HHSC Preserving History of Austin State Hospital

AUSTIN – As a part of the revitalization of the Austin State Hospital, the Texas Well being and Human Providers Fee is preserving the historical past of the state’s oldest psychiatric hospital, together with greater than 6,500 artifacts that archaeologists have discovered on the campus. From June by means of October, a small assortment will likely be displayed on the Bullock Texas State Historical past Museum in Austin.

The hospital opened in 1861. It’s now present process a change that features the development of a alternative hospital that can open in November 2023. Throughout the development of the brand new hospital, archaeologists have been excavating across the campus to get better and preserve artifacts.

“As we proceed to find these treasured artifacts, we’re getting some distinctive perception into how psychiatric care has developed over the previous century in Texas,” mentioned Scott Schalchlin, HHS deputy govt commissioner of the Well being and Specialty Care System. “This information not solely provides us a glimpse into the previous, it additionally propels the way forward for psychological well being care.”

A few of the artifacts showcase the self-sufficiency of the hospital that when had its personal energy plant, water system, carpentry store, mattress manufacturing unit, stitching room for clothes and bedding, ice manufacturing unit, cemetery, and farm that included crops and livestock. Archaeologists have discovered farming instruments, industrial stitching machines, and hundreds of porcelain buttons that had been standard throughout the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.

Different artifacts embrace objects that give some perspective about life contained in the hospital, together with recreation items like marbles, board recreation markers and checkers items. Archaeologists made another discoveries together with a number of navy buttons from WWI and WWII and a few Native American stone instruments.

The excavations started in October 2019 and proceed with the continued development on the campus. HHSC is preserving the artifacts, and there’s a probability for the general public to view a small assortment of them. From June by means of October, a few of the artifacts will likely be displayed on the Bullock Texas State Historical past Museum in Austin. The show highlights the evolution of the state hospital system, together with an “Austin State Hospital” signal from 1925, which marked the yr the hospital’s title was modified from “Texas State Lunatic Asylum.” Photos of a few of the artifacts, the Bullock Museum show, and the archaeology efforts could be downloaded right here.

The preservation of the hospital’s historical past additionally contains the digitization of paperwork together with medical information, personnel paperwork, and development paperwork. A few of the information are greater than 100 years outdated. Extra details about the doc preservation venture is posted right here.

Development at Austin State Hospital
HHSC partnered with Dell Medical Faculty at The College of Texas at Austin to design and assemble a 240-bed alternative hospital at ASH. It would have non-public rooms for every affected person and ten 24-bed models that every have remedy rooms, school rooms, train rooms, an exercise/multipurpose room, and different remedy areas. As soon as development is accomplished in November 2023, the constructing will substitute the present hospital and permit workers to offer psychiatric care beneath one roof, as an alternative of a number of buildings.