| Remarks by Governor Kulongoski |
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| November 10, 2005 |
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Oregon State Hospital Benefit: Building for the Future
It’s truly my pleasure to be here with you all tonight.
Oliver Wendell Holmes once said, “To understand what is happening today or what will happen in the future, I look back.”
As we look back on the making of the movie, “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest,” it’s appropriate that our purpose for coming together tonight is to build a brighter future for the Oregon State Hospital and the individuals treated there.
Watching the original film, I am struck by two things:
First, an overwhelming sense of gratitude for the progress we’ve made in treating individuals with severe mental illness.
Today, we value patients as individuals, and our goal is their recovery.
Today, we believe that in most cases, an individual’s time at the Hospital is temporary – and to that end – the state has prioritized efforts to move individuals from the hospital and into non-institutional, community-based settings.
Until now, however, what this state has not prioritized is the State Hospital facility itself. Which leads me to the second issue I was struck by when watching the original film: the patient wards – the places where patients live and sleep each day - look almost unchanged from the film.
Earlier this year, a team of experts did a formal evaluation of the State Hospital facility. The report confirmed what seems obvious to the untrained eye looking at the more than 100-year old buildings:
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State Hospital buildings do not comply with building and energy codes or contemporary standards for secure psychiatric facilities;
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the physical layout of patient wards is inefficient and doesn’t provide enough space for critical patient treatment programs; and
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because of their age, some of the buildings on the campus are at risk of significant damage or collapse in the event of an earthquake.
These conditions are unacceptable. And as Governor I have been – and remain – committed to the orderly restructuring of our state’s mental health system, which includes the State Hospital, to ensure we are providing quality services to Oregonians with mental illness in the appropriate setting.
While the state continues to advance our plans for a new state hospital facility – tonight we are here to raise funds to help the state continue to provide the best treatment it can in the current hospital setting. A portion of these funds will also be dedicated to creating an appropriate memorial for the cremains of those patients who have passed away while residing at the state hospital.
I thank all of you for your support tonight and for our efforts to deliver quality mental health treatment for Oregonians throughout the state.
The hope of the future of the State Hospital lies in the power of the present. As we look back on the Hospital’s past, my hope is that we would all be even more committed to building a future for the Hospital and its patients that is bright and full of purpose.
Thank you.
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