Cherry Hospital facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Cherry Hospital |
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| Geography | |
| Location | Goldsboro, Eastern North Carolina, North Carolina, United States |
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| History | |
| Founded | 1880 |
Cherry Hospital is a special hospital in Goldsboro, North Carolina, United States. It helps people who need care for their mental health. It is one of three hospitals like it in North Carolina. Cherry Hospital serves 38 counties in the eastern part of the state.
This hospital is part of the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services. This department manages 14 state-run healthcare places. These places help adults and children with mental health challenges and other special needs. Cherry Hospital offers complete care for people who need more help than they can get in their local communities.
The hospital has different units for different age groups and needs. These include units for teenagers, adults, older adults, and people needing special rehabilitation. They also have a unit for patients with both mental and physical health needs.
Contents
A Look Back: Cherry Hospital's History
Starting a Special Hospital
In 1877, leaders in North Carolina decided to build a hospital for African-American people with mental health needs. They bought 171 acres of land near Goldsboro in 1878. This spot was chosen because it was a good location for the people it would serve.
The hospital opened on August 1, 1880. It was first called the "Asylum for Colored Insane." Over the years, its name changed several times. In 1959, it became Cherry Hospital. This name honored Governor R. Gregg Cherry, who worked hard to improve mental health services in the state.
Growing and Changing Over Time
When it first opened, the hospital could hold 76 patients. But by the end of 1880, over 100 patients were already there. In 1881, the hospital officially became a corporation. Later, special buildings were added for patients with tuberculosis and for those involved in the justice system.
For its first 85 years, Cherry Hospital served only African-American patients from all over North Carolina. In 1965, things changed. The hospital followed the Civil Rights Act of 1964. This meant it started to serve people of all races from 33 counties in Eastern North Carolina. African-American patients were moved to hospitals in their own regions. White patients from other regions who needed care in Eastern North Carolina came to Cherry Hospital.
Life on the Cherry Farm
For many years, the hospital had a large farm. Patients who were able helped with the farm work. By 1960, Cherry Farm had 2,300 acres of land. They grew fruits, vegetables, and even sugar cane. They also raised animals like hogs, chickens, turkeys, and cows. The farm provided most of the food the hospital needed.
How Treatment Changed
In the early days, treatment was mostly about basic care. Patients who could work helped on the farm or with other hospital tasks. In 1884, they even tried using electricity for treatment. Over time, new ideas came along. In 1932, an occupational therapist was hired. This person helped patients with activities to improve their skills.
During the 1930s and 1940s, common medicines included laxatives and sedatives. Some older methods, like hydrotherapy (using water), were tried but later stopped. Patients were sometimes kept in small, locked rooms, but this practice ended in 1956. Chapel services and chaplains became available in the early 1950s.
A big change happened around 1955. New medications, called tranquilizers, became widely used. These medicines helped patients a lot. More patients were able to leave the hospital, and their stays became shorter. Even though more people were leaving, more were also coming in. The hospital served over 91,000 patients in its first 100 years.
Remembering Those Buried Here
There are two cemeteries on the old Cherry Hospital campus. Patients were buried there between 1905 and 1928, and from 1927 onwards. It is believed that about 3,000 people are buried on the grounds. Around 700 graves have markers with names and dates. A special monument was put up on June 3, 2004, to remember all the patients buried there.
Dorothea Dix: A Champion for Mental Health
In the mid-1800s, Dorothea Lynde Dix played a huge role in changing how people with mental illness were cared for. She spoke to the North Carolina General Assembly in 1848. She asked them to build proper, humane hospitals for people suffering from mental illness. Her efforts helped convince lawmakers that it was important to treat these individuals with kindness and care.
Thanks to her work, North Carolina built its first mental hospital. Before the year 1900, two other hospitals, Broughton Hospital and Cherry Hospital, were also approved and built. Today, a "Founders Gallery" at the new Cherry Hospital honors Dorothea Dix's important work.
The "New" Cherry Hospital Facility
A Modern Place for Care
In the fall of 2016, the old Cherry Hospital closed its doors. A brand new, modern hospital with the same name opened nearby. This new facility is located at 1401 West Ash Street in Goldsboro.
The new hospital is a single, three-story building. It has about 410,000 square feet of space. This includes patient care units, therapy rooms, medical facilities, and offices. The entire site covers about 51 acres. The total cost for building and equipping the new hospital was over $138 million. This money came from special bonds approved by the North Carolina General Assembly.
Celebrating the New Hospital
A special ceremony to start construction was held on October 1, 2010. Governor Beverly Eves Perdue attended this event. Later, a dedication and ribbon-cutting ceremony took place on August 30, 2016. Governor Pat McCrory and other state officials were there to celebrate the opening.
The old hospital had many separate buildings spread across its campus. The new hospital brings everything together in one building. It has modern features like a laboratory, dental and radiology departments, and internal and external courtyards. There's also a "Hope and Wellness Center" for therapy, a gym, a library with computers, and even a salon. All these features are designed to be safe and helpful for patients.
