The Philadelphia State Hospital at Byberry: A History of Misery and Medicine (Landmarks) (PA) by Webster J.P

Author:Webster, J.P. [Webster, J.P.]
Language: eng
Format: azw3
Published: 2013-05-25T16:00:00+00:00

A mere month later, he reported the situation as “hopeless” and claimed he had inherited a “medieval pesthouse.” He was, however, able to raise its standards to “the equivalent of a seventeenth-century asylum.” Woolley himself admitted that the only real way to solve the problem at Byberry was new buildings—and a lot of them. He did succeed in correcting, as he put it, many basic evils. In March 1939, Woolley ordered six hundred double-decker beds to use in the male group. “Although nothing but new buildings can correct entirely the overcrowding,” he said, “the double-deckers, plus nine-hundred single cots, will help bring a measure of relief to our 5,560 patients, thankfully down from 7,000. I want everyone to know of my institution’s need. Philadelphia State Hospital belongs to the taxpayers, and it is up to them to make it as fine a mind-restoring place as it can be.”

Woolley did what he could to develop extracurricular and recreational activities for his patients. Although his budget allowed for very little hospital-sponsored patient recreation, Woolley found other ways. In 1939, for example, he was more than happy to allow charitable bandleader Vincent Lopez to experiment at Byberry with what he called “swing therapy.” Lopez claimed that the stimulation caused by live music was a real form of therapy and should be treated as such. After playing to four hundred cheering, clapping patients, Lopez said, “Jitterbugs gave me the idea. I concluded that if a jam session excited sane youngsters into a frenzy of wild antics and weird gyrations, then certainly it would be worth experimenting to see what effect the strong, primitive vibrations of a swing band would have on mental patients.”

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