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The Norfolk Regional Center is a psychiatric hospital located in Norfolk, Nebraska. It is one of three regional centers operated by the Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services. The Norfolk center commenced operations in 1888 as the State Hospital for the Insane. At its peak, it housed over 1300 patients. As of 2010, it functioned as a 120-bed facility for the initial treatment of sex offenders. ==History== In 1870, the Nebraska Legislature created the Nebraska Asylum for the Insane in the capital city of Lincoln.〔 The state's increasing population led to overcrowding at the Lincoln hospital;〔 in 1885, the Legislature appropriated $75,000 to build a second facility in the Norfolk area, subject to the city's donating of good land.〔 The first building was completed in 1886,〔 and the hospital opened in 1888 with 97 patients,〔 as the State Hospital for the Insane.〔 For many years, the hospital was a self-sufficient community, with a complete farm operation.〔 Inmates were responsible for most of the work on the farm and in the dairy, in addition to doing custodial work in the buildings.〔 Although there were cases of genuine serious mental illness among the patients, many would not be considered mentally ill or in need of institutionalization today. In the 19th century, patients were admitted for such reasons as "domestic trouble, disappointment in love, financial trouble, hepatic dullness, heredity, , intemperance, overwork, overstudy, religious excitement, sun stroke, and others."〔 One young girl had been admitted to the asylum because of homesickness.〔 By 1898, expansions of the facility had brought its capacity up to 300 patients. In 1901, a fire destroyed all but one building. Only one patient died, when he ran back into a burning building; the progress of the fire was slow enough to allow much of the furniture and personal property to be saved. The patients were moved to the mental institutions in Lincoln and in Hastings;〔 the latter had been opened in 1889.〔 In 1905, the facility was re-opened, with three ward cottages and an administration building. More buildings were constructed as the patient population increased. At its peak, the facility housed more than 1300 patients. There was a prize-winning dairy herd, and patients and staff butchered their own meat, preserved vegetables, and produced their own clothing and power.〔 The facility's name was changed to the Norfolk State Hospital in 1920.〔 Up to this time, patient care had been almost entirely custodial; in the 1920s, the first attempts at treatment of mental illness were made. These included recreational and occupational therapy—the hospital had a chorus and orchestra, and held plays and dances〔—but also electroconvulsive therapy, and later insulin shock therapy, hydrotherapy, and fever therapy.〔 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Norfolk Regional Center」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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