The move to the new hospital happened in late September 2016. All patients were safely moved to the new Cherry Hospital by September 29, 2016.
Counties Served by Cherry Hospital
Cherry Hospital helps patients from 38 counties in Eastern North Carolina. These counties include: Beaufort, Bertie, Bladen, Brunswick, Camden, Carteret, Chowan, Columbus, Craven, Cumberland, Currituck, Dare, Duplin, Edgecombe, Gates, Greene, Hertford, Hyde, Johnston, Jones, Lenoir, Martin, Nash, New Hanover, Northampton, Onslow, Pamlico, Pasquotank, Pender, Perquimans, Pitt, Robeson, Sampson, Scotland, Tyrrell, Washington, Wayne, and Wilson.
Services and Treatment at Cherry Hospital
Who Works Here and What They Do
Cherry Hospital has many skilled professionals. These include psychiatrists (doctors who specialize in mental health), other medical doctors, and nurses. They provide both short-term and long-term care for teenagers, adults, and older patients.
Treatment at the hospital is complete. It includes physical exams and tests. Patients also take part in many types of therapy. These include group therapy, behavior therapy, and milieu therapy (where the environment itself is part of the treatment). There are also occupational therapy, recreational activities, and creative arts therapies.
Special Treatment Units
Cherry Hospital has different units designed for specific patient needs:
- The Adolescent Unit helps teenagers aged 12 to 17. It offers special care for those with mental, emotional, and behavioral challenges. This unit provides evaluations, therapy, family counseling, and fun activities. Teenagers also attend an accredited school program called "Riverbend School" to keep up with their studies.
- The Adult and Acute Admissions Unit is for patients aged 18 to 60. It helps people who are in a crisis or have many types of mental illness. This unit focuses on short-term care and encourages family involvement to help patients return home.
- The Geriatric Admissions Unit treats patients who are 60 years and older. Many of these patients may have confusion or memory problems. Others have ongoing mental illness. The goal is to help these patients feel better and return to their families and communities if possible.
- The Psychiatric Rehabilitation Unit helps adults aged 18 and older with serious and ongoing mental illness. The aim is to reduce their symptoms and teach them skills for living more independently. Patients might do work therapy or take part in counseling. They also learn about routine health checks to stay healthy.
- The Psychiatric Medical Unit is for patients who have both mental illness and physical health problems. These patients need special care that cannot be given in a regular mental health unit.
Riverbend School: Learning While Healing
The Riverbend School is located inside the new Cherry Hospital. It's an accredited school program for adolescent patients aged 12 to 17. Classrooms are small, with students of different ages and grades. Teachers work with students' home schools, parents, and hospital staff. This ensures each student gets the help they need to continue their education.
More Space to Help More People
When Cherry Hospital moved to its new building in 2016, it gained more than 100 extra beds. Now, it is a 300-bed hospital. It can serve over 130 adults, 28 teenagers, 35 older adults, 10 medical psychiatric patients, and 104 psychiatric rehabilitation patients. The hospital has 12 patient care units with 228 bedrooms. Many of these are private rooms.
Hospital Certifications and Partnerships
Accreditations and Quality Care
Cherry Hospital is recognized by several important organizations for its high quality of care. It is accredited by the North Carolina Medical Society for providing ongoing education to doctors. It is also accredited by the American Nurses Credentialing Center for nursing education. The hospital works with other groups to provide education for psychologists, social workers, and teachers.
Some of its important accreditations include:
- The Joint Commission, which recognized it as a "Top Performer on Key Quality Measures" in 2012.
- The College of American Pathologists.
- Being a member of the North Carolina Hospital Association.
Working with Universities and Colleges
Cherry Hospital partners with 13 nursing schools. Nursing students come to the hospital for clinical training. This helps them learn how to care for people with mental health needs.
The hospital also works with many colleges and universities for internships. Students studying social work, psychology, teaching, dental hygiene, pharmacy, and therapeutic recreation can gain experience here. Doctors in training from the Brody School of Medicine at East Carolina University and Campbell University also learn from the hospital's expert staff.
Cherry Hospital Museum
The Cherry Hospital Museum used to be on the old hospital campus in Goldsboro. It showed documents, photos, and other items. These displays told the story of the hospital, which opened in 1880 for African-American people with mental illness.
Sadly, the museum closed on January 13, 2017, because of damage from Hurricane Matthew in October 2016. All the items from the museum were moved to storage. There are plans to show these items in new exhibits in the Founders Gallery at the new Cherry Hospital. Digital displays will also feature these historical pieces throughout the new hospital.
Cherry Foundation, Inc.
The Cherry Foundation is a special group that helps patients at Cherry Hospital. It is a non-profit organization. This means it uses all its money to help others, not to make a profit. The foundation was started in 1997. It uses donations and gifts to directly support the care of patients at Cherry Hospital.
