Impact, Volume 7, Number 4, November/December 1977 Page: 8
48 p. : col. ill. ; 28 cm.View a full description of this periodical.
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Hospitals
Three Winners
Fairweather Friends
In a year of successful programs at San Antonio State
Hospital (SASH), three are stand-outs:
1. The opening of the transitional living facility
2. A fresh approach in treating patients with multiple
disabilities
3. The aftercare program for alcohol/drug abusers.
All are making an impact in the community and the state.
The Patric Sexton Dennis Memorial Center for Mental
Health is the first of its kind in the state system to offer
homelike living for about-to-be-released clients.
The cottages, housing 38, opened in December 1976. They
were built with funds left in the will of the late Patric Sexton
Dennis and money collected by SASH's Volunteer Services
Council. The transitional living facility fosters independence
and living skills for survival outside the hospital.
On the multiple dis-
abilities unit, the "take
down" procedure of be-
havior therapy, developed
by Larry Aniol, Ph.D.,
director, is teaching the
difficult-to-handle patient
more normal ways of be-
havior. If talking doesn't
work with violent patients,
the staff turns to the "take
down," or lowering of the
patient gently to the floor.
On the alcohol/drug
unit, patients are signing on the dotted line.
Before leaving the hospital, the patient agrees in writing to
continue treatment in the community. Appointments to
participate in area programs are made for patients while they
are being treated. Follow-up reports are made to the SASH
aftercare program about the patients' sobriety progress.
According to Sean Moore, unit director, patients who
continue to receive aftercare have a 50 to 60 per cent success
rate.Having a home and job
in the community is not a
likely prospect for the
person who is frequently
in and out of mental
hospitals, has no work
skills or job history and
can't rely on family or
friends for support. But
that picture has changed
for a group of Terrell State
Hospital patients.
The Fairweather Pro-
gram was implementedthere in June 1977. The program is designed to prepare groups
of chronic patients for community living by teaching work,
living and communication skills, as well as acceptable behavior
patterns. The major focus is on development of self-manage-
ment and self-support abilities, but the key to the program's
success is training patients who learn, live and work together as
a mutually supportive group.
In addition to living skills, patients are taught work skills
and how to function as a team. Janitorial work is the most
feasible job skill for the patients because of its simplicity, its
projected need by the Texas Employment Commission
through 1980 and its enabling patients to work as a crew.
After the group is well-established, they will move to a
lodge in Dallas that is sponsored by the Dallas County MHMR
Center (DCMHMRC). All members will live together in a
homelike setting called Hideaway House and work as a team
on job contracts under the supervision of a DCMHMRC
employee. They will live independently, enforcing their own
house rules. With help from their friends, they will begin new
lives.So impressive are the results of the new concept, other state
facilities are emulating the contract idea.
A fanilv offriends who live
and work together can support
each other in the transition
from hospital to community.8
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Texas. Department of Mental Health and Mental Retardation. Impact, Volume 7, Number 4, November/December 1977, periodical, November 1977; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth1588488/m1/10/: accessed July 18, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting UNT Libraries Government Documents Department.