edicate Chapel November 27

Hospital to

We Thank Our From the Jewish Chaplain
A Message to the Community
Contributors
Dear friend:
For Their Help Perhaps you have been aware that in addition to the

The Superintendent, staff and
patients of Ypsilanti State Hos-
pital take this means of publicly
expressing their thanks to the
following organizations and in-
dividuals for their unstinting
help in making the chapel a real-
ity and making the life of the
patients so much more pleasant.
These people have given either
monetary donations or, what is
equally as important, time, ef-
fort and devotion to what is
normally a thankless task. They
are:

.... ..........................

A Day of Dedication:

Chapels of three faiths will

be dedicated at 1 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 27, at Ypsilanti State

Hospital. It will be a day of deep spiritu'al significance to

the three chaplains of Catholic, Protestant and Jewish Faiths,

to the hospital staff and to its 4,100 patients. It is the first

time in Michigan that one building will house chapels of all
three religions. The chapel building, shown in the top pic-

ture, was erected by a state grant. At the left of the entrance
is the synagogue where Jewish services are held. The Cath-

olic chapel is located at the right, while Protestant services

are held in the rear of the building. The middle picture
shows the interior of the snyagogue, which seats 60. Note

the traditional Mechitzah which has been erected to separate
the men and women as they worship. Although the Ark now

contains the Torahs of Law and the reader's table and lec-

turn have been draped in velvet coverings, there are still
many furnishings needed to complete the interior of the

chapel. The bottom picture shows a group of patients en-
joying a party, given by one of the several organizations
which sponsor such events to give patients a much-needed

uplift in their morale. While the hospital sponsors occupa-
tional therapy and other activities to keep patients busy,

there is nothing that can take the place of a visit from some-
one who shows - they care about me after all."

Your Help Is Needed Now

A special fund has been established to complete the furnishings
of the new chapel at Ypsilanti' State Hospital. This special fund
also provides kosher foods, salamis and similar items to patients
without families to supply them, and makes possible small quan-
tities of such luxury items as candy, chewing gum, cigarettes and
tobacco.
Since many Jewish patients come-from traditional backgrounds,
the kosher food brought to them is a source of deep pleasure. By
filling out the coupon below, and enclosing any amount you wish,
you will be helping to comfort people who are sorely in need of
being comforted and aiding in the rehabilitation of others who will
some day be discharged.
Checks may be made payable to:
Rabbi Solomon H. Gruskin, Chaplain
Ypsilanti State Hospital
3336 Leslie ; Detroit 38, Mich.

Name

Address.

Phone Number

City

Amount of Contribution

Adler-Kay Co.
Aronsson Printing Co.
Barry Steel Co.
Edward Bernstein
Bereznitzer Aid Society
Berry Foundation
Bicur Cholem Juniors
Bicur Cholem Seniors
A. Howard Bloch
Borenstein's Book and Music
Store
Harry Brodsky
Herman Brodsky
Sam Brown
Leo M. Butzel
Mr. and Mrs. Barney Citrin
Kaffman Cohen
Congregation Beth Abraham
Congregation B'nai Zion
Custom Craft Upholstering Co.
Detroit Dynamic Club
Detroit Ladies Lechem Aneeim
Mrs. Dickon
Mr. and Mrs. M. Dorn
Factory Steel Co.
Mr. and Mrs. M. Faxstein
Mrs. Joseph Feldman
Mrs. Rebecca Feldman
Mrs. Sarah Feldman
Mrs. Rose Fershtman
Mrs. Betty Fisher
Mr. and Mrs. Morris Freed
J. Frenkel Family Foundation
Mr. and Mrs. David J. Gold-
berg
Abe Goren
Abe Green
Gunsberg Star Kosher
Sausage Co.
Hebrew Benevolent Society
Maurice Harris
Peter Heiman
Harry Higer
Joseph Holtzman
Jason Honigman
Mr. and Mrs. Louis Honigman
Dave Iwrey
Jewish House of Shelter
Ladies Auxiliary
Mrs. Bessie Katz
Mrs. Ruth Katz and Group
Mrs. Annie Kelmanovitz
Kesheniver-Bessarabier
Progressive Society
Keystone Oil Co.
Mrs. Lester King
Arthur Klein
Emanuel G. Klein
Kogan Foundation
Barney Kosofsky
Kozloff Fish Co.
Hyman A. Kramer
Harold B. Kukes
Maurice Landau
Lechowitcher Aid Society
Mr. and Mrs. Jos. Levenson
Mr. and Mrs. Henry Levett
Meyer Levin
Mrs. Helen Mandell
Mrs. Tillie Mendelsohn
Mr. and Mrs. Abraham Metzger
Lawrence Michelson
Mrs. Harry Miller
Mr. and Mrs. Jacob Nosanchuk
Max Ospos
Park News Agency
Mr. and Mrs. Irving Pitzak
Mr. and Mrs. I. Portner
Power Materials Co.
Radomer Aid Society
Radomer Ladies Auxiliary
Milton Ratner
Edward Rose
Al Rosenberg
Mrs. Cecil Rosenberg
Chaim Rosenberg
Mrs. Rose Rubin
David Safran
Morris Schaver
Daniel Schwartz
Israel Schwartz
Frank Seythour
Esther Siegel
N. Silverstine
Leonard Simons
Morris Snow
Sam Solomon
Mr. and Mrs. Mike Stark
Mrs. Golda Streinger

