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

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|Title= Northampton State Hospital
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|Title= Mendota Mental Health Institute
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|Image= Northampton_insane_asylum.jpg
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|Image= Mendota03.jpg
 
|Width= 150px
 
|Width= 150px
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|Body= Built in 1856, the Northampton Lunatic Hospital was the fourth Kirkbride building to be constructed; it originally consisted of a single three story brick building, designed in a Gothic Revival style, and had the capacity for 250 patients. Following the Kirkbride design, the central administration floors were flanked by two patient wings, one for male and one for female. After many different expansions and additions to attempt to relieve overcrowding, the building seems to have become a confusing maze of rooms and hallways.
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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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At the turn of the century, the now renamed Northampton State Hospital housed 600 people in overcrowded living conditions. Infirmary wings were added to both sides in 1905 and frequent additions were made since, but the hospital remained congested and the old structure was decaying quickly. By the 1950's, the patient population had peaked at over 2,500; the hospital began to serve only as a roof over the heads of the most unfortunate people, and the original ideals of "moral treatment" of patients were long forgotten.
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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 1961, more patients were being discharged than admitted, and a slow de-institutionalization process took place in 1978 and lasted 14 years. After many treatment reform efforts and legal battles, Northampton State Hospital finally closed it's doors in 1993. During the beginning of the 21st century many of the buildings surrounding the main Kirkbride were slowly demolished. And after many failed attempts from preservation groups, the Kirkbride was finally demolished in 2007. Then, to add insult to injury, Mass Development, the company developing the former hospital site renamed it from "Village at Hospital Hill" to "Village Hill Northampton".  [[Northampton State Hospital|Click here for more...]]
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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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