The Hawaiian gazette., 1915-07-09
INSANE ARE IN
NEED OF MUSIC
AND OCCUPATION
.b1Eytsaf = s..sat l}sfs9Esl.-g.. .,
Many Male Patients Can Work
In Fields But Women sit
Idle All Day
PR0MISCUITY ANOTHER
SERIOUS PRESENT EVIL
Superintendent Has Not Room
Enough To Segregate the
Violent ManiaCS

Occupation and amusement are the
two subjects on which DR.. William A
Schwallie, medical instructor of tn
Oahu Insane Asylum, will lay especial
stress in his forthcoming report
The insane of the Territory have
nothing to do. All day they sit about
the asylum grounds, vacantly picking
at their clothes and brooding over their
Obsessions. Doctor Schwallie believe
they would be happier, easier to handle
and more likely to be cured if they
had, literally something to occupy
their minds.
Lack Of funds, lack of space and
lack of facilities hitherto have made
it difficult to deal with this ccntra'
problem, and much OF the difficulty re
mains, but the 1915 report will also
show that much has been accomplished
Two years ago, the inmates were
fed like wild animals. Each seized his
rations and bolted with it to far
corner, where he devOured it with hi.
fingers and teeth.
Conditions Are Improved
There was no dining room. The pa.
ti"nts ate in the open, and, if it rained,
in the wet and mud. When they had
finished, they dropped their dishes
where they squatted or threw them
about at random, sometimes over the
boundary wall
Now the male patients have an open
air rcfcctory, and a new dining room,
living room and day room, all in one.
is nearly completed for the women I'M
der the first floor of the main build
ing, which recently has been moved to
make more lawn space.
But to return to the problem of o.
cupatiOn and amusement: When a
patient is admitted to the New Jcr.
soy State Asylum card is made out
az follows:
cumbersome the occupation in which
the patient expresses INTERESTINGLY.
ing, basket making, painting, ear,
pCntry, metal work, clay and cement
work, chair Gaming, tailoring, farming,
other occupatiOnsf
"WOuld the patient be helpful in
teaching or assisting other patients in
classes or groupsi
"Io you know of any other special
interest or ability!
Indictment Of Hawaii
Is he willing to attend the classes
at the industrial buiIdingi What oc.
cupa ton does he prefer?
"DOes he take an interest in games I
Does he write a good hand3 Does he
need to wear glasses! Make note of
all special requests for material, of
spontaneous Efforts at OcrU" alton, or
Of other facts helpful in planning
therapeutic employment.
The list is in itself an indictment of
the manner in which Hawaii cares for
its insane. About a hundred Of the
male patients are given occupation
outside the grounds, working in the
tarO and yam patches The women do
nothing. Tn" hopelessly feeble.
minded, the Violently insane, and those
rational except for their particular de,
lusions, minglr indlscriminately, and
all alike are idle.
1t is to Ice remembered that the
population Of the territorial aSyIum is
not comparable to that Of a mainland
state hospital
1.-THE patients here are of all races
and Tongues, said Doctor Schwallie
yesterday. at IS not possible to treat
them as patients are treated on the
mainland.
Amusements Are Needed
"Th"y are not Interested in games
and dances. Most Of them come from
social stratum in which such diver.
siOns are unknown. Their diversity OF
language makes any attempt to in.
strict or amusc them extremely diff
cult, Just as it complexities the prob
lem of feeding them. Nevertheless
something can be done and ought to be
done
o. "Thrre are certain broad, funda,
mental amusements that oil can share
Music and moving pictures occur to
me. We shall have shortly a hall in
which moving pictures rOnld be shown
at would be splendid thing il
the Hawaiian Band could play here
once week. At first it might excite
the patients little. Probably it
would, but the same argument was
made against establishing a refractory
! was told that there would be un
comfortable confusion. You can come
here for yourself any day now and see
that they eat with less trouble and
confusion than would the same mum
bCr Of persons la amy restaurant.
Why Not Show Movies
"Aa for the movies, | understand
that the amusement companies almost
always have idle films on their hands
films that have exhausted thoir draw
ing mower here in the Islands and are
waiting to be returned to the main
land. Why not show them here once
or twice week
"The patients soon would become
accustomed to tn" music and the pie
lures. They would grow to look for
ward TO them and the first excitement
% uNfnmilinrIty would wear of
qui' Lily
"A4 for occur auun, gardening aud
aRri,.nlwr" are the hest outdoor ne
equations for the men and many Of