of Warren, embracing 330 acres, and called to their service John Sunderland, an architect of experience in connection with similar institutions. Meantime the Legislature, by act of May 6, 1874 ( P. L. 117), made appropriation for the erection of the hospital and therein empowered the commissioners to reject all bids for construction "if, in the opinion of the commissioners, the bids are higher than they can otherwise procure the material or do the work." Haying ascertained that an excellent quality of gray sandstone, as well as sufficient beds of brick clay, were to be found on the land purchased, the commissioners accordingly rejected all bids, and proceeded to build the hospital under the direction of John Sunderland as supervising architect and builder. By reason of the failure of legislative appropriations to keep pace with the progress of the work, its completion was considerably delayed and the cost incidentally increased. At the end of a period of eight years, however, the building was completed and the commissioners filed their final report. The entire cost was $872,000, or nearly $200,000 less than estimated, notwithstanding that the cost of fireproofing, amounting to about $100,000, was not included in the estimate.  [[Warren State Hospital|Click here for more...]]
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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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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...

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