3,181 Comments Posted by Lynne

Belle!

Fabulous! What a hell of a gallery this has been!

Great depth.

Mind-boggling! Eye-boggling!

You can't GET more perfect than this! Doggone!

The colors, lighting, and perspective in this gallery put me in mind of your Northwood Asylum and Gravesend Asylum galleries - probably my two favorites.

Well dang, son - you didn't take a bad shot this day!

Lighting and colors are superb.

How ever did you get that shot? Great stuff!

Now THAT is killer perspective!

Fabulous colors and lighting, as always!

It could, although much of it is rather outdated (although certainly better than no equipment at all). As well, sitting around in funky old buildings for decades doesn't always make someone want to use that piece of equipment for their already vulnerable child (unless it can be sterilized and updated).

However, I wrote somewhere else (can't remember where - sorry) that in many cases equipment that is purchased with specific types of funding can't ever be sold, given away, or re-used. It's bizarre, but there were original reasons for those conditions. They might have been worried about someone getting used equipment and the conditions were perhaps so that only the latest equipment could be used. Another reason might have been that they were afraid that people would make a profit off the equipment by re-selling it and it would go to some use for people other than those for whom it was originally designated.

Ironically it has turned into sort of a Catch-22 when all is said and done as far as re-using it.

Don't know what they use in pediatric wards these days. Any of you people who currently work in regular hospitals out there who can answer? My guess is that they don't use them much, if at all, but I haven't worked in a "regular" hospital for a while. Where I currently work we don't have anyone in beds like these for safety reasons, even young children.

Society at the time urged families who had children with disabilities of any sort to place them in facilities such as this for life where they would be "better taken care of" and "less of a burden to their families." Children with easily identifiable syndromes, such as Down syndrome, were sometimes sent to residential facilities when they were infants.

Today there is much better access to funding for in-home services, but there are certain catches to the funding in some states and sometimes the funding decreases or disappears when the person "ages out of the program" at age 22. It's something this society still hasn't decided definitively how to deal with and a very sore spot for people with disabilities and their families.

We don't use cribs like this any more because they are potentially hazardous - it's too easy to catch an arm, leg, or a head in the bars. Current beds are supposed to be built with safety in mind and have to go through all sorts of rigorous standards and testing. Where I currently work every bed on campus has to be checked multiple times each month by various staff (program administrator, safety representative, program director, housekeeping, quality assurance, AND buildings & grounds staff) and documentation provided that this occurred.

Interesting! Do you remember the specific title or name of the show or when it was on? I'd be interested in seeing that. :-)