Eastern State Hospital (Kentucky)
| Eastern State Hospital | |
|---|---|
| UK HealthCare | |
| Geography | |
| Location | 1350 Bull Lea Road, Lexington, Kentucky, United States |
| Organization | |
| Hospital type | Specialist |
| Services | |
| Beds | 239 |
| Speciality | Mental Health |
| History | |
| Founded | 1817 |
| Links | |
| Website | ukhealthcare.uky.edu |
| Lists | Hospitals in Kentucky |
Eastern State Hospital, located in Lexington, Kentucky, is the second oldest psychiatric hospital in the United States, operating today as a psychiatric hospital with 239 beds providing exclusively inpatient care.
The facility has been known, variously, as Fayette Hospital (1817–1822), Lunatic Asylum (1822–1844), The Kentucky Lunatic Asylum (1844–1849), Lunatic Asylum of Kentucky (1850–1852), The Lunatic Asylum (1850–1852), The Eastern Lunatic Asylum (1852–1855), The Eastern Lunatic Asylum of Kentucky (1855–1858), The Kentucky Eastern Lunatic Asylum (1858–1864), Eastern Lunatic Asylum (1864–1867), The Kentucky Eastern Lunatic Asylum (1867–1873), The First Kentucky Lunatic Asylum (1873–1876), Eastern Kentucky Lunatic Asylum (1876–1894), Eastern Kentucky Asylum for the Insane (1894–1912), and Eastern State Hospital (from 1912 onwards).
From 1792 until 1824, the mentally disturbed residents of Kentucky were boarded out with individuals at public expense, or a few were sent to Eastern State Hospital at Williamsburg, Virginia. In 1816, a group of public-spirited citizens in Lexington, banded together to establish a hospital to be called the Fayette Hospital. It was to be for the poor, disabled and "lunatic" members of society. A building was started that year and, in 1817, Henry Clay gave an oration at the dedicatory ceremony; however, the building was neither finished nor occupied. On December 7, 1822, the General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Kentucky passed an "Act to Establish a Lunatic Asylum". Ten acres of land, along with the unfinished building of the Fayette Hospital, were purchased and thus the second oldest state mental hospital in America was established. The first patient was admitted May 1, 1824.
Samuel Theobald, M.D., a physician on the hospital staff and a member of the faculty of Transylvania University Medical School here in Lexington, wrote, in 1828, a dissertation titled Some Account of the Lunatic Asylum in Kentucky, that the goal was "the custodial care of the insane and the protection of society. Most of the lunatics admitted were incurable cases, as non-violent insane were to be maintained in private homes, being sent to the hospital when no longer tame enough to be kept at home…" In these early years, even the custodial treatment was less than ideal and barely met the minimal needs of the residents. There was no medical staff directly associated with the hospital at this time. Any severe medical problems were treated by physicians in the community, or by faculty and students of Transylvania College School of Medicine.In 1844, Eastern State Hospital welcomed its first medical superintendent, John Rowan Allen, M.D.: Eastern State Hospital has been under a full-time director ever since. With this change began an era of "moral treatment" during which the hospital staff strived to treat the residents humanely("Moral treatment" meant compassionate and understanding treatment.). Dorothea Dix, one of America's great philanthropists interested in better treatment of the insane, visited the hospital in 1847, and again in 1858. Restraints including strait jackets, leather cuffs, chains, etc. were originally used and were accepted treatment for the mentally ill. Beginning with Dr. Allen's administration, the use of such measures was largely eliminated.
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