Mayview State Hospital

Mayview State Hospital
Geography
Location South Fayette Township, Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, United States
Organization
Hospital type Specialist
Services
Emergency department None
Speciality Psychiatric hospital
History
Founded 1893
Closed 2008
Links
Lists Hospitals in Pennsylvania

Mayview State Hospital is a former psychiatric hospital located in South Fayette Township near Bridgeville, Pennsylvania. It spanned 335 acres (136 ha) and had 39 buildings, 12 of which were used for patient care and hospital administration. It had a staff count of approximately 502 as of August 2007, and an operating budget of $63 million per year.

History

Mayview State Hospital was opened on December 20, 1893, by the City of Pittsburgh as Marshalsea. The campus size was 243 acres (98 ha) at the time.

In the 1890s, there were about 340 patients.

In 1916, Marshalsea was renamed Pittsburgh City Home and Hospital at Mayview.

By 1934, there were 4,200 patients and 450 staff at Mayview.

On June 1, 1941, the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania took over responsibility for the hospital. There were 3,200 patients at that time.

In 1946, an observation unit was created. In 1974, it became the forensic center.

In 2001,Kevin Benson served as the Grand Marshal of the hospital's annual parade.[1]

Closure

On August 15, 2007, it was announced that the civil section of Mayview would be closed by December 31, 2008. The patient census for civil was then 225.[2] The patients at that time were to be individually assessed then discharged into less restrictive, community-based settings "to reduce reliance on institutional care and improve access to home and community-based services for Pennsylvanians living with mental illness." Those who were assessed as needing continuing treatment were transferred to another state hospital.[3]

Concurrent with the closing, the facility's forensic center was to be either consolidated and/or privatized with other forensic units at Norristown and Warren State Hospitals. As of August 2007, there were 70 patients in the forensic center at Mayview.[3]

The closure was halted for two weeks in November 2007 after the deaths of two former Mayview patients. One jumped or fell from a bridge and the other was struck by a train.[4][5]

On February 21, 2008, a task force met at Mayview to discuss possible uses for the site after the hospital's closing.[6]

In November 2008, all 47 remaining forensic patients were moved to Torrance State Hospital in Derry, Pennsylvania.[7]

From August 2007 to December 2008 over 200 former patients were moved into community-based settings, most of which having 24-hour on-site support staff. Mayview officially closed at the end of December 2008.[7]

In June 2010, Mayview State Hospital was sold for $505k. The agreement between the state and Aloe Brothers of Mt. Washington, which was signed May 24, covers about 150 acres (61 ha) of land and the buildings on the site.[8]

References

  1. "Recreation". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. May 9, 2001.
  2. "Mayview Closure Announcement"
  3. 3.0 3.1 "Mayview Closure FAQs"
  4. "Mayview suspends downsizing in wake of ex-patient's death", Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, November 19, 2007
  5. "Mayview resumes discharges after moratorium", Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, November 23, 2007
  6. "Reusing Mayview property", Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, February 21, 2008
  7. 7.0 7.1 Pfister, Bonnie (21 December 2008). "Mayview to close soon; 15 patients stayed on an additional month until the December 2008 closing.". Tribune-Review.
  8. "Former Mayview Hospital sells for $505K", Observer-Reporter, June 05, 2010

External links

Coordinates: 40°19′37″N 80°06′33″W / 40.3270°N 80.1093°W