Helping+The+Mentally+Ill+TS

Dorothea Dix was a woman who accomplished much in her life. Her first job was a teacher and then a social reformer for the treatment of the mentally ill. Dorothea's second career began when she was thirty-nine years old. In March of 1841 she entered the East Cambridge Jail. She had volunteered to teach a Sunday School class for women inmates. Upon entering the jail she witnessed such horrible images that her life, from that point on, was changed forever. Within the confines of this jail she observed criminals, retarded individuals, and the mentally ill. They were all housed together in unheated, unfurnished, and foul-smelling quarters. When asked why the jail was in these conditions the answer she got was, "the insane do not feel heat or cold". After seeing these conditions, she immediatyly took the matter to the courts. And after a series of battles, she had won.Dorothea then visited jails and almshouses, where the mentally ill were housed, in other parts of Boston and soon her investigations extended over the entire state of Massachusetts. She made careful notes as she visited with jailers, caretakers and townspeople. Finally she put together all this data and made a carefully worded document to be delivered to the Massachusetts legislature. She had reason within the legislature, since she was good friends with the governor. In addition her timid presentation of her findings completely won over the legislative board because her conviction was so powerful. After a heated debate over the topic the material won legislative support and funds were set aside for the expansion of Worcester State Hospital for the mentally ill. She traveled to other states and proceeded doing the same process: extensive travel to jails and almshouses in a state, careful descriptions of conditions in jails and almshouses, and preparation of a document comparable to the one which proved successful in Massachusetts (1982). Although her health was very poor, she managed to cover every state on the east side of the Mississippi River. In all she played a major role in founding 32 mental hospitals, 15 schools for the feeble minded, a school for the blind, and numerous training facilities for nurses. Her efforts were an indirect inspiration for the building of many additional institutions for the mentally ill.
 * __Dorothea Dix__**

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