Inside the Eastern Washington Hospital for the Insane
A biennial report highlights the Medical Lake institution's agricultural successes and its surprisingly high recovery rates.
Dr. Semple has just completed the first biennial report of the Eastern Washington hospital for the insane. Last year began with 133 patients, and during the year, the total number under treatment reached 204. Twenty-three were discharged as recovered. The percentage of recoveries is 31 percent, which is high. This completely refutes the reports circulated by certain irresponsible persons that the water supply of the hospital was impure. A great deal of outside work has been accomplished during the past two years, including the construction of a stable, carriage house, and ice house. The farm has been wonderfully productive, yielding forty-three tons of potatoes, 5,000 cabbages, and tons of tomatoes and celery. Not a vegetable has been purchased during the entire summer, and enough remains in stock to supply the institution during the coming winter.
“This completely refutes the reports circulated by certain irresponsible persons that the water supply of the hospital was impure.”
The Eastern Washington Hospital at Medical Lake is a long-standing fixture in the state's mental health infrastructure. The emphasis on self-sufficiency through farming echoes a time when such institutions operated as isolated, semi-autonomous communities.
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