Library Collections: Document: Full Text

Out Of Sight, Out Of Mind

Creator:		Frank L. Wright, Jr. (author)
Date:		1947
Publisher:		National Mental Health Foundation, Inc.
Source:		Available at selected libraries
Figures From This Artifact:		Figure 2 Figure 3 Figure 4 Figure 5 Figure 6 Figure 7 Figure 8 Figure 9 Figure 10 Figure 11 Figure 12 Figure 13 Figure 14 Figure 15 Figure 16 Figure 17

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1118		With this need in mind, a nation-wide educational campaign was launched in May, 1946. Our Mental Hospitals . . . A National Disgrace (Life, May 6, 1946) was written to a large extent from materials gathered by the Foundation. Then followed an impressive list of pamphlets on mental illness and mental deficiency: Toward Mental Health (Public Affairs Pamphlet No. 120); Forgotten Children (The story of mental deficiency); From Folly ... To Fetters . . . To Freedom; If Your Child Is Slow; Will They Be Cured?; What To Look For in a Mental Hospital; Where Does Your State Stand?; and many others.

1119		In the fall of 1946 a series of eight radio dramatizations were transcribed for nationwide use. These have proven an effective aid to local and state organizations which are conducting educational programs, and by April, 1947, had already been scheduled on more than a hundred and fifty broadcasting stations in this country and in Canada. Recordings of the programs are available tor training and educational purposes.

1120		A monthly magazine, The Psychiatric Aid, is issued for attendants and other employees in mental hospitals and in training schools for the mentally deficient. An effort is being made to improve standards of ward care through making more adequate provisions for the training and compensation of institutional employees. Long overdue recognition for the valuable services rendered by staffs of mental institutions will, when given in a tangible way, result in much of the needed reform.

1121		For those who work constantly with the patients, the Foundation has published an orientation to mental hospital work, the Handbook for Psychiatric Aides; for attendants in schools for the mentally deficient, a Handbook for Training School Attendants is being prepared.

1122		The Legal Division of the Foundation is currently preparing briefs of the mental hygiene laws of the forty-eight states. When this project has been completed, the Division will prepare, in cooperation with medical and legal organizations, model provisions for reference and study in relation to future legislation. A service of consultation and recommendation with regard to legal provisions and administrative rules will be maintained.

1123		The Education Division encourages and services summer and year-round college and church projects in mental institutions. This not only brings needed personnel to the institutions, but serves as an effective method of bringing the problems of the mentally handicapped before those who will be in a position to bring influence to bear for needed improvements. The Division maintains a field staff to assist in local community activities and to develop and extend the various educational services of the Foundation. Volunteer service to institutions is encouraged. Assistance is given, whenever possible, to institutions which are attempting to recruit personnel. Special research and educational projects are undertaken from time to time.

1124		In a time of aroused national interest in the problems of mental disease and in the care of the mentally ill, it is essential to extend the services and influence of the Foundation. The history of the care and treatment of the mentally ill and mentally deficient is a spotted history, showing many advances, many regressions. Now, we believe, the substance, power and vision are all at hand to keep a wave of understanding and reform rolling; united efforts of all who share the concern will accomplish our objectives.

1125		-- HAROLD BARTON, Executive Secretary, National Mental Health Foundation, 1520 Race St., Philadelphia 2, Pa. APRIL, 1947.

1126		NATIONAL MENTAL HEALTH FOUNDATION, INC.

1127		BOARD OF DIRECTORS

1128		Roger N. Baldwin Mary McLeod Bethune Mrs. William H. Biester, Jr. Dr. Jacob Billikopt Anton T. Boisen Earl D. Bond, M.D. Mrs. Walter A. Craig Mrs. LaFell Dickinson Kermit Eby Mordecai W. Johnson Mrs. J. Barclay Jones Rufus M. Jones Al Paul Letton Orie O. Miller Arthur E. Morgan A. Douglas Oliver Clarence E. Pickett Samuel Radbill Owen J. Roberts Louis W. Schneider Dr. D. R. Sharpe Walter W. Van Kirk Mary Jane Ward M. R. Zigler

1129		PROFESSIONAL ADVISORS

1130		James Lewald, M.D., Superintendent, District Training School, Laurel, Maryland

1131		William Draper Lewis, Director, The American Law Institute

1132		Karl Menninger, M.D., Manager, Winter General Hospital, Topeka, Kansas

1133		Mrs. Elizabeth Ross, Psychiatric Social Worker

1134		Lauretta Bender, M.D., Associate Professor of Psychiatry, New York University

1135		Earl D. Bond, M.D., Administrative Director, Philadelphia's Pennsylvania Hospital

1136		R. H. Felix, M.D., General Chief, Mental Hygiene Division, U. S. Public Health Service

1137		Charles A. Zeiler, M.D., Director, Department of Mental Health, State of Michigan

1138		NATIONAL SPONSORS

1139		Chairman, Owen J. Roberts Daniel Blain, M.D. Pearl Buck Mrs. LaFell Dickinson Helen Gahagan Douglas Dorothy Canfield Fisher Dr. Harry Emerson Fosdick Mrs. Louis Gimbel Sheldon Glueck William Green Helen Hayes Rev. John Haynes Holmes Rufus M. Jones Bishop W. A. Lawrence Henry B. Luce Thomas Mann Adolf Meyer Anne Morgan Arthur Morgan Felix Morley Reinhold Niebuhr J. R. Oppenheimer Thomas Parran James G. Patton Claude Pepper Clarence E. Pickett Daniel A. Poling Percy Priest Walter P. Reuther Mrs. Franklin D. Roosevelt Lessing J. Rosenwald Mrs. Harry S. Truman Dr. Henry P. Van Dusen Richard Walsh Gregory Zilboorg