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For the
last one hundred years the primary
method of treatment for patients has
been plenty of fresh air, good food,
and rest. At the turn of the 20th
century new methods of treatment
were starting to be used. One of the
most popular treatments was
hydrotherapy. This new method of
treatment would be used until the
1950s. There were several different
types of hydrotherapy treatments
used at Harrisburg. One method was
to wrap a patient from head to toe
in wet packs or wet sheets. Patients
would lay on a table wrapped tightly
in the sheets for long periods of
time. The idea behind this treatment
was to calm and restrain an anxious
or excited patient. Some cases of
abuse using this treatment were
reported in other Pennsylvania state
hospitals, but never at Harrisburg.
Other methods of hydrotherapy
treatment were rain baths, colonic
irrigation, and fully submerged baths
in large tubs. Hydrotherapy was
likely used to some degree in most
of the patient buildings, but the
largest hydrotherapy facility
was located in the basement of the
female
Psychopathic Building.
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A typical hydrotherapy
facility around 1920, this
one was at Mayview State
Hospital |
Life at
the hospital during the early
twentieth century was a community
affair, the hospital had indeed
become a small city. Patients worked
all over the hospital as part of
their occupational therapy. During
the warm months they would care for
the grounds, mowing grass and
tending to flower beds. In the
winter months they would shovel snow
from the walkways. Patients worked
on the farm, which supplied the
hospital with all the food it
needed, everything from meat, dairy,
fruits, and vegetables were
produced. The
Central Kitchen stored and
prepared all the meals for the
patients and staff. Broom making and
chair caning took place in the
basement of the
Chapel
and a "toy
factory" was established in the
basement of the Male
Chronic
Building. Small shops in other
buildings around the hospital
produced mattresses, pillows,
awning, window shades, and
"indestructible" blankets. In 1926 a
tailor shop was established, it
produced suits, pants, and coats.
The practice of patients working at
the hospital was called occupational
therapy, the work was meant to keep
an excited mind busy and it was
thought to give meaning to patients
that would otherwise be sitting idly
somewhere in a dayroom. Most of the
items that were made at the hospital
were used at the hospital and if
there were excess items they would
be sold at local markets, the money
made was put back into the hospital
budget. All this helped to make the hospital
self-sufficient, and very little in the
way of goods needed to be
brought into the hospital.
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When
patients were not working or
undergoing treatments they
often participated in
hospital activities. There
were weekly dances in the
Sun Parlor, a moving
picture show in the
Chapel, and a hospital
band and orchestra made up
of both staff and patients.
Each ward had it's own organ
or piano. Many patients also
had radios or phonographs.
There was also a library in
the female
Convalescent Building
that contained 3,600 books
by 1928. By 1935 that number
had increased to 4,355 and
by 1992 the library had
accumulated 8,856 books and
31,669 magazines. Male and
female patients typically
visited the library two
times each week, but never
at the same time. The
library at Harrisburg was
the largest in the
Pennsylvania state hospital
system.
In 1921 the name of the
hospital was changed to the
Harrisburg State Hospital.
Also that year, the Board of
Public Charities was
abolished and the Department
of Public Welfare was
created to administer all
state hospitals. Soon after
Dr. Howard Petry became
superintendent in 1934 some
new radical patient
treatments were introduced.
These included several
methods
of shock treatment as well
as a surgical procedure.
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Above is the hospital
orchestra and below is the
band, both photos taken
around 1930 |
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These
new treatments were
considered by many
physicians in the United
States and Europe to be
breakthroughs in the treatment of mental illness.
Harrisburg was the first
Pennsylvania state hospital to use
insulin and electro shock therapy.
In June of 1939 the hospital hosted
the Pennsylvania Medical Society.
Physicians from all over the state
visited the hospital and a large
display with exhibits and
demonstrations was setup in the
Chapel. Conditions in the hospital
were crowded, but still good. Rather
then construct numerous new buildings
to fight over crowding, as
was done at most other state
hospitals,
it was decided to transfer patients
to other hospitals when ever
possible and to increase the use of the parole
system. This decision helped
to keep costs down as new
buildings would have cost
the hospital more money, not only construct, but to
take care of in the long run.
Only two new patient
buildings would be
constructed before 1950, and
those two buildings were
built more to expand the
types of treatment and not
as a place to simply house
an expanding population.
Those buildings were the
Hospital for the Physically
Ill and the
Tuberculosis
Ward Building, a new
power
plant was also built in
1938. However by 1946 there
were 2,441 patients at the hospital
(and 437 on parole)
and even with the additions
made to the male and female
Violent Ward Buildings
it seemed inevitable that the
hospital was going to need to
expand.
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During
World War II many of the male staff
were drafted into the military. This
caused a 50% shortage of attendants,
at the lowest level of employment
there were as few as one nurse to
166 patients. In June of 1945 only
26 of the 92 authorized positions on
the male side were filled. The
manpower shortage resulted in
widespread curtailment of services
to both the public and patients. The
1950s were a time of expansion at
the hospital. The patient population
was far higher than the current buildings could
handle. In 1951 the
Admissions and
Hillcrest Buildings
are constructed and in 1957 the
Eaton Building was completed.
Psychotropic drugs were
used for the first time
in 1952. Up
until 1955 certain administrative
responsibilities, such as the
selection of the hospital
Superintendent and the enactment of
rules and regulations governing the
hospital were vested in the Board of
Trustees of the Harrisburg State
Hospital. In 1955 an amendment to
the Administrative Code authorized
the Department of Public Welfare to
assume administrative
responsibilities for the Harrisburg
State Hospital, relegating its Board
of Trustees to specific advisory
duties. This act also provided for
the appointment of a Commissioner of
Mental Health in the Department of
Public Welfare who assumed overall
responsibility for Pennsylvania's
mental health program.
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