Portal:Editor News
Asylum News (news you can edit!)
December 15, 2010 End of an era at Allentown State Hospital
- The official closure of Allentown State Hospital on Wednesday was part rally for residents asserting their independence and part farewell to a century-old relic of how society once regarded mental illness.
December 8, 2010 Closing of Dorothea Dix Hospital marks failure of state reforms
- Dorothea Dix Hospital isn't closed yet, but it stopped admitting patients last week and is in the process of transferring all but about 30 high-risk patients, people who committed crimes and are housed in a maximum-security unit, to other state hospitals in Butner and Goldsboro. DHHS Secretary Lanier Cansler has announced that these patients, too, will be relocated within a few months.
December 7, 2010 Patients of State Hospital Get Respect Posthumously
- For a century or more an empty weed choked lot and the city park next door in Sparks' Conductor Heights neighborhood served as the final resting place for 800 or more souls, patients of the adjacent Nevada Mental Health Institute. They lie here in unmarked, even unrecorded graves. Many of them literally abandoned in life, receiving no more respect in death.
November 16, 2010 State’s new mental hospital offers private bedrooms, outdoor spaces
- The new Oregon State Hospital is getting ready for its first wave of patients, who will all have private bedrooms and access to “treatment malls.” Nearly 100 patients are scheduled to leave cramped and dreary wards in the existing 127-year-old hospital in Salem in January and move to the new facility, called “Harbors.”
November 9, 2010 From Ex-Mental Hospital to a New Mixed-Use Life
- Until it closed in 1989, the Traverse City State Hospital was among the largest employers in this small city in northern Michigan. Two new commercial and residential construction projects are bringing the old asylum, renamed the Village at Grand Traverse Commons, closer to regaining that distinction.
October 15, 2010 Preston may save millions on former hospital cleanup
- Cleanup costs at the former Norwich State Hospital property may be millions less than the town first believed, First Selectman Robert Congdon said. Preston bought the hospital property from the state for $1 in March 2009, and is trying to plan its development in a sluggish economy. The town is responsible for its cleanup if it can’t find a developer.
October 13, 2010 With Syracuse Developmental Center deal dead, city school superintendent unveils 'Plan B'
- Syracuse schools Superintendent Dan Lowengard said he will brief the school board today on an alternative plan to move children out of Dr. Weeks Elementary School early in 2011 to allow long-awaited renovations to begin.
September 24, 2010 Eastern State Hospital breaks ground for new hospital
- Ground was broken Friday for the new Eastern State Hospital Lexington facility at the University of Kentucky's Coldstream Research Campus, with construction due to begin in November.
September 22, 2010 Last of state hospital cemetery markers will be dedicated Oct. 2
- The journey to remember has almost been completed at the former Hastings State Hospital cemetery in Hastings. More than 700 graves, with markers, have been dedicated. The remaining 146 markers will be dedicated in a public ceremony at 10 a.m. Saturday, Oct. 2 at the cemetery.
September 20, 2010 Patients who died in state hospitals are remembered Observance held for first time at what is now CSUCI
- Tim Dugan was at work in Portland, Ore., Monday morning when he decided there was a memorial service he had to make. So the businessman jumped on a plane and arrived in time for a ceremony that evening on the former grounds of Camarillo State Hospital.
September 2, 2010 Historic Fergus Falls Hospital Building Listed on Craigslist for $1
- FERGUS FALLS, Minn. - The historic Kirkbride State Hospital of Fergus Falls is a local landmark but city officials said they fear it could soon be demolished. "(Demolishing the building) would just leave a big hole in the heart of the city," building inspector Len Taylor said.
September 2, 2010 Kalamazoo doctor writes book on Traverse City psychiatric hospital: Decker's history of Kalamazoo hospital was named Michigan Notable Book
- KALAMAZOO — The former medical superintendent of the Kalamazoo Psychiatric Hospital, who wrote a book on the history of that institution, has now written a book about another state psychiatric facility.
