Mental health care in Massachusetts

May 4, 2017 7:47 AM

"One by one, nearly all the state psychiatric hospitals were boarded up or bulldozed, but Massachusetts leaders broke their promise to replace them with something better — or much of anything at all"
posted by Lycaste (7 comments total)

They also just recently closed the Long Island homeless shelter after deliberately allowing the connecting bridge to rot, and the mayor gave the very desirable land to his buddies. For all its liberalism, Massachusetts is just as corrupt as anyone else.
posted by Melismata at 8:00 AM on May 4, 2017 [2 favorites]

Correction: The mayor didn't give all of Long Island to his buddies. What he did do is hand over a farm on the island, which had produced vegetables and eggs for shelter residents and farmer's markets in low-income neighborhoods, to b.good, a local earthy-crunchy burger chain. The bulk of the island, all of which is still owned by the city of Boston, now just molders, unused, except for a summer camp the city continues to run (and the farm).

The problem with Long Island is worse than just the homeless shelter - a number of substance-abuse programs also operated facilities there. After the bridge was shut in 2014, the mayor pledged to rebuild it, but oops, no, nothing's been done (part of the problem may be that the approach to the bridge is physically in the city of Quincy, and Quincy hates the idea of Long Island with all the fury its little municipal clenched fists can muster).

Poor treatment of the mentally ill in Massachusetts is nothing new, but at least the state no longer goes to court to try to block news about it.
posted by adamg at 8:36 AM on May 4, 2017 [4 favorites]

I'm in the middle of pitching the town archivist some shirts as a fund raising activity. I think I'll see if we can add in a donation to a mental health charity with the Danvers State Hospital version.
posted by robocop is bleeding at 8:43 AM on May 4, 2017 [5 favorites]

Met State
posted by pxe2000 at 8:58 AM on May 4, 2017 [1 favorite]

You can stumble across mental hospital ruins in MA just by happenstance - they literally are just left there to rot.
posted by alex_skazat at 9:37 AM on May 4, 2017 [2 favorites]

Let us know how that goes, robocop. I'm definitely interested in such a shirt.
posted by orrnyereg at 9:45 AM on May 4, 2017 [1 favorite]

I grew up in a town with a state hospital. Looking forward to reading this when I get a moment.
posted by sciencegeek at 10:40 AM on May 5, 2017