When was this
"asylum" opened, and what did it look like? Did it follow Kirkbride's
design?
·
May 1st, 1878 and yes it followed
Kirkbride’s design, there is an entire area named “The Kirkbride complex.”
What was this institution's original
intent?
·
To house the overflow of patients from the other
institutes in the area
Who were the patients there? Do narratives of their
experiences exist?
·
They had patients of all ages including children,
adults, and elderly. They had specialized units for various diagnosis such as
male and female nurses homes (for the elderly), male and female TB,
co-occurring and many more!
·
Maire Balter was a patient of the hospital and became
an administrative employee of the hospital, she is one of the well-known
patients of the hospital and has an autobiography called “Nobody’s child”
What was the
patients' experience like in that institution, and did that change over the
course of the institution's history?
·
The hospital was originally built to house around
500 patients but due to need and lack of funding those numbers almost tripled!
With this it is said that living conditions and patient care declined.
Did the institution, its services, and patients change over
time?
·
Yes, Danvers was described as elegant and a
pillar in the community. They were leaders in the mental health world for
providing a multitude of services, they started some of the first occupational
therapy known in institutions. From these the services grew, expanded and
changed alongside new developments in mental health treatment. They first provided
arts and crafts, farming, gardening, cooking, other skill building,
hydrotherapy and moved into lobotomy’s and electric shock therapy.
·
They even established a nursing school and became
popular with community members just coming to the gardens and had 12,000
visitors annually to the grounds.
How many people lived, worked, and died there?
·
The numbers are not exact and there was also a lot
of staff that lived and worked on the property.
Lived: 2100 patients Worked: 1500+
Died: 770 graves located on the property
Were bad conditions ever exposed to the public? How?
·
I was not able to find much in regards to bad
conditions being exposed to the public, there was incidents where there was a
fire and a patient had escaped from the hospital and was found a few days later
dead, which lead to the superintendent at the time stepping down.
Would you have wanted "treatment" in this
institution?
·
Yes,
for all things considered and the time period Danvers was an exemplary institution
and was doing a lot of things ahead of their time. Patients had many opportunities
compared to other places and were able to work their way up to independent
housing on the property and even become employees.
I find institutions architecture interesting. I’m not sure if it’s because I’ve read horror stories so I automatically associate the facilities with scary thoughts or maybe the way the facilities are built really are kind of creepy. Danvers certainly has an asylum look.
ReplyDeleteon the website there's an employee interview and he talks about how he has never experienced any kind of hauntings or paranormal activity. Which is funny mostly because many would expect him to have some kind of entertaining spooky story!
DeleteI'm struck by how large (meaning overcrowded) these facilities became. You write that Danvers tripled in population and that started the decline in conditions and care. How could it not? Unless there was funding and staff to meet the need. I suspect this will be the same story in all of our write-ups this week. Thanks, Vessa!
ReplyDeletefor sure, I am already seeing this theme within several posts and just wonder how things would have been different if these institutions were given the proper resources and funding.
DeleteAs other posts have mentioned the intended size, occupancy, ended up being well over capacity or intention. I am curious to know if it is from having people committed for some of the more unusual reasons or if there was really a much higher need than anyone expected. Growing up in New England Danvers has always been a place I knew about. I know from the time period that the original hospital was build the architecture of the time was very Gothic but I wonder if they knew how creepy it made the institution look and was that the plan.
ReplyDeleteI was also very interested in the size of Danvers, it always seemed to be to be so big, maybe to big to really help those who were there.
I was pleased to learn that they hired from within their ranks of recoverd patients.
Judi, if you go to the website there's actually a piece about the design of the building and the architects and the controversy around it. It was seen as "pretentious and royal" and was actually a tourist attraction and several people from the community and other surrounding areas would come over just to look at the property and building.
DeleteHi Vessa, I found the note you made about how patients could live in independent housing on the campus interesting. This approach seems like it could be helpful in the sense that it takes into consideration different levels of patient independence and allows people a way to take a more stepped approach to independence. Also, this may help patients with a lack of financial resources or family to live with have a place to stay while they move forward with their lives. Thanks for sharing this.
ReplyDeleteHi Vessa,
ReplyDeleteI thought your choice of institution was fascinating. When looking for one to research I came across Danvers, I was interested in learning more about it. It seems that this institution was exemplary for the time. This is refreshing to note due to other institutions during this time. It is very crazy to see how overcrowded these institutions become. I am very impressed that this facility offered independent living on the campus as well as hiring within their ranks of recovered patients. I think this is very important because these patients know how they want to receive care. Great job!