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About Eugene register-guard. (Eugene, Or.) 1930-1983 | View Entire Issue (Oct. 21, 1951)
Page 6 Sun., Oct 21, 1951Reglster-Guard, Eugene, Ore., Reporter Visits State Home for Mentally Defied . ii -i...i. i cViairn haH all arnunH.. buildinss. Children of all aecsl Some of theh riohter ., Staff Works To Develop Child Minds (Continued jrom Page One) have no relatives to care for them, or because of physical in firmities which make it difficult for them to live outside an in stitution. 650-Acre Site Fairview occupies a 650-acre lite southeast of Salem, and the view is fair, indeed. It overlooks the Salem municipal airport and rolling Willamette Valley farm land. The central "campus" where the children live looks like the campus of a fresh-water college, with old fir trees and perfectly manicured lawns setting off the white frame "cottages." The 12 old cottages are named for mem bers of the Board of Contral, and in a circle. In the center are a kitchen and dining unit, shops and sheds, and an enclosed play ground for younger children. A second circle has started. It Includes the new $168,000 hospital which replaced the old hospital which burned in May, 1949, the new 100-bed Snell Cottage for the youngest children, the $121,000 laundry, and will include the school now being built in the shell of the burned hospital. Some Bun Away Children have the freedom of the campus. There are no barred windows, no looked doors, no guards. There Is no escape prob- len. "Some run away," Dr. Hill admits, "but it's no problem. They always come back." Most run-aways are boys who want to see the world. "When they run away, we al ways ask ourselves, 'What have we done that made them want to run away?'" These children are neither dan gerous nor potentially dangerous. The "defective delinquent" group is taken care of by the state hos pital in Salem. A few Fairview kids have been in trouble, but, Dr. Hill says, citing a case, they are not criminals. The case was that of a little boy who stole money. "Why did you steal money?" the psychologist asked. "To buy candy to give to the other kids to they'd play with nip," the child explained. "Why wouldn't they play with you?" "Because I'm different, I g urss." "Now," says Dr. Hill, "you can't tell me that kid's a criminal, we get him here, free from the com petition he can't meet, and he enn become a useful member of so ciety." Fnirview children are segre gated by physical age, menta.1 age and by sex. Men and women eat separately, go to separate classes, and live In different worlds. Dances, shows, picnics and other social events are "co-ed." "It makes for better counseling," Hill says, "and anyhow we just have to do It. They have to be dressed and helped nil the time, and it's less complicated this way. Still, I think we have less segregation of that type than any similar in stitution in the country." Snell Cottage, a fireproof brick Structure, houses the infants. They live there regardless of the degree of mental defiriency. After they "Sitters" cluster around the shabby dayrooms or sit on the porch. A toothless and unshaven old character hobbles down the porch with his cane tapping the floorboards. "Hello, Dr. Hill, hel lo, Dr. Hill," he cries. Dr. Hill puts his arm around the codger and introduces him as Frank, the oldest boy at Fairview. "I 83, I 83," jabbers Frank, who came to the institution from the state hospital when Fairview was established in 1908. He is one of Fairview's few living "charter members." Frank shakes hands all around. Others crowd up to greet Dr. Hill and to meet the stranger. Inside an old man with a corncob pipe and a bad case of the shakes weaves a beautiful rug. Old men lie on their bunks and sleep or day-dream. "You'rea good boy, aren't you, Ralph?" asks the doctor, patting another old codger on the head. "I got the heartburn, doctor," another tells him. "They feed me too much." "It's the same way in every cot tage and on the walks between buildings. Children of all ages run up to Dr. Hill for a friendly word. "They're children," he says, "and they want affection just like 6-year-olds anywhere. They'd love to sit on somebody s lap and be coddled." A teen-ager stops the doctor to show a picture of a horse she has colored brown. He admires the picture and sends her on her way. Free of Frustrations He thinks most of the children are happy. They don't want much and they are free of the frustra tions of the outside world. '" "'eo rignter ones, nfi course, realize they are in an in stitution, and they are smart enough to know why. A nurse who used to work at Fairview recalls one afternoon sitting on a bench waiting for her boy friend. One of the brighter girls came up to ask, "What are you doin""' The nurse told her she was waiting for her boy friend, who would take her to a dance. The nurse said she could all but see the wheels go around as the girl digested this bit. Then she said: "Gee, I wish I was like you." (RpK.-Gxiard photo, Wiltshire engraving) LEARNING TO BE a good messenger isn't as easy for the children of Fairview as it might be for children in conventional schools. A student studies the instructions written on the board in one of the school's make-shift classrooms. If she studies hard, she may be paroled and find a job on the outside. reach school age and the mental differences within the group be come more apparent, they are sep arated into the brighter and duller groups. Many Go Barefooted Idiots and lower grade Imbeciles live together in bare buildings with a minimum of furniture, Many go barefooted all the time and never leave the building. Most are not detained. They don't leave because they don't know enough to leave, or because they have physical infirmities which make it impossible for them to leave. In Jones Cottage, where male idiots live, there are 85 children. Only ft are able to line up for the march to the dining hall. The rest must be served meals in the cot tage, and some must be spoon-fed by hospital aides. In a barren room the "Jones boys" sit on hard benches and stare at the floor. Some are middle-aged. Some sit on the floor and bounce balls or hop like bun-, nles and make gurgling noises. One youth of perhaps 20 sits on the edge of a bench, with his ankles strapped and with a muff like a huge boxing glove over his hands. Biter and Scratcher "A biter and a scratcher," says Dr. Hill. "The minute we untie him, he maims himself and the other children. Before we put him in restraits, and we hated to have to do It, we'd keep getting these hospital patients with horribly. clawed bodies or with nasty bites." He has been sitting like that for years, and will continue to as long as he lives. I This is the minority group. Most are "morons." To be a moron at Fairview is to be an aristocrat of! sorts. A moron looks like any body else and acts like anybodyi else, until he is asked to think.1 He can play games and listen to the radio. I "Listening to the radio' says Dr. Hill, confirming an old sus picion, "Is their chief recreation. They follow all the soap operas." Some have money, and a few are allowed to go shopping in Saiem. Dr. Hill is entrusted with $17,000 in student funds, which he parcels out as the children need it. Boy Scout and 4-H programs also occupy and important role at the home. Several scouts have attained the "first class" rank, substituting an extra long hike for the swimming requirement. Fairview has no pool. j The older children can smoke, but cannot carry matches. They bum lights off visitors and staff members. ' I Go to School They also go to school. One hundred and fifty are at Fair- view only during the school year, spending their summers at home. Each of the 350 students in school is educated to his full capacity. Pending completion of the new school building, classes meet in basements and out-of-the-way corners. In addition to simple academic subjects, students learn farming, domestic science, man ual training, and music. Dr. Hill says there seems to be little relation between musical ability and ability to learn acade mic subjects. Learn to Spell Boys from 10 to 12 learn to spell words like "go," "boat," "boy," "up," "biff." and "car." They read the "Dick and Jane"i series used in other schools as pre-primers. Many school children will be paroled. Those who are not paroled will live on in the insti tution in a place like Steele Cot tage with the old men, many of them "sitters." Steele, Dr. Hill admits, is an eyesore. Plaster is cracking, the porch sags, a person has to turn sideways to get between the beds, one shower head and three "insti tutional toilets" without wooden seats serve men. 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