One of the nation's most notorious psychiatric hospitals - where abuse and carelessness were once considered the norm, and where a famous patient, folk singer Woodie Guthrie, met Bob Dylan - has reopened.
New Jersey officials recently showed off the new Greystone Park Psychiatric Hospital during an afternoon ceremony. Governor Corzine called the new $200 million facility symbolic of how the state's mental health system has evolved.
The 450-bed facility will replace aging buildings long plagued by shoddy conditions. Here are some other age-old problems with the facility, as reported by The New York Times:
- It's been long criticized as substandard and plagued by a rash of escapes and assaults on patients.
- Built in 1876, the hospital has been criticized over the last quarter-century by state judges and lawmakers as offering less than ideal care to its mentally ill patients.
- Its environment, in the physical and psychological sense, was once said to ''strain the meaning of humane.''
- During unannounced visits, committee investigators found some patients sitting idle in day rooms without lamps, reading materials or games. Others slept on floors.
- Some had no access to soap or toilet paper, and 44 more had to share four toilets because other toilets were broken.
Friday, March 7, 2008
An abusive place now become a caring place - hopefully
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When the new Greystone Hospital opens, we can only be certain that there is a new Greystone building. Many believe that the new building will be transformative. It will engender a new culture, a new standard of care and superior outcomes. This is likely wishful thinking given that the same staff will be employed. Can anyone point to a case where a new state psychiatric hospital alone yielded systemic change?
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