Oregon State Hospital

Oregon State Hospital
State of Oregon
Main building of Oregon State Hospital (2007)
Geography
Location	Salem, Oregon, United States
Coordinates	44°56′23″N 123°00′13″W / 44.93979°N 123.00348°W / 44.93979; -123.00348Coordinates: 44°56′23″N 123°00′13″W / 44.93979°N 123.00348°W / 44.93979; -123.00348
Organization
Care system	Public
Hospital type	psychiatric hospital
Services
Emergency department	No
Beds	620
History
Founded	1862
Links
Website	www.oregon.gov/DHS/...
Lists	Hospitals in Oregon

Oregon State Hospital in Salem, Oregon, United States, is the primary state-run psychiatric hospital in the state of Oregon since Dammasch State Hospital closed in 1995. The 620-bed facility is best known as the filming location for the Academy Award-winning film based on Ken Kesey's novel One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest.^[1] The hospital (along with the state legislature) has been criticized as providing substandard mental health care.^[2]

Population and administration

About two-thirds of the hospital's patients were found guilty of crimes, but found to be insane. Others were determined to be a danger to themselves or to others.^[3] The current census of the state hospitals in Oregon (in Salem, Portland, and Pendleton) is typically close to 750 patients.^[4] The Oregon Department of Corrections also treats persons with mental illness and a 2004 report found that 1623 prisoners in the state prison facilities had serious and persistent mental illness.^[5]

In March 2005, the state closed the adolescent treatment ward of the Oregon State Hospital, which now provides services only to people over the age of 18.^[6] Deputy Hospital Superintendent Nena Strickland was named Interim Superintendent of Oregon State Hospital effective April 2, 2010. She succeeded Roy J. Orr, who resigned at the request of Richard Harris, Deputy Director of Addictions and Mental Health, following the release of a state report which concluded that the hospital failed to provide adequate care and treatment for a patient, Moises Perez, age 42, who died there in October 2009. Orr had been Superintendent since February 2008.^{[7][citation needed]} Harris' current responsibility includes state hospitals in Salem, Portland and Pendleton; in addition to the staff who work with county governments to deliver statewide mental-health and addiction services.^[8] The previous state hospital administrator was Marvin Fickle from 2004–2008.^[9] Stan Mazur-Hart was administrator from 1991–2004.^[10]

History

Nineteenth century

Hospital circa 1920

Built in 1883 as the Oregon State Insane Asylum, much of the original structure remains in use. Some wings of the original building, however, have been off-limits due to physical deterioration.

The original Oregon State Hospital for the Insane was established by J.C. Hawthorne in what was then East Portland, Oregon, (now the Hawthorne District). It was built in 1862, and the street on which it was built was renamed Asylum Avenue. Local residents protested about the name, however, and it was renamed Hawthorne in honor of the hospital's founder in 1888.^[11]

The street in Salem on which the current hospital is located, Center Street, was also originally named Asylum Avenue.^[12]

The occupied Center Street wing of OSH (2007)

Twenty-first century

In 2005, an architectural assessment of the facility determined that the site was unsafe.^[1] On August 8, 2006, the hospital was fined USD $10,200 for asbestos violations.^[13]

Another controversy at the hospital involves the fate of over 5000 cans of human cremated remains that are warehoused at the site. The remains were the subject of a Pulitzer Prize-winning series by The Oregonian newspaper.^[14][15]

A report from the United States Department of Justice criticized the quality of care provided to patients by the hospital.^[3][16][17] A $458 million plan approved by the Oregon Legislative Assembly in 2007 calls for the construction of a replacement hospital in Salem with as many as 620 beds, as well as a 360-bed facility in Junction City.^[3] Most of the dilapidated, 125-year-old main building will be torn down and replaced starting in the fall of 2008.^[18] Construction of the Salem facility began in 2009, and was completed around 2011; with the Junction City facility being completed by 2013.^[3] Salem mayor Janet Taylor has called for the number of beds to be reduced to 320 or fewer, and another hospital facility to be built in or near Portland.^[17]

During a 2008 excavation, artifacts dating to an 1850s-era frontier homestead were uncovered on the grounds of the Oregon State Hospital campus. Recovered items included earthen dishes, glass windows, a canning jar and a lamp chimney. Further excavation will be required to determine if the artifacts are connected to the 1852 homestead of Morgan L. "Lute" Savage.^[19] Construction on the new hospital was completed in 2012, with capacity increased to 620 beds.^[20] The hospital also added a museum, the Museum of Mental Health.^[20] The museum is located in the Kirkbride Building and includes history about many of the discontinued practices that are no longer considered as proper treatment for mental illnesses.^[20]

Railroad

The remains of a narrow gauge railroad can be seen on the grounds of the hospital, leading into different tunnels and buildings. The tunnels allowed the hospital to move patients between buildings without the public observing and are marked by purple-colored^[21] glass prisms embedded in the roads to provide lighting.^[22] While it is rumored that the tunnels connected the hospital to the Oregon State Penitentiary and the Oregon State Capitol, these rumors are false. The tunnels only connect different buildings of the State Hospital together. The narrow gauge railroad did extend to the penitentiary but not within a tunnel; remnants of this line still exist as of November 2008. The State Capitol and associated buildings still have a tunnel system to this day (parts of which are publicly accessible) but they have never been connected to the State Hospital.

While the narrow gauge railroad is no longer used, the tunnels are used daily to deliver food, laundry, and other items, and occasionally patients between different buildings. The rails are evident in many places but the flangeways are filled in, leaving only the head of the rail exposed.

Today the preferred method of transport within the tunnels are electric carts and occasionally bicycles. When the railroad was used, cars made of bamboo were pushed to their destinations. Few spurs or sidings were found on the railroad, so cars were simply stopped on the track where it was necessary to load or unload them, and then pushed away. A number of the bamboo railroad cars still exist but have been converted to non-rail cars by removing the railroad wheels and adding casters; several of these cars are earmarked to be used in the future State Hospital museum and are currently in storage in a hospital facilities warehouse.

In addition to the narrow gauge railroad, a standard gauge railroad spur from the Southern Pacific's Geer Branch extended north from the penitentiary to the State Hospital. A portion of the grade of this spur remains along with two short portions of the standard gauge rails embedded in asphalt within and outside of a wood products manufacturing area on the hospital grounds. This spur has been unused for many years and the Geer Branch itself was abandoned in the mid-1990s.

Historic district

The Oregon State Hospital Historic District was added to the National Register of Historic Places on February 28, 2008.^[23]

Notable patients

• Richard Brautigan, writer
• Jerry Brudos, serial killer

See also

• Fairview Training Center

References

External links

Articles

• "Oregon State Hospital – Agency History". Oregon Blue Book (Online). Salem, Oregon: Oregon Secretary of State. 2009. Retrieved July 19, 2012. 
• Rebuilding an Institution, the Statesman Journal's Oregon State Hospital Coverage
• Mental Health Association of Portland page about OSH cremains.
• Oregon State Hospital history from Salem Public Library

Images

• Oregon State Hospital, in Building Oregon, from State Historic Preservation Office
• Historic images from Salem Public Library
• Photos of hospital interior: "Asylum" photo essay by David Maisel
• Photos of cremains cans: "Library of Dust" photo essay by David Maisel