clear space clear space clear space white space
A
 r c h i v e s   o f   M a r y l a n d   O n l i n e

PLEASE NOTE: The searchable text below was computer generated and may contain typographical errors. Numerical typos are particularly troubling. Click “View pdf” to see the original document.

  Maryland State Archives | Index | Help | Search		 search for:
clear space
white space
Maryland Manual, 1973-74
Volume 176, Page 46   View pdf image (33K)
 Jump to  
   << PREVIOUS  NEXT >>
clear space clear space clear space white space

46 MARYLAND MANUAL
Health and Mental Hygiene
Spurred by a series of shocking revelations about the care
of the mentally ill which was published in one of Baltimore's
leading newspapers in 1949, the General Assembly estab-
lished the Department of Mental Hygiene, now included in
the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene as the Mental
Health Administration, and gave it full supervision over all
matters pertaining to the custody, care and treatment of
persons who are mentally ill or mentally retarded. Since
then, the State has spent millions of dollars erecting new
buildings and improving existing facilities. More important,
there has been a change in concept which regards such
institutions as treatment centers rather than as custodial
areas. Increasing emphasis is being placed on research in
this field.
At Rosewood State Hospital, the Esther Loring Richards
and the Jacob E. Finesinger Children's Centers were opened
in 1958 and 1961, respectively, to provide psychiatric treat-
ment for children with serious emotional, psychiatric and
neurotic illnesses as distinct from those who are mentally
retarded.
The Clifton T. Perkins State Hospital, a 300-bed facility,
costing nearly three million dollars, began operating in
1960. It inaugurated in Maryland a program of psychiatric
therapies combined with rehabilitative procedures for all
adult male patients who require maximum security.
In 1970, Great Oaks Center, originally named the Mary-
land Metropolitan Washington Retardation Center, a major
new facility for mentally retarded children under thirteen
years of age in the Southern Maryland area, was opened
near Beltsville. It is the first regional center to be opened by
the Mental Retardation Administration.
The Regional Institute for Children and Adolescents in
Catonsville began offering its services in 1971 for emotion-
ally ill children. In 1971, the Drug Abuse Administration
was created to replace the Drug Abuse Authority which
had proven ineffective.
Patuxent Institution, at first an autonomous agency, now
a part of the newly-created Department of Public Safety
and Correctional Services, began operating under the De-
partment of Correction in 1955, as an experiment in the
use of indeterminate sentences in the treatment of defective
delinquents.
Medical facilities have also been expanded in recent years.
Three chronic disease hospitals have been constructed:
Deer's Head State Hospital in Wicomico County (1950),

  		clear space
clear space
white space

Please view image to verify text. To report an error, please contact us.
Maryland Manual, 1973-74
Volume 176, Page 46   View pdf image (33K)
 Jump to  
   << PREVIOUS  NEXT >>


This web site is presented for reference purposes under the doctrine of fair use. When this material is used, in whole or in part, proper citation and credit must be attributed to the Maryland State Archives. PLEASE NOTE: The site may contain material from other sources which may be under copyright. Rights assessment, and full originating source citation, is the responsibility of the user.

Tell Us What You Think About the Maryland State Archives Website!

An Archives of Maryland electronic publication.
For information contact mdlegal@mdarchives.state.md.us.

©Copyright  October 06, 2023
Maryland State Archives