Buchanan County bulletin. [volume] (Independence, Iowa) 1869-1891, 1876-02-18
Insane Hospital Report.

we nave on our table the Second
Biennial Report of the Trustees and
Superintendent of the Hospital for
the Insane, at Independence, for the
fiscal year ending Nov. Cd, 1875, and
have been much interested in its pc
rusal. The Trustees set forth in de
tail the Improvements made in and
about the Hospital for the past two
years, and the money received and
expended, together with statement
Of the present needs. From this re-
port, we learn that there are now
eleven wards in use, with a capacity
for 250 patients. The current ex-
penses OF the Hospital since the last
report were $lOl,7S0.S1, dcducting
from which the amount paid for sup
plies on hand Nov. LIST, 1875, leaves
a balance of $92,249.1o actually ex-
pended. This amounts to $23O.62
per capita per annum, or s4.43,
which per capita Is gradually oimin-
ishing as the patients increase. The
moneys received from all sources
since the last report, for detraylng
current expenses, was $lo2,599.S7.
leaving balance on hand of $4,000.
The report by DR.. Reynolds, the
Superintendent, to the Trustees, is es-
pecially interesting and valuable for
its clear and succinct statement OF
the condition of the Hospital and its
inmates, and its pertinent suggestions
for needed Improvements, as well as
for some well-timed remarks upon
the causes of insanity derived from
DR.. Reynolds experience and obser-
Walton. These remarks, which are
valuable and suggestive, we shall
publish in a subsequent issue. We
append few extracts from the re-
port:
Three hundred and twenty-eight pa
tients have been admitted, and one humid
red and ninety have been discharged
OF those admitted two hundred and
forty-siX were received from the counties
direct, and eighty-two were transferred
from Mt Pleasant,
The territory now belonging to this dis
trict, and sending patients to this Hospi
tai, includes forty-eight counties, all the
part of the State lying north Of the south
line of Woodbury. county on the Nilsson
II, and the south line of jackson county
on the Mississippi. AS was stated in the
last biennial report, those transferred
from Mt, Pleasant were nearly all chronic
cases, and the same may be said of the
majority of those admitted from the coun
ties direct. A great advance viii be made
when communities learn that for insanity
to be properly treated in hospitals, the
patient must be sent early, before the
malady has become fixed Too many are
kept at home until many months of valu
able time is lost, and then friends wonder
why they do net recover when brought to
the Hospital. If they were as willing TO
remove them, when it became evident
they could not recover, and were harm
less, our hospitals would never become
crowded as they now are. Many patients
now here, could comfortably live at home,
if their friends would exercise the same
forbearancc toward them that we are
obliged to DO.
OF those discharged fifty-five were fully
recovered, siXty-two were improved thirty
one were unimproved, and forty-two were
removed by death One of the number
unimproycd was q prisoner tried for muir
der, and acquitted on the plea Of insanity,
sent to the Hospital by order of the court
and discharged by order of the same
court at the expiration of five months. -
1t Is needless to say that his mental con
dition was not changed by his residence
in the Hospital,
At the writing of the last biennial re-
port the number OF patients in The iIospi
tai was one hundred and thirteen. The
present number is two hundred and fifty
one. During the two years eighty-two
have been transferred from Mt Pleasant,
leaving natural increase of ffty,siX in
the period. 1t is not probable that the
increase in the future will be less, and as
the population of the district increases,
the number requiring hospital treatment
will correspondingly increase. The mum
Der in the Hospital now is no more than
can properly and proftably be cared for
with our pfesen. recommendation
With the completion of two new wards in
the main building, room will be provided
for thirty more, or for little more than
one years increase, and thus Is seen the
absolute necessity for furtE er accommoda-
tons, by the erection Of the other wing of
the building With our present arrange
ments it is not possible TO make a proper
classification of patients. No Hospital
can be complete, or the necessary arrange
ments and details put in execution, with
both sexes in one wing, and when all the
wards are crowded to their utmost oApac-
ity, as has been the case SO much of the
time since opening this Hospital, it IS no
wonder that our constant cry has been for
more room. | trust that in your report
to the Legislature this need will be so APP
parent that there will be ample appropria
ton made for the completion of the
whole Hospital at an early day, and the
urgent demand for more room for our in
digent insane, for a time set at rest,