Comments

wow. this is a sad image. while i don't believe in taking anything from these places, i'm afraid i would find this little one very difficult to leave behind......

When I was 15 and legally able to get my driver's license (in California) my dad went down to the junk yard and bought a 1947 Studebaker for me to practice driving on. It was real cool -- had that little window in the back -- manual transmission on the steering column -- bet I could still shift it! No, I'm not that OLD.

Well, I can see that staff in the 1900's may
have been unaware of some of the subtlities of modern humane treatment methods, but they would certainly have been aware (I would hope) that outright cruelty and neglect were exactly that. Times haven't changed that much!

what the fuck is a condo?

those colours look well nice!!!

And here I thought the painting was of something from the Cthulhu Mythos, but it's actually a gingerbread house on Candy Cane Lane!

do you reckon theres blood on em?

Since I have been one of those staff working in a room with 30-40 severely and profoundly retarded men at a state institution, I'd like to throw in my two cents. There are two sides to this story. Lynn, you seem to be speaking up for those staff who cared and tried to do the right thing. And Jodi and Dannie Girl, you seem to be speaking about cruel, even abusive staff. BOTH of these sides exist. In K Building, we had some staff who did their very best for the men they worked with. In my case, I used to take the most nervous, high-strung guys out for walks, so they'd have some peace and quiet and privacy. Other staff did similar things, because they cared. Yet I was openly mocked for taking people out and treating them as individuals. There were all kinds of cruelty in K Building, some perhaps unintentional, but others definately intentional. And if you dared to report even acts of open abuse, you were then targeted and lied about, thus weakening your believability, or even ruining your reputation. Time after time I saw staff transferred or even fired because they spoke up about cruelty. I grew up in Belchertown (the town) and when I went to work at K Building at Belchertown State School, two of my high school's worst bullies had graduated and found jobs at K Building. I also know, from personal experience, that management knew of abuse and looked the other way and rarely helped those brave enough to speak up. In fact, the only times I saw management take a strong stand was when a profoundly retarded woman in an all-female building became pregnant, and when another woman drowned in a bath-tub and staff who were supposed to be monitoring her ward dried her body off with a towel and put her in bed to make it look she had died in her sleep. Both of these situations were not the kind that would have been easy to cover up. These things DID and DO happen. Yes, there are good staff, but we need to know that there are also abusive staff; yes, there are abusive staff. but we also need to know there are good staff. I believe both sides in this discussion need to accept the reality of BOTH sides.

I know of alot of homeless people who like to hang around there. I also know of alot of patients who wonder around town here. There is "Bike Mike", the woman who wears tons of clothing and huge sunglasses with a hat with a large brim (because she can not be exposed to the sun), and there used to be a man who walked around in a suit blazer with a tie and a nice shirt but wore only boxers for his pants. There are more but these people we all know and love around this town. Bike Mike rides his bike to the schools everyday to say hi to the kids.. when i was working at a local K-Mart.. i had the pleasure of talking to the woman.. and then the older man was one that my sister knew. She worked at a local ice cream place and she knew he couldnt have ice cream but only yogurt..and helped him with that.

This is a very beautiful picture Motts.. I was wondering tho...How exactly did you get up that high in the air to take this picture. I have been there once before but I dont remember there being a building there...

Wow! Those are complete Studebaker engine assemblies with the manual transmissions attached.

I bet there are Studebaker collectors out there that would just drool looking at these pictures. It's truly amazing what happens when a factory is abandoned.

Where can these records be found? In the local library? I would like to learn more about this place.

I think that we all have biased opinions being that you are currently a staff worker.. therefore you look more into the lives of the staff.

We are biased in the fact that since Jodi's uncle was in this hospital and beaten..then we feel that it was the government and the staff's fault.

Its obvious we arent going to see eye to eye on this matter...there are too many emotions involved.

I see where you are coming from..but I also stand firm in my opinion.

I dont want to keep coming on here and fighting...So I say lets agree to disagree...

And this, my dear friends, is why helmets were developed.

Jodi, I am not "good" and I am surely not "pure" - I'm not even on the "cleaner" side of life, all sins being totaled and added together over the years. But I do try to look at everyone's life. Not just the people who lived here but the people who worked here and who kept these folks alive. If you aren't old enough yet to know what it's like to have a very low paying job, extremely long hours, a family to take care of, last minute mandatory overtime shifts, 25 to 50+ people to take care of by yourself who have skills at the 1 to 2 year developmental level plus massive behavioral "challenges," minimal support from professional or administrative staff, and a public who, like you, blames them for all the bad stuff that happened and doesn't think to thank them for showing up to do the work that many families were not capable of doing because they didn't also have the resources, then we'll have to wait a few years until you gain the life experiences that will help you understand why this might be a rather stressful job.

If I put you in a room today by yourself with 25 people who have severe to profound intellectual disabilities and ask you to make sure they are all kept clean, well dressed (or even make sure that each of them remains totally dressed for your entire shift), provide even just one meal (making sure the area is kept clean yet no gloves or cleaning solutions can be ingested, making sure the temperature of each food and beverage is in the correct range, follow everyone's eating precaution plans, make sure everyone is seated properly, their adaptive equipment for dining is available, and that their food texture is correct - i.e., pureed vs. ground vs. chopped vs. whole, making sure they all have the correct diet and the correct amount of food, possibly even having to assist people who receive their nutrition enterally), deal with seizures, deal with the multiple minor injuries that will occur because many of the folks don't have the ability to walk without falling, keep the area safe from those who ingest literally anything that is small enough to fit in their mouth, make sure that those who smear feces are cleaned up (because this sometimes occurs at this developmental level), keep apart those folks who don't like each other so they don't get into yet another fight, and then deal with the mounds of paperwork required to document that you have done all this work while keeping a cheerful face and all your patience, then you are certainly a better human being than I am or frankly than almost any person I have ever met.

Those were the conditions at the time. Them's the facts. And other than the fact that our staffing ratios are much better today, them's still the facts. You keep your head about you with all that going on and don't crumble from the strain (especially given that often the true ratio was more like 1 staff to 50 individuals) and I will personally ask the Pope to make you a living saint.

It's easy to criticize others if you haven't done their work. I personally thank God every day for the great majority of the staff I have the pleasure of working with, and I am 1000% positive if you ever got out there and saw what a very difficult job this is you would have just a little bit more empathy for the people who did this and kept your uncle alive so that you are now able to come here and condemn them.

it does look kind of like a swinging door