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

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|Title= Kalamazoo State Hospital
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|Title= Traverse City State Hospital
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|Body= The choice of Kalamazoo as the location for the Michigan Asylum at Kalamazoo was helped by the fact that the governor was Epaphroditus Ransom, who once resided in Kalamazoo. Although the asylum was originally planned for a site in what is now the Stuart neighborhood, it was decided that this location was too close to downtown. So planners instead chose to place the hospital far out in the country, where they would never be bothered by these people. That location was on what is now Oakland Drive, where the hospital is still located.
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|Body= Northern Michigan Asylum for the Insane was established in 1885 as the demand for a third psychiatric hospital, in addition to those established in Kalamazoo and Pontiac, Michigan, began to grow. Lumber baron Perry Hannah, “the father of Traverse City,” used his political influence to secure its location in his hometown. Under the supervision of prominent architect Gordon W. Lloyd, the first building, known as Building 50, was constructed with Victorian-Italianate? style according to the Kirkbride Plan.
  
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The asylum was on the cutting edge of many forms of treatment. Through its close proximity to a town, it was able to establish an innovative outpatient clinic in 1916 as well as a unique "family-care" program that placed patients in certified homes. The hospital also made use of colony farms, adjunct properties on which patients with milder illnesses — and those who today might be considered developmentally delayed — lived in familial farm settings. (One of these was near Kalamazoo's Asylum Lake.) They often raised livestock and produce for use at the hospital. The farms are examples of the limited treatment options for the mentally ill before the 1950s. He said that electroshock therapy, insulin-induced comas, and some barbiturate drugs resulted in little reversals in patients' thoughts and behavior.
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Under Dr. James Decker Munson (1848-1929), the first superintendent from 1885 to 1924, the institution expanded. 12 housing cottages and 2 infirmaries were built between 1887 and 1903 to meet the specific needs of more male and female patients. The institution became the city’s largest employer and contributed to its growth.
  
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Narcoleptic or anti-psychotic drugs, such as Thorazine, would revolutionize psychiatric treatment and the role of psychiatric hospitals in society. Patients who had been in the hospital for decades were suddenly responsive, able to care for themselves, and moving back to live with their families. By 1987, the number of patients had dropped to 550. By 1959 the State Hospital had a patient load of 3,500 and 900 staff that included doctors, nurses, attendants, and service personnel. It became almost a city in its own right with a power plant, water system, bakery, laundry, library, canteen, garage, cannery, general kitchen, and greenhouse. For many years the hospital was one of the largest employers in Kalamazoo.  [[Kalamazoo State Hospital|Click here for more...]]
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Before the advent of drug therapy in the 1950s, Dr. Munson was a firm believer in the “beauty is therapy” philosophy. Patients were treated through kindness, comfort, pleasantry, and exposure to the asylum’s great arrangements of flora provided year-round by its own greenhouses and the variety of trees Dr. Munson planted on the grounds. Restraints, such as the straitjacket are forbidden. Also, as part of the “work is therapy” philosophy, the asylum provided opportunities for patients to gain a sense of purpose through farming, furniture construction, fruit canning, and other trades that kept the institution fully self-sufficient.  [[Traverse City State Hospital|Click here for more...]]
 
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Revision as of 04:30, 22 January 2023

Featured Article Of The Week

Traverse City State Hospital


Traverse0003.jpg

Northern Michigan Asylum for the Insane was established in 1885 as the demand for a third psychiatric hospital, in addition to those established in Kalamazoo and Pontiac, Michigan, began to grow. Lumber baron Perry Hannah, “the father of Traverse City,” used his political influence to secure its location in his hometown. Under the supervision of prominent architect Gordon W. Lloyd, the first building, known as Building 50, was constructed with Victorian-Italianate? style according to the Kirkbride Plan.

Under Dr. James Decker Munson (1848-1929), the first superintendent from 1885 to 1924, the institution expanded. 12 housing cottages and 2 infirmaries were built between 1887 and 1903 to meet the specific needs of more male and female patients. The institution became the city’s largest employer and contributed to its growth.

Before the advent of drug therapy in the 1950s, Dr. Munson was a firm believer in the “beauty is therapy” philosophy. Patients were treated through kindness, comfort, pleasantry, and exposure to the asylum’s great arrangements of flora provided year-round by its own greenhouses and the variety of trees Dr. Munson planted on the grounds. Restraints, such as the straitjacket are forbidden. Also, as part of the “work is therapy” philosophy, the asylum provided opportunities for patients to gain a sense of purpose through farming, furniture construction, fruit canning, and other trades that kept the institution fully self-sufficient. Click here for more...

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