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

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|Title= St. Marys Hospital, Burghill
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|Title= Mendota Mental Health Institute
|Image= stmarysburghillPC.png
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|Image= Mendota03.jpg
 
|Width= 150px
 
|Width= 150px
|Body= Herefordshire initially utilized subscription asylum premises within the Hereford General Infirmary site and following the 1845 act entered into agreement with the Welsh counties of Monmouthshire, Radnorshire and Breconshire to construct the Joint counties premises at Abergavenny. Breakdown of the union led to Herefordshire providing its own asylum located close to the County Town of Hereford, who funded a proportion of the development. The rural nature of Herefordshire prevented further need for accommodation. The asylum became known as St. Mary's Hospital named after the local parish church.
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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.
  
The new establishment in Burghill, which replaced the original Asylum in Hereford, covered 10 acres and cost £87,873.00 to build. It was completed in 1871. There were a further 100 acres of gardens, a farm and several cottages. The main asylum was divided into a block for men and one for women, each wing constructed to house 200 patients. The male block contained a workshop and brewhouse, the female block a laundry. In addition to a dining and recreation hall, there was a chapel. A gasworks in the grounds supplied the gas for lighting the building. The hospital staff included both male and female attendants, a housekeeper, cook, laundress, housemaid, kitchen maid, porter, baker, engineer and stoker. A bailiff managed the house and grounds: there was also a gardener, cowman, wagoner and some farm workers. In 1872 the rector of Credenhill was chaplain. Part of his remit was to organize entertainment for the patients, including dances, walks, and concerts. Male attendants were paid more than double the salary of the female attendants. [[St. Marys Hospital, Burghill|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...