MENTAL PATIENTS.

Hokitika Guardian, 18 November 1921, Page 2

MENTAL PATIENTS.

I CONDITIONS IN HOKITIKA | INSTITUTION. (Lyttelton Times). Bishop Julius’s criticism of the Hokitika, M.ntal Hospital, published in the “Lyttelton Times” recently, is strongly (supported by residents of, the West Coast who know the conditions under which patients'are kept in the institution It is reported that the Government has put aside a grant of £4OOO m order to repair and add to the buddings, but an opinion is expressed freely that thev should be replaced by new ones, planned in accordance with modern treatment of mental patients. A . member of the “Lyttelton Times” staff whd at the suggestion of several \\ est Chiast people, visited the institution on Monday, found there conditions which, compared with those at Sunnyside,

seem to lie shocking. The-old Hokitika Gaol built more than fifty years ago, is part- of t.lic institution. A fresh patient is admitted through a. forbidding ■ mol door, into a gaol yard, even more dismal. Most of the gaol fences. 10 or 18 feet high are still standing. A .marked improvement recently was made by removing several chains ef the fence <hi the seaward side of the .'rounds It has been placed further down the bill on which the institution stands. It still helps to imprison patients, hut it lid longer towers above them forebiddingly, and from a garden some of them help to make they have an uninterrupted view of one of the. host seascapes in the Dominion. Parts of the buildings, inside and out, are worm-eaten, decayed find damp and badly in need of paint. Many of the joists of the floors have gone. Sacking and paper previsit the wind from coming in gusts through many broken , panes in the windows. The walls, jtar- . tioularly of the common-rooms and the dining-rodms, have been .painted in dull colours. Dormitories, built on plans favoured by prison architects half a ! ■century ago, are ventilated so badly ; that the air in them at nights is heavy with a horrible smell. Beads cut along the tops of some of tlio walls where they .join the ceiling have brought 1 about an improvment, hut not very , much. Cooking is done under cramped conditions that make cleanliness difficult. Some of the tin plates have • had pieeefrhroken from their lims, and some of the mugs have been economically soldered.

The' old gaol buildings are wooden, hut an ingenious and talented painter painted some of tlio passage walls to resemble dull, cold stone. He, not quite so successfully, marbled some of the cell walls. The nurses’ quarters are uncomfortable; shabbily furnished, and frowsy; the men’s quarters much more so. The worst part of tho institution, from one point of view, is the ’abominable sanitary 'arrangements.

The whole environments, except for the gardens, the view of the seai and*a few other features are utterly depressing. Most of the 260 liien and women in the institution are dements. A fair percentage are patients who suffer at Intervals only. On wet days when they go into the common rooms all are together. As it is the only mental hospi-

tal on the_ Most Coast, local patients slightly deranged are sent to it. Their friends often are distressed hv 'the knowledge that these patients are in contact with sonic of the worst eases. Dr Buchanan, officer in charge, in reply to d question, said that some of his patients wore line men and women, whose cure under proper treatment was certain, and, perhaps rapid. Amongst the patients were splendid women, who, ill intervals were quite normal. In reply to another question, based on the sanitary arrangements lie said that there had been eases of typhoid in the institution. Thi* led him to say that the room used as an ordinary hospital was very inadequate, and that there should lie a larger one. He spoke highly of tho work of the staffs in the circumstances. Dr Haird, who practises privately in Hokitika, said that the institution at present was an utterly impossible one. “Patients sent to it.” he said, “so far from recovering, actually become worse. Tlic surroundings and the environment are against them all the time. Almost every time a question is raised as to the necessity for sending a patient to that mental hospital the relatives or friends sav: “Wo rather see him dead.” It is impossible to patch up the old gaol. A new building is a bsol u tcl.v ueeessarv. ’ ’