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 HelloReturn to index of stories... |
Hello. I'm Allison McNair. Welcome to NH Outlook. |
| Intro Shumway Return to index of stories... |
He heads up the state's largest agency. And at one time, he was responsible for overseeing the closing of state institutions - like the Laconia School - that housed people with developmental disabilities. Health and Human Services Commissioner Donald Shumway officially leaves his post, at the end of this month. Recently, we sat down with him to ask why. |
| Intro Beam Return to index of stories... |
Mental health is addressed in the academy award-winning movie "A Beautiful Mind. " In the film, Russell Crowe portrays mathematician John Nash's struggle with schizophrenia. In real life, Nash was treated at McLean Mental Hospital in Belmont, Massachusetts. Now, for the first time, a book has been written about this well known hospital. The book, "Gracefully Insane " was authored by Boston Globe columnist Alex Beam. |
| Alex Beam Return to index of stories... |
roll tape -- SOT "It occupies a, sort of this mythic place in the Boston psyche and the Boston mentality. It's talked about a lot. I've never lived in a city where people talk about the local mental hospital. And there's this added element where literally dozens of extremely well - known famous people were inside the hospital and many of them ended up writing about speaking about it. Declaring, if you will, that they had been in "the looney bin" in Belmont, Massachusetts. - TRACK In Gracefully Insane, author Alex Beam outlines the close to two hundred year history of McLean Hospital. Beam details the many changes in the treatment of the mentally ill - from the founding of McLean in 1817 onward. He also looks at the wide range of people who were treated there. During the 19th century, McLean served as place of respite for the well-to-do. -- SOT When you see McLean there's the rooms for the patients and then above those rooms there's typical dorm ward maids'rooms that were typical of New England construction in the 19th century. Now you have to understand these were mental patients. Those aren't rooms for the nurses because the nurses lived in the dormitory in McLean. -- SOT These people went into the mental hospital with their own maids and butlers who would stay in the same hall with them. They had silver service, china at night. There was sort of no amenity that was denied them. We played this quote out in the book jacket; a former steward at McLean compared the service at McLean to the service at the Ritz Hotel, where you could send back your meal. The steward as quoting "well if they didn't like the lobster we were serving then we would give them the lamb." There was actually a very gorgeous small church on the grounds at McLean as well for a certain class of say Boston resident it was very much like home. -- TRACK And, over the years, Beam tells us, some of McLean's patients were well-known writers. -- SOT There was a period really when all the great American poets were at McLean. Robert Lowell was the first great poet who went to McLean, wrote about being at McLean, wrote several poems about being at McLean. And he had these two students, who later became famous. Anne Sexton and Sylvia Plath both studied with Robert Lowell at Boston University. And, in fact, I take the title of my book from a poem that Anne Sexton wrote while his student, she referred to Robert Lowell as being so gracefully insane. And she was envious of Robert Lowell for sort of being able to check out and go to McLean. -- TRACK Poet and novelist Sylvia Plath was a junior at Smith College when she had a mental breakdown. Her parents sent her to McLean for a year. In the last third of her book, The Bell Jar, she describes life at McLean. And she writes about her relationship with her psychiatrist Ruth Tiffany Barnhouse. -- SOT Plath fell in love with Ruth Barnhouse. And Barnhouse saved her life, it's actually an amazing story: Plath was completely blocked. You'd almost call her catatonic I interviewed with Barnhouse, who's no longer alive, and um Barnhouse just rolled the dice with this very brilliant young girl. And, uh, said let's give her shock therapy. Without any particular indication or confidence that that would quote on quote "work" and it did. And Sylvia Plath sort of work up, very quickly after, after two sessions of shock therapy and started writing these magnificent letters from McLean that are not in my book as I was denied permission to print them. But they are absolutely gorgeous. And, um, she's about the best writer, at the age of 21, that I have ever read. -- TRACK Others on the who's who list of McLean patients are musicians - like Ray Charles who was treated for drug addiction and singer, songwriter James Taylor. -- SOT There's a great myth that James Taylor, you know, jammed with Ray Charles at McLean. James Taylor's famous song Knocking around a Zoo is about McLean. James, his