1 Comments Posted by daf

I grew up living with my stepsister. Her husband worked the power houses in the state hospitals so we moved to different hospitals often and lived on the hospital grounds so I had free run of the hospitals. The patients became my friends and playmates. This picture reminds me of one hospital, Rosewood. It was a hospital specifically for children from birth to 18 years old. I remember visiting the infant unit. Those sights will be with me always. This was in the 60's when doctors were still convincing parents to "put their children away." These wards were for the physically deformed babies. I was 9 or 10 when we lived here and I can remember that God must be a mean God. But I also remember the nursed who were taking care of these children. To me they acted like there was nothing wrong with these babies and taught me to just think of them as babies and not as "freaks." I have no idea what happened to any of these children and am sure that most of the nurses (caretakers) are dead by now, but they taught me a lesson that has lasted for a lifetime.

As I got older and lived at different institutions I saw a lot of things then that I though was abuse. Thanks to this sight and people like Lynn I now realize that it wasn't really abuse, but that it was what treatment was at the time. This sight and the comments made by people I have become to feel like I know have made me realize how fortunate clients with mental health issues are that advances have been made. Thank you for clearing up what was once bad memories.

I tried volunteering at some of the hospitals and soon realized that I was not cut out to do that kind of work. I realized that as friends I loved these people, but as a caretaker and to take on that kind of responsibility was completely out of my realm.