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

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|Title= Eastern Washington State Hospital
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|Title= Medfield State Hospital
|Image= East_Washington_SH_PC_1909.jpg
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|Image= Medfield01.png
 
|Width= 150px
 
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|Body= The great distance in transporting patients to the Western Hospital for the Insane at Fort Steilacoom, which is situated in the extreme western part of the state, led to the erection of the Eastern State Hospital.
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|Body= Medfield State Hospital was founded by an act of the State Legislature in 1892. The property consisted of several hundred acres and twenty two buildings. Over the years the buildings and land were increased until it reached its maximum size of some fifty eight buildings and nine hundred plus acres.
  
The first buildings were erected in 1890 and consisted of a central administration building, with a wing on each side and a rear wing for the kitchen, engine room and laundry. The entire plant was made of brick, with a granite foundation, lathed and plastered inside. Each wing was three stories high and accommodated 150 patients. The buildings were of the old Kirkbride plan. The building commissioners were D. M. Drumheller, B. B. Glasscock and Stanley Hallett. The first Board of Trustees, consisting of D. F. Percival, Dr. Wilson Lockhart and Charles McDouall, were appointed in 1890. In 1892 W. J. Dwyer was appointed in place of Dr. Wilson Lockhart, whose term had expired. This local board continued in office until 1897, when it was abolished and the State Board of Audit and Control assumed power.
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The Hospital has had as many as 2,200 patients on the property and a staff of in the range of 500-900 persons. It was in effect, a self contained community with a population at the time rivaling the size of the Town of Medfield. The facility supplied its own power, heat, water, sewage system, and raised its own livestock and produce. Medfield State Hospital claimed to be the first mental health hospital to be built on the “cottage plan” with individual buildings to allow for better light ventilation, easier classification, and to create a more homelike environment.
  
In May, 1891, 20 patients were received from the Western Washington Hospital and in July, the same year, 102 more. These patients had been committed from counties east of the Cascade Mountains, the territory which thereafter was designated as the district especially belonging to this hospital. As the patient population quickly rose additional room became necessary. A second wing was erected for men in 1894. It was, like the two original wings, three stories high and accommodated 150 patients. While not fireproof, it was an improvement over the older wings, having all partitions made of brick and tile, with hard plaster finish. It had no rooms or dormitories in the front of the building, so the wards were exceedingly well lighted. The flooring was of maple and each ward had two fireplaces—one at each end.  [[Eastern Washington State Hospital|Click here for more...]]
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During the Kennedy Administration, in the early 1960s, Congress passed a law requiring that all mental health patients in the United States be housed or hospitalized in the least restrictive environment possible. In the early seventies, as a result of this law, patients, guardians, and parents of patients filed a class action suit against the Commonwealth of Massachusetts and the Department of Mental Health (DMH) to require the DMH to conform with the federal law. In 1974, a federal court consent decree was entered into by the DMH resulting in the relocation of most mental patients from isolated mental institutions to community based halfway houses and hospitals. A result of this decision has been to reduce the number of patients at Medfield to approximately 200. It has also set in motion DMH’s plan to eventually dispose all or part of the Medfield facility, along with seven other similar institutions across the State.  [[Medfield State Hospital|Click here for more...]]
 
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Revision as of 04:43, 27 February 2022

Featured Article Of The Week

Medfield State Hospital


Medfield01.png

Medfield State Hospital was founded by an act of the State Legislature in 1892. The property consisted of several hundred acres and twenty two buildings. Over the years the buildings and land were increased until it reached its maximum size of some fifty eight buildings and nine hundred plus acres.

The Hospital has had as many as 2,200 patients on the property and a staff of in the range of 500-900 persons. It was in effect, a self contained community with a population at the time rivaling the size of the Town of Medfield. The facility supplied its own power, heat, water, sewage system, and raised its own livestock and produce. Medfield State Hospital claimed to be the first mental health hospital to be built on the “cottage plan” with individual buildings to allow for better light ventilation, easier classification, and to create a more homelike environment.

During the Kennedy Administration, in the early 1960s, Congress passed a law requiring that all mental health patients in the United States be housed or hospitalized in the least restrictive environment possible. In the early seventies, as a result of this law, patients, guardians, and parents of patients filed a class action suit against the Commonwealth of Massachusetts and the Department of Mental Health (DMH) to require the DMH to conform with the federal law. In 1974, a federal court consent decree was entered into by the DMH resulting in the relocation of most mental patients from isolated mental institutions to community based halfway houses and hospitals. A result of this decision has been to reduce the number of patients at Medfield to approximately 200. It has also set in motion DMH’s plan to eventually dispose all or part of the Medfield facility, along with seven other similar institutions across the State. Click here for more...