sister Kate, brother Liv, Livingston Taylor all recorded their first songs they were either written at McLean or recorded while they were still patients at McLean. -- TRACK The Taylors attended and graduated from the Arlington School at McLean hospital. The school was created in the 1960's, when the hospital had an influx of young people. -- SOT Young people didn't belong in this kind of quiescent mental hospital environment where nothing was happening. They absolutely had to be engaged in a schedule. So they actually attended high school and got high school credits. --BUTT BITE-- SOT The great thing also was that the kids didn't fall far behind. A lot of the kids really weren't that, quote on quote "mentally ill" and so that when they came out of McLean, came out of the Arlington school they were able to go back into high school so that was very, very helpful. -- TRACK In addition to stories about the lifestyles of McLean's patients, Beam also details treatments used for mental illness throughout the hospital's history. Some procedures weren't adapted right away at the Belmont hospital. -- SOT McLean has always been, uh, somewhat conservative. Which, as you know, in the history of mental health is not a bad thing to be. To be fair to McLean, mental health gets roiled by these incredible vogues. I talked earlier about the lobotomy vogue. Well, the great thing about not being, the best, the first, the hottest, is that something like that came to McLean only slowly. -- BUTT BITE SOT = You had these things that would seem totally outlandish. For instance, they would take out a part of a person's colon because they felt if they reduced the length of the digestive track, that would help a person, you know, clear up or become mentally more capable. The thing you mentioned, they would take malarial mosquitoes and put a patient in a room with mosquitoes that they knew had malaria to try and get the jerky malarial fever or the one that I find most astonishing is that they would take the blood from a horse that had epilepsy and inject it into the lombar region in the back of the spine of mental patients because they had this theory, which actually proved to be somewhat true that um schizophrenics who had epilepsy, and this is a very crass way of saying it, but were in a sense too busy having epilepsy to be schizophrenic. -- TRACK McLean doctors came up with their own innovations as well. Beam talks about two doctors who reported on their particular method of treating schizophrenia. -- SOT They invented a blanket that they would drape over, that would adhere closely to the patient's body and they ran a refrigerating fluid through the blanket and they would lower the patients body temperature ten degrees or more and they actually published this triumphant paper, which I site in the book, where "only one of ten patients died" and you read this thing and of course it's gruesome and crazy and almost insane but it was during this period of almost blindly groping for solutions to getting schizophrenics in particular back in the real world. -- TRACK It seems inconceivable today, but there was a time when patients could spend extended periods of time at McLean. And sometimes the intake time - the time spent interviewing patients for future treatment - could last for weeks. -- SOT = They would assemble a dossier on patients that was just, like, an incredible biography. They would bring in their extended family for interviews with psychiatrists. I really didn't have access to these records, with some very rare exceptions. But, I mean, it was like they would compile a book about a patient. -- TRACK The advent of drugs like Prozac and other psycho - pharmaceutical drugs has meant a drastic reduction of in-patient treatment. And less expenses for insurance companies. And so, Beam says, over the years, the now much smaller McLean has adapted to the latest approach in treating mental illness. -- SOT What happened was society as it were decided that people didn't need to be at McLean for a long time, decided that they could be better treated with drugs. So, a modern mental hospital, which McLean still is, it's just very, very small, is a place, is really an outpatient clinic. |
| Tag Beam Return to index of stories... |
McLean Hospital treats about 10,000 outpatients a year. Again, the book is titled, "Gracefully Insance," by Boston Globe Columnist Alex Beam. It's available at most bookstores. |
| News Briefs Return to index of stories... |
Finally, here's a brief look at the news. |
| Markets Return to index of stories... |
The slide continued for the fourth straight day. An early session gain soon failed leaving the Dow down 82 points to 77-oh-two. Disappointing earnings reports from companies like Tyco left their mark on the technology market as the Nasdaq ended the day down down almost 54 points. |
| Rainstorm Return to index of stories... |