August 24, 2010 Dorothea Dix Hospital to close by end of year, officials say
- The N.C. Department of Health and Human Services said today that it has decided to close Dorothea Dix Hospital by the end of the year and transfer its patients to two other state psychiatric hospitals.
August 12, 2010 New state hospital
- A white beam with the signature of Gov. Deval L. Patrick added to those of other officials and construction workers was hoisted to the top of the 320-bed state psychiatric hospital under construction in a topping out ceremony this morning at Worcester State Hospital.
August 12, 2010 Central State cemetery in poor condition
- There's concern the city isn't doing enough to maintain a small cemetery it owns on the west side. The cemetery, which doesn't have a name, is the final resting place for roughly 500 people, former patients of Central Indiana State Hospital, an insane asylum that opened in 1848 and closed in 1994.
August 2, 2010 South Mississippi State hospital in Purvis may be forced to shut down
- The Mississippi Department of Mental Health could be closing the doors to four facilities across the state. South Mississippi State Hospital in Purvis, which serves mentally ill patients from nine counties, may be one of them.
August 2, 2010 Bones from abandoned Sparks graveyard to get final rest
- Two weeks ago, workers digging on a Truckee Meadows Water Authority project discovered human remains, including a skull and other bones. They put the bones in a bag, which was found by nearby residents. The area where the remains were discovered is city property, but for many years, it was state property that housed what was then the Nevada State Hospital. From 1882 to 1949, hundreds of patients at the hospital -- now Northern Nevada Adult Mental Health Services -- were buried on the site in a potter's field, records show. Other community residents also were buried there.
July 20, 2010 University of Alabama to build new Bryce psychiatric hospital in Tuscaloosa
- The University of Alabama will oversee construction of a new state mental hospital, the executive committee of the UA System Board of Trustees decided today. University officials plan to use the land abutting the UA campus for future expansion and plan to preserve at least part of the historic structure.
July 14, 2010 Firefighters Respond To Two Alarm Fire At Saint Elizabeth's Hospital
- About 100 DC Firefighters responded to a two-alarm fire Tuesday night at the St Elizabeths Hospital campus in Southeast DC. It is the oldest federally funded psychiatric hospital in the country.
July 6, 2010 Wrecking Ball Meets Topeka State Hospital
- Say farewell to a historic part of Topeka. Workers Tuesday took the wrecking ball to the famous Center Building of the former Topeka State Hospital.
July 1, 2010 Vacant Central State Property Eyed For Large Facility
- A long-vacant old hospital grounds could become the home of a new, multimillion-dollar sports complex. Central Indiana State Hospital closed in 1994, and Indianapolis bought the property in 2004. A private company had planned to build commercial and residential space there a couple of years ago, but the plan didn't materialize.
June 15, 2010 Transfer of patients into Wernersville State Hospital from Allentown nearly complete
- The transfer of patients to Wernersville State Hospital from Allentown State Hospital is drawing to a close. The hospital's chief executive officer, Andrea B. Kepler, said 49 patients have come over since the end of April and only a handful remain to be transferred to the inpatient treatment center for serious and persistent mental illness.
June 12, 2010 In Florida, a Lifeline to Patients With TB
- The last of the nation’s original tuberculosis sanitariums sits, improbably, just off Interstate 95, near a Dunkin’ Donuts and a Motel 6, and just behind fields of children playing soccer. The fading signs out front simply say A.G. Holley Hospital. There is nothing to suggest that one of history’s greatest killers lurks inside.
June 10, 2010 Despite slow economy, Danvers state project forges ahead
- It has endured a fire and a poor economy, but the long-awaited redevelopment of the former Danvers State Hospital site is gradually taking shape.
June 1, 2010 Center building demolition begins
- Demolition of the historic Center Building of the former Topeka State Hospital began Tuesday, said Ron Harbaugh, spokesman for Topeka Unified School District. In February 2009, USD 501 acquired 152 acres of land and 30 buildings near S.W. 6th and MacVicar, which was home to the former hospital.