many therapeutic facilities given to our patients at Ypsilanti
State Hospital, religious services are also offered as an in-
tegral part of the total picture. It was because of this that
the State of Michigan spent a large sum of money for three
chapels—Catholic, Protestant and Jewish.
Our chapel has been in use now for several months, and
I cannot begin to tell you how much it has meant to our
patients. If you could be with us at a service and see the
pleasure and enjoyment which our patients experience during
these services,, you would feel, even as I do, that all our ef-
forts have been more than worthwhile.
We will have formal dedication ceremonies of our chapel
on Sunday, November 27 at 1 p.m. at the Ypsilanti State
Hospital grounds. I know you will want to be with us to see
this program in action. Many outstanding organizations and
individuals of our Jewish community in Detroit will be pres-
ent to participate in these exercises.
Rabbi Solomon H. Gruskin
Jewish Chaplain

A History of Ypsilanti
Hospital and Its Growth

By 0. R. YODER, M.D.
Medical Superintendent
Ypsilanti State Hospital
The Ypsilanti State Hospital
is located 12 miles from Ann
Arbor and eight miles from
Ypsilanti on a tract of 1,216
acres of land. It was established
by a Legislative appropriation of
31/2 million dollars in 1929 and
was dedicated July 28, 1931.
It is one of six psychiatric
hospitals operated by the Michi-
gan Department of Mental
Health for the care and treat-
ment of the mentally ill and for
training and research in the
field of psychiatry. Patients are
sent to us by the Probate Courts
of Wayne, Washtenaw, Hillsdale,
Lenawee, Monroe and Jackson
counties.
The Legislature appropriates
$4,800,000 each year for the
operation of the hospital but
this takes care of only the
basic needs, and the commun-
ity provides such personal
things as will benefit patients,
the value of which cannot be
estimated.
There are 985 employees on
the staff of the hospital.
The institution is approved by
the American Board of Neurol-
ogy and Psychiatry to offer a
three-year resident training pro-
gram to qualified physicians for
psychiatric training. All forms of
treatment used in the field of
psychiatry are used in the State
Hospital, and in addition to the
treatment of adult patients there
are 125 children receiving special
therapy in child psychiatry.
Approximately 65 new patients
are admitted each month. We
have a bed capacity of 4,100. Ap-
proximately 38 per cent of our
patients leave the hospital with-
in the first year after admission.
Under the guidance of three
chaplains, Catholic, Protestant
and Jewish, a religious program
has been added to meet the spiri-
tual needs of the patients
throughout the year. The Legis-
lature built an interdenomina-
tional Chapel for this purpose
where patients may worship ac-
cording to their own faith.
This building includes three

chapels, offices and consultation
rooms, a central library and a
lecture hall. It is the only struc-
ture of its kind at any of the
state institutions in Michigan.
Our chaplains play a multiple
role of visitor, family member
and interested friend. They are
notified about members of their
faith who are in critical condi-
tion so that they can minister to
them.

Religious services are a type
of group therapy in themselves.
Therapy is intensified by reviv-
ing and deepening their beliefs
by means of religious instruc-
tion, thereby maintaining and
increasing their . hope and im-
proving their mental condition.
Through volunteer groups in
the community, working with
the Chaplains, the religious pro-
gram is also responsible for so-
cial functions throughout the
year, such as outdoor picnics and
seasonal affairs connected with
the observance of religious fes-
tivals.

An active community pro-
gram is essential to the care
and treatment of the mentally
ill. A volunteer service pro-
gram has been established in
the hospital, and individual and
group volunteers participate in
the direct care of the patients.
An effort is being made to get
the community to participate
in hospital activities so that
there will be a greater public
acceptance of mental illness
and an active interest in in-
stitutional programs.
The community has shown in-
creased interest in our work
here and we have contact with
75 organizations, who collective-
ly contribute approximately
$1,000, thousands of items of
food, books, literature, candies
and sweets, television sets, ra-
dios and sewing machines. Vet-
erans representatives are very
active in providing benefits and
services for approximately 200
veteran patients in the institu-
tion.
The number of visitors to the
patients last year was approxi-
mately 68,050. The greatest
number in a single day was 981.
Undirected idle time in a hos-
pital is as detrimental to a pa-
Temple Beth El
tient suffering from an emo-
Rev. G. Tomor
tional disturbance as it is to the
Donna G. Trabman
healthy individual in the com-
Warren Iron and Metal Co.
munity-, and to take care of this
Meyer Weingarden
need for our patients we have an
Eddie Weiss
occupational therapy department
Mrs. Bella Weitman
directed by a well-qualified staff.
_ David Wilkus
Patients are given work as-
Yetz-Cohen Post 530, JWV
signments which are prescribed
Harry Yudkoff
by the physician as being good
M. W. Zack
for that particular patient. A
Zedakah Club
building for occupational therapy,
May they all be blessed by the where all types of arts and crafts
Almighty, for it is with their work are taught, also avail-
help that my task also has been able to our patients.
—Adv.
made easier.
Solomon H. Gruskin,
Jewish Chaplain,
8—DETROIT JEWISH NEWS
Ypsilanti State Hospital
Friday, November 18, 1955

