Northern Michigan Asylum: A History of the Traverse City State Hospital
Dr. William A. Decker served with the Michigan Department of Mental Health for nearly 34 years, the last 13 years as Medical Superintendent of the Kalamazoo Regional Psychiatric Hospital.Dr. Decker is a cum laude graduate of Western Michigan University, Kalamazoo, and Wayne State University College of Medicine in 1952. Dr. Decker trained at the Michigan Department of Mental Health s Research and Training Center, the Lafayette Psychiatric Institute in Detroit, and after successfully passing the examination, became a Diplomate of the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology. During the course of his employment with the Michigan Department of Mental Health, he served in several capacities including: Assistant Medical Superintendent, Pontiac State Hospital, Chief of Clinical Affairs; Assistant Medical Superintendent and Medical Superintendent of Kalamazoo Regional Psychiatric Hospital. He founded the first Children s and Adolescent s Division in a Michigan State Hospital at Kalamazoo and served as its Director for 14 years. Dr. Decker s professional activities included many functions. For the past 45 years he has been a forensic examiner for the State and Federal courts in Southwestern Michigan. He has been a lecturer for the National Institute of Mental Health and a surveyor for the American Medical Association. He was appointed by Governor Swainson as Chairman of the Subcommittee on Administrative Reorganization of the Michigan Department of Mental Health and an adjunct Professor of Psychiatry at Western Michigan University. After retiring in January 1987 from the Kalamazoo Regional Psychiatric Hospital, Dr. Decker joined the Staff of the Battle Creek Veterans Administration Hospital as Chief of Psychiatry for 7 months in 1988, served on the Department of Mental Health s Task Force for Quality Care; long Range Planning Committee; acted as psychiatric consultant to the Senate Committee on Criminal Justice and Urban Affairs, Juvenile Law and Corrections from 1988 to 1994, and performed as an independent auditor of psychiatric services for the Michigan Department of Correction, from 1988 to 1998 as well as continuing as a forensic psychiatrist serving Federal, State and County Courts and private practitioners. Dr. Decker served as the Chairman of the Michigan Psychiatric Society s Committee on Public Policy and President of the West Michigan Chapter of the Michigan Psychiatric Society. From 1977 to 1982 he was a special lecturer for the Michigan Judicial Institute. From 1994 to 2003, he served as a Compensation and Pension Examiner for the Veterans Administration. For five years, 1984 through 1989, he produced a weekly public information program on mental health topics aired on public access stations in southwestern Michigan, and was inducted into the Kalamazoo Access Center s Hall of Fame in 1988. The program won the Michigan Mental Health Association s Prestigious Media Award in 1985; a resolution from the Michigan State Senate and a letter of commendation from Governor Blanchard. He was honored at the 1986, Annual American Psychiatric Association s Convention by elevation to the status of Life Fellow and to the status of Distinguished Life Fellow in 20003. In 1986, he was awarded a joint resolution by the House and Senate and in 1987 by the Senate in recognition of his leadership in the field of psychiatry and his many years of service to the mentally ill of Michigan. In the same year, the Michigan Department of Mental Health accorded him a Certificate of Commendation and the Michigan Psychiatric Society, a Certificate of Merit. The national Alliance for the Mentally Ill tendered him their Exemplary Psychiatrist Award in 1993. In 2008, he published Asylum for the Insane: A History of the Kalamazoo State Hospital. In 2009, the Library of Michigan selected his publication to receive the Notable Book Award.