Severe thunderstorms rolled through portions of the state Tuesday. Strong winds knocked down several power lines, interrupting electricity to about 18-thousand customers. Though the weather was severe it wasn't enough to call off the farmers' market in Bedford. After some initial wind, rain and lightning farmers picked up and officially opened the first annual Bedford Farmers' Market. It's one of over thirty markets operating around the state now. To find out about the farmers' market in your area call 271-3788. |
| Tomorrow Return to index of stories... |
On the next New Hampshire Outlook - The race for governor: A profile of Democratic candidate Marc Fernald. |
| Goodnight Return to index of stories... |
That's it for this edition of our program. Thanks for joining us. We'll see you next time on New Hampshire Outlook. |
| founders Return to index of stories... |
Thanks to our founding sponsors who have provided major funding for the production of New Hampshire Outlook: New Hampshire Charitable Foundation Public Service of New Hampshire Alice J. Reen Charitable Trust Putnam Foundation Stratford Foundation |
| WEB PROMO Return to index of stories... |
Tonight on New Hampshire Outlook. New Hampshire Votes 2002: Special report Wednesday. A profile of Democratic gubernatorial candidate Marc Fernald. Tonight at 10pm on New Hampshire Public Television. |
| key: health / health care Return to index of stories... |
NEW HAMPSHIRE OUTLOOK Air Date/Time:7/23/02 / 2200 HOST: Allison McNair Length: 15:54 In addition to a summary of the day's top New Hampshire stories, this edition of New Hampshire Outlook, NHPTV's nightly news magazine, included an interview with outgoing Health and Human Services Commissioner Donald Shumway. PRODUCER/REPORTER: Allison Mcnair NAME OF PARTICIPANTS: Donald Shumway\Outgoing Commissioner\NH Health & Human Services |
| key: health / health care Return to index of stories... |
NEW HAMPSHIRE OUTLOOK Air Date/Time:7/23/02 / 2200 HOST: Allison McNair Length: 8:11 In addition to a summary of the day's top New Hampshire stories, this edition of New Hampshire Outlook, NHPTV's nightly news magazine, included an interview with Boston Globe columnist Alex Beam. Mental health is addressed in the academy award-winning movie "A Beautiful Mind. " In the film, Russell Crowe portrays mathematician John Nash's struggle with schizophrenia. In real life, Nash was treated at McLean Mental Hospital in Belmont, Massachusetts. Now, for the first time, a book has been written about this well known hospital. The book, "Gracefully Insane " was authored by Boston Globe columnist Alex Beam. PRODUCER/REPORTER: Allison McNair NAME OF PARTICIPANTS: Alex Beam\Author, "Gracefully Insane" |
| Tonight 10:00 Return to index of stories... |
Tonight on New Hampshire Outlook. Join us tonight at 10:00 only on New Hampshire Outlook. |
| E.coli Discussion Return to index of stories... |
What about these cases in NH - it's reported people were ill with the same strain of e coli that was picked up in colorado - what does that mean? Did they get ill due to contaminated meat? What is e coli? Where does it come from? How does it contaminate meat? Why is it we hear of e coli in hamburger meat more than other types of beef or food? What happens when someone gets sick? Are some more vulnerable than others? What are the symptoms? What are the procedures for screening for it? Do you look for anything other than e.coli? Does the screening process vary from state to state? What improvements might lessson chance of contaminated meat - on state or federal level? Does cooking meat kill e coli bacteria? What are some of the misconsceptions people might have about e coli? Since so much of our meat is processed centrally is there a way to ensure safer products? Are there any producers here in New Hampshire? Three E. coli cases in N.H. may be linked to Colorado UPDATES with more details of cases -- New Hampshire's epidemiologist says three cases of E. Coli poisoning in the state seem to be similar to cases in Colorado. Seventeen people in Colorado have gotten sick from beef from a supplier there. Last week, ConAgra Beef recalled 19 million pounds of ground beef. Doctor Jesse Greenblatt says DNA testing shows three New Hampshire residents were infected by a strain of E. coli like the one that infected people in Colorado. But he says it's not yet clear whether the New Hampshire victims ate ground beef, and whether they were infected here or outside the state. Two five-year-olds and a 75-year-old woman were infected. One of the five-year-olds was hospitalized at Concord Hospital last month. The 75-year-old woman was a patient at Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center in April. |
| website Return to index of stories... |
For information on our program, and links to our guests and interviews, visit our web site at nhptv.org. You can see and hear streaming video of our broadcasts. If you've got a story idea or comment on our program, click the feedback button on our website. Or, call us at 800-639-2721. |