Word: warde
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Dates: during 1950-1959
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Then, after unlocking the final, fifth door between the ward and the outside world, he stepped into a scene rarely found in hospitals for the mentally ill. The "Bunny Hop" was blaring on a little wind-up phonograph. A Radcliffe freshman was dancing with a wizened old man whose eyes were almost as lively as his feet. A Harvard junior was getting ready for a game of musical chairs with seven women whose ages were hidden behind prematurely-drawn faces...
After several minutes inside the ward, it was not difficult for a visitor to sense that there was something gloomy beneath the carnival spirit. Although the ward of about 50 women--specially joined for the afternoon by men from another ward--was generally clean, a strange antiseptic-like odor permeated the place. And, if 25 of the women were dancing, another 25 were sitting sullenly in the two long lines of chairs on either wall--some watching the gaiety with scorn, others gazing vacantly out the windows, while still others were constantly chattering to themselves and to anyone who would...
Aside from the volunteers, who now come to the ward every weekday afternoon, these particular patients have little to break their monotony. Infrequently they do have access to the limited "occupational therapy" facilities, but generally they just sit--waiting for volunteers, bedtime, and meals. Meals, according to an occupational therapist at the hospital, are "quite a sight." "The food is mainly bread and macaroni," she bitterly explained, adding, "The patients are herded to the cafeteria, or rather to the mess hall--and I mean mess...
...ward itself is by no means a "mess." It is not even drab any more, for the volunteers have gone to work with brushes and paint and put colorful murals on the pale green walls. One attendant explained that the volunteers had offered to wash off the pictures, "but the patients," she said, "wouldn't have it, and the paintings are still here. They really brighten the place up, you know...
About 70 students are working actively in two adult wards at Metropolitan State. As student leaders of ward activities, Maeda Jurkowitz '56, Ann Gaines '57, and Alice Bonbright '57, all from Radcliffe, are in charge of planning the dances and organizing the volunteers into groups of six or seven which return to the same ward once a week...