birthday. To be eligible, an individual must be in one
of the covered categories, meet income eligibility
requirements, and be at nutritional risk.
Funded by the U.S. Department of Agriculture,
the Program is administered by the Office of
Women, Infants, and Children through grants to
eighteen local agencies that serve the entire State.
Each local agency determines recipient eligibility,
prescribes individualized food packages, provides
nutrition education, prepares required records and
reports, and issues food instruments (negotiable
checks used in exchange for approved foods). The
Office ensures that Maryland's Program accords
with federal requirements.

LOCAL HEALTH DEPARTMENTS
Local health administration preceded the or-
ganization of a State health department by nearly a
century, when, in 1793, Baltimore City established
a health office to stop an epidemic of yellow fever.
The first county health department was formed by
Allegany County in 1922. By 1934, each Maryland
county had established its own health department.
Today, local health departments in Maryland's
twenty-three counties and Baltimore City are over-
seen by the Local and Family Health Administra-
tion.

MENTAL HYGIENE
ADMINISTRATION

Stuart B. Silver, M.D., Director of Mental Hygiene
Oscar Morgan Acting Deputy Director
Stuart Keill, M.D., Acting Clinical Director

201 West Preston St.
Baltimore, MD 21201 (410) 225-6611

The Mental Hygiene Administration origi-
nated in 1886 as the State Lunacy Commission
(Chapter 487, Acts of 1886). The Commission
was established to inspect public and private in-
stitutions for the insane and to advise their
boards of managers. In 1922, the Commission
was replaced by the Board of Mental Hygiene
(Chapter 29, Acts of 1922). The Board, in turn,
was superseded by the Department of Mental
Hygiene in 1949 (Chapter 685, Acts of 1949).
The 1949 law abolished not only the Board of
Mental Hygiene, but also the separate governing
boards of the State mental hospitals, and gave the
Department of Mental Hygiene responsibility for
the custody, care, and treatment of mentally ill
persons. The Department of Mental Hygiene be-
came part of the Department of Health and Men-
tal Hygiene in 1969 and subsequently was
reorganized as the Mental Hygiene Administra-
tion (Chapter 77, Acts of 1969).

The Administration oversees thirteen mental
health centers:
Walter P. Carter Center
Crownsville Hospital Center
Eastern Shore Hospital Center
Thomas B. Finan Hospital Center
Highland Health Facility Psychiatric Unit
Clifton T. Perkins Hospital Center
Maryland Psychiatric Research Center

Regional Institute for Children &
Adolescents— Baltimore

Regional Institute for Children &
Adolescents— Rockville

Regional Institute for Children &
Adolescents—Southern Maryland

Springfield Hospital Center
Spring Grove Hospital Center
Upper Shore Community Mental Health Center

To improve continuity of care between commu-
nity and hospital programs, the Administration has
adopted a regional structure. Assistant Directors
serve the Baltimore metropolitan area and Eastern,
Western, Southern and Central Maryland, Their
regional offices implement policies to shorten
length of hospital stays and improve community
mental health programs for the severely ill.
The Administration is headed by the Director of
Mental Hygiene, certified in psychiatry by the
American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology and
appointed by the Secretary of Health and Mental
Hygiene. With the approval of the Secretary of
Health and Mental Hygiene, the Director of Mental
Hygiene is empowered to make State grants-in-aid to
further community mental health services (Chapter
125, Acts of 1966). The Director supervises programs
receiving these grants-in-aid. The Maryland Commu-
nity Mental Health Services Act of 1966 also author-
ized local mental health advisory committees (Code
Health—General Article, sec. 10-208).

MARYLAND ADVISORY COUNCIL ON
MENTAL HYGIENE
Joseph I. Pines, Chairperson, 1994
(410) 225-6610

The Maryland Advisory Council on Mental Hy-
giene was created in 1976 (Chapter 746, Acts of
1976). It advises the Mental Hygiene Administra-
tion on the social, economic and medical problems
of mental hygiene.
The Council's eighteen members are appointed
by the Governor for three-year terms (Code
Health—General Article, secs. 10-301 through 10-
305).