Broughton Hospital - History

History

In 1850, influential mental health activist Dorthea Dix petitioned the North Carolina General Assembly to support and build a psychiatric hospital to treat the insane. Within 25 years the General Assembly determined that one hospital was insufficient to care for the growing population of people afflicted with mental illness and in 1875 the State provided $75,000 for the establishment of a second psychiatric hospital. Built in Morganton on 283 acres (115 ha) of land, Western Carolina Insane Asylum was built using mostly convict labor. Opened on March 29, 1883, Dr. Red Pepper a physician was its first patient. By 1884 its first director, Dr. Patrick Livingston Murphy reported to the General Assembly that more space was needed and in 1885 and 1886 two new wings were opened, expanding the hospital's bed space to over 500 patients.

In 1890 the hospital's name was changed to State Hospital at Morganton, a name it kept until 1959. Patients were used to construct roads on the property, establish and maintain the gardens and grounds, and by 1893 the hospital's holdings would encompass over 300 acres (120 ha). During the early 1900s the hospital expanded greatly. Using the colony system, a farm area was established with a dairy, vineyard and greenhouses, all staffed by patients of varying degrees of functionality and essentially making the hospital nearly self-sufficient. Additional expansions and land holdings would take place until just after World War I when public attitudes about mental health patients changed dramatically and the hospital, like many others of this time period, was forgotten.

During the 1920s the patient to physician ratio was 300 to 1; by the 1930s this was almost 500 to 1. Hours for attendants and nurses were intensive, and time off was sparse. Attendants usually slept in the same wards with patients until further expansions during the 1940s, when the hospital's census topped 3,500 patients. In 1959, State Hospital at Morganton became Broughton Hospital named after World War II Governor J. Melville Broughton. The 1960s brought many changes to Broughton, educational programs were established, religious services were incorporated and the hospital continued to expand including its community health centers in the local area. During the 1970s Broughton underwent changes in its housing procedures which up to that time had been largely drawn geographically, meaning that patients were being housed according to where they were from, rather than by age or disability. On March 28, 1973, Broughton Hospital received its first survey by the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations (JCAHO), and the hospital received a one-year accreditation.

The period between the 1980s and 1990s were especially difficult for Broughton. Facing increased costs and increased oversight fom various organizations, Broughton encountered severe budget problems. In December 1992, the Broughton Hospital Foundation was formed. Its goal was to enhance the lives of the patients at Broughton Hospital through donations, endowments, activities, etc. Today Broughton serves approximately 800 patients per year and employs approximately 1200 staff members, with a 98-million-dollar annual operating budget. In 2011, Broughton started hiring temporary and contract staff to help overhead costs. Broughton will complete a new facility in 2014 that will house the entire hospital departments and patient divisions under one roof, on the existing grounds. The main building will continue to stand as a historical landmark.