Kings Park Psychiatric Center - Closing the Center

[corvet11756]

@rmhold21 ur grandma was a gilf.

[daewonsongpingpong]

Anyone else here cause of Opacity us?

[Saybe24]

@daewonsongpingpong Yes, I'm here because of Opacity. It is one of the best websites I've visited. Never have I spent so long browsing a site. Motts photos are outstanding.

[TheEgg185]

i rated this thumbs down because it was fuckin boring me.

[Hellion1]

can i get this on DVD??

[shadow8732]

I was there today at 4 AM, lol there were cops patrolling the place but we sneaked in, we went to the power plant also

[scificam]

you are kidding you treated the peapol like anamails and took out hafe of there brain thos guys were asses that did it to the crazys

[Xenophanes21]

@scificam I understand that sentiment but you cant demonize an entire generation...

Its kind of counter productive to defend human beings while still calling them "crazies" though....

[Skydog75]

Sex (some consenual & some not) between workers pan patients) barely trained, highly uneducated, no-account ward assistants that abused patients verbally and physically.

Get real KP, it was a microcosim of the woes of society throughout KP at that time and the alcoholic, white trash community it fostered. The journailst that did the piece should be ashamed. How about some investigation and objectivity.

[Skydog75]

Lets talk to some former patients and get their perspective! I saw on a daily baisi geriatric patients, allowed to walk around with the own excrement stuck to their legs, kitchen cooks who spent their dayys drinking, recreational drugs sold sold by workers, food eaten by ward workers that was intended for patients, milk, meat, cheese, bread, etc. smuggled out by workers for their own consumption thru old, unused exits.

[Skydog75]

The patient conditions were inhuman and horrible throughout. The former workers commenting on the "beauty of the trees" and the "corn" they grew to help sustain the facility is a overly romantic, pollyanish view.

[Skydog75]

What an embarrassing, sugar coated rendidtion of the human dumping grounds KPPC really was. I lived in KP for 20 years and worked at the facility with my friends and their parents who lived off the state gov't dole for a number of years. During that time I visited every bldg. (Grp 4, Bldg. 93, the MR Unit, etc.) going deep into the wards and witnessing 1st hand the abuses, ignorance and stifling environment.

[JJFlash1965]

Its nice to see the compassion those employee's had toward the patients....dont see that too often in my line of work.

[acib40]

Stephen,

This brings so much light to what we as kids experienced and witnessed. The times we went "uptown" to hang out and made fun of the mentally ill and stayed clear of them or feared them. We didn't know as kids what was going on. Why didn't we know? I went back to a 20 year KP high school reunion and went around my old haunts. I sat in my car in the Ben Franklin shopping center and still experienced mentally ill people accosting me in my car. It brought back so many memories it was sad.

[sew11754]

That was then... older and wiser you might say, having worked there as a teenager, I alway felt very confortable with the patients. But try not to feel sad, its our town, both the good history and the not so good history.

[deathsvendetta11]

and just so u know ive seen stones there with numbers and a religious symbol. people didnt have names it seems which is sad.

[deathsvendetta11]

lol its 2 minutes away from my crib

[darkesthour12]

Was this filmed in the building?

[almdive1]

try mid hudson psych center. nothing but assholes, no family, no compassion, turmoil, hate, allegations. lousy administration.

[clayforbrains]

just fucking crazy when you think about it, anyone whos been there in the past few years, its anything but "beautiful"

[mfirmes]

People with Mental Illness are our neighbors, friends, brothers, sisters, children and parents. They deserve our compassion. If you or someone you care about has been diagnosed with a mental illnes on Long Island NY, join us the third Wednesday of each month at the South Oaks Hospital Chapel, Sunrise Highway in Amityville. 10:00am - 12noon.

This year the LI Festival & Walk for Mental Health will take place in Heckscher Park, Huntington Sunday 9/21/2008, starts at noon. Call MHA Suffolk

[sarahnewt]

where can I get more on KP - is there a documentary?

[kirbyman1kanden7pf]

go there and look....I have.

ofc its not a place you can take a tour of.

[sew11754]

What year was this? Before Willow Brook the conditions for the cildren were bad, its a tough situation, you have people with profound illness, how do you take care of them an isusre taht they are not a danger to themselvers or others, some may rip off their garments other may have them removed hecause the may try to hang themselves, its not an easy place to work or live. Some patients has to be druged inorder to stop convulsions or self mutulation or attacks on staff and other patients.

[marcialynn3]

I went with my Brownie Troop to sing on the childrens wards in 67-69 off Lawrence Rd. The patients we saw were in "high beds"(pens with bars) screaming and naked. I worked there in food service in the 70s in high school, and the adults were like zombies. I used to walk through the campus to the Jr High each day instead of taking the bus. The buildings were grand and beautiful. I'm enjoying the historical footage I found on the web tonight.

[fidget15]

Thanks, IVE WORKED IN MENTAL HEALTH FOR 12 YEARS NOW, ALL WAYS SOMTHING NEW. YOU NEVER CAN SAY YOUVE SEEN IT ALL.

[redraftlife]

Is it true that patients in mental clinics are treated roughly and assumed as animals?

[kiinexx]

Some Maby In The Older Days And Some Times Today

This Mental Hospital Was Up For Maby A Little Over 100 Years

Thay usaly Only Make You Do Puzzles

Ect

But Lests Say You LOVE Watching Movies

Movies Are Your Fucking Life

And Your Susidle/Murderest

Do You Whant Some Ass Hole To Take That Away From You And Only Make You Do Puzzles And Board Games....

Wont That Make You Whant To Kill Your Self More And Kill Some One More Too

[Velocity329]

I think your an ex-patient.

[kiinexx]

No The Place Closed The Year I Was Born.....But I Have A Friend Who When to One For ABout A Week Or So

I Do Read About Some Place Ect

But I Did Almost Have To Go To One And I Have People Who think I Sould Be In One

[hellsmaw84]

unfortunately that is true. back in the 40's to very late 60's, patients were abused or just simply killed by Electro-Shock Therapy or the barbaric lobotomy. the original running of these buildings, the patients were treated with the ut-most care and treatment.

[neubee27]

There was an inlet behind and east of York Hall. Employees and locals had their small boats there. Often fished with the patients and cooked up the catch an fried tomatoes with it . Great times!

[sew11754]

Did you work there? The Inlet is still there, they use as a marina.

[neubee27]

Played in the corn and hay fields. Patients did most of the work. We never feared for our safety.

[sew11754]

I can list story after story about the towns people abusing the patients, I can find almost none about the patients abusing the towns people. The patients would come down to the school and apply for job, sometimes it woudl take a few min to figure out!

[neubee27]

Excellent video! There were significant WWII shell shock veterans living there.

[sew11754]

yes, so true and WWI on the federal side, sad to say I dont think we have come much futher when I see some of the stories about the Iraq or Afganistan Vets and their treatment!

[ladyhead123]

I work with people who were horribly abused at this faciltiy even in it's latest days. Perhaps this gentleman is a psychiatrist - such are the staff who didn't believe the patients. Thank God for the recovery movement of which I am glad to be a part. No disrespect to those sharing in the interview... There are some accurate documentaries in production progress. Real interviews - with folks in recovery now. Look for Lucy Weiner's film...

[sew11754]

I went to Lucy's Fim Preview at the smithtown library, I liked here film, but the comments from those who attended was very moving. I hosted a film festival in KP a month or so ago, had film which were from both perspectives, positive and negative.

[ShesThe1yup]

searched on You Tube couldnt find her films???

[sew11754]

and that is the true story of the center, with the understanding that grouping people together in this type of situation, in and of its self is not a good thing.

[sew11754]

There were very kind people and very cruel people. Like society in general. I still think of that one fellow at Lucy's screening who told of being a patient on an adult ward as a 12 year old boy, brings a tