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

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{{FAformat
|Title= Fairfield State Hospital
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|Title= Mendota Mental Health Institute
|Image= Ctpc011.jpg
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|Image= Mendota03.jpg
 
|Width= 150px
 
|Width= 150px
|Body= Fairfield State Hospital, the third public mental institution to be established in Connecticut, had a stormy history from its inception. Members of the community actively resisted its location in the vicinity of Newtown and, for more than a decade, their attitudes had a negative Impact on its development. Dr. Leak, its first superintendent, although on the staff of Connecticut State Hospital for more than fifteen years and its superintendent for more than ten years, did not apply the knowledge gained through these personal experiences. Apparently neither he nor the Board of Trustees of Fairfield State Hospital recognized the importance of capitalizing on the developments that had taken place since the turn of the century at Connecticut State Hospital and Norwich State Hospital. From the beginning the Board expressed the attitude that this state facility for the men- tally ill would surpass its predecessors in the care and cure of those unfortunate People whose minds have become deranged with strange fancies and who have lost control over their thoughts and emotions.
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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.
  
This attitude contributed to the lack of communication between Fairfield State Hospital and the two other hospitals and perpetuated its isolation for more than twenty years. The associated drive for autonomy was reflected in the overt resistance to being integrated into the Department of Mental Health. This opposition was expressed by both the Board and the Superintendent during the fifties and sixties. Consequently advanced psychiatric concepts, practices and principles in nursing advocated by the Chief, Nursing Services were not accepted and implemented as readily in Fairfield Hills Hospital as in its sister hospitals.  [[Fairfield 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.
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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...