CITY OF WANDERING MINDS.

Auckland Star, Volume LVII, Issue 143, 18 June 1926, Page 12

CITY OF WANDERING MINDS.

INSPECTION OF MENTAL HOSPITAL

SOMETHING ABOUT THE

BUILDINGS.

NO. IV.

Some idea of the former gloom of the hospital is gained in exploring those corridors and dormitories which have not yet received their lighter coats of paint. The walls are of drab and depressing colour, the lighting is bad, and there are many marks of wear. In some of the sleeping apartments the cheerful change of colour has not yet been made; the bedsteads are still painted black, and the walls remain in their original dullness of aspect. In the older building, which has been erected for nearly forty years, it has been difficult to do very much to improve the environment, but whatever possible has been or is to be done with the meagre funds available. The striking of a cheerful note in colour, the provision of better lighting, the improvement of ventilation, and better furnishing, have all contributed to brighten the lives of the patients, to whom brightness is a chief essential. That which yet remains to be done is dependent on the provision of money by the Government. Some Cheerful Aspects. Classification is now so well established that there are several exercise yards for the several groups of patients. Not all by any means are in the pitiable plight of the unfortunate "refractories." in the men's yards we see patients walking about quite cheerfully, chatting with each other, reading books or papers, or playing games. Some of the yards are being extended to give them more room, more seating accommodation is being provided outdoors, and the whole concern of the administration is to make the surroundings as agreeable as may be. One of the recreations of the male patients is the restful game of bowls; they have a very fine green,, and they play a famous game, giving some of the Visiting teams rare tussles. Billiards is also a popular game in the evenings, and when the weather drives the patients indoors. There are three or four standard tables in the line, large recreation rooms, as well as some bagatelle tables, and many a pleasant hour is spent with the cue. There is also a library, but this is quite inadequate to supply the demand for books, and the medical superintendent would gladly welcome donations of literature for his charges. Less Agreeable. There are some other aspects of the hospital, however, which do not so greatly favour the place in the eye of the visitor. Although a good deal of new furniture lias been provided since the change of administration, much of the old stuff is shabby and depressing. In one of the day rooms in a downstairs ward of the old building, some of the easy chairs and couches have been almost entirely stripped of their coverings and look ghost-like and mournful in such a place. This room is anything but cheerful, and it seems strange that it should remain so when a small expenditure on the part of the Government would make its habitues ever so much brighter and more comfortable. Another thing which gives the visitor a feeling of uneasiness is the fact that a number* of boys are permitted to mingle with the men in the yard where the morons take their exercise. This class of patient is in no way dangerous, but it seems a serious incongruity that the young should be mingled in this manner with their afflicted -elders. There is an institution at Nelson for the reception of children of this class, but, naturally, parents desire to have their children near them, whatever their ailment, and when a magistrate commits m Auckland child to the institution there is no option but to admit it. Owing to all the accommodation at the Auckland Mental Hospital being in demand, it is difficult to arrange for the segregation of child patients, but the layman, at any rate, feels that it ought to be done. * The Happy Workers. Happiest among all the patients (as is the case in the world outside) are the workers. The spotless cleanliness of the hospital in every part, the neat tillage of the soil, the orderliness of the cowsheds, stables, and pig sties, the smiling gardens and tidy paths, the snowy garments that come from the laundry, the enormous supplies of well-cooked bread and cake from the bakehouse—all these are evidences of the capability of the loss severely afflicted under kind and capable supervision. As has been indicated, many of these people are seemingly rational in every respect, and will engage the visitor in cheerful and intelligcnt°convcrse on a variety of subjects. Some of them are cases which have shown immense improvement since their admission, and they talk, hopefully of the time when they will be discharged to again take their places in/ the busy community outside.. It is no exaggeration to say that they are filled with gratitude for the manner in which they have been cared for in the institution, and on all hands they praise the kindness and understanding of the medical superintendent and the humane and sympathetic treatment accorded them by the attendants.

la the Hospital Too Large? Entwined with the vexed matter of economical administration is that of the size of the institution. It is freely admitted that the bigger a hospital, either for physical or mental ills, the lesser cost per patient it can be run at — under efficient administration. But does the big hospital, give the best results to the patients? Economy is all very well ill its place, yet there ia ample evidence chat the placing of too great an importance on economy in the past had a detrimental effect on the Auckland Mental Hospital and upon its inmates. The greatest economy to the community is not to run a hospital at the lowest possible cost per patient, without regard to the ultimate; the truest economy is to spend all that is really necessary in an endeavour to restore the patient to normal and send him out into active community life again, so that he can continue his interrupted work as a cog in the groat wheel of industrialism. Those who oppose very large institutions are of opinion that restriction in size is even moro necessary in the case of a mental hospital than in that of a place for the euro of physical ills. It is pointed out that one of the chief elements in the factor of euro is tho patient's faith in the medical superintendent, and in the superintendent* close supervision of tho patient. Where an institution of this kind is too large, the intimate relationshin betweou physician nnd .patient—tho

personal touch—is largely lost, and the , patient suffers in lessened confidence, while his medical supervisor is handicapped by a loosened grip of his charge. Those who are for two or more smaller inetitutions are at once up against the Government—for the Government finds the money, and it is not going to be easily convinced that anything will be beneficial that is going to increase its expenditure on an unreproductive department.