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. But crowded as
the building is, It is clean and
smells no worse than an army
barracks, which it resembles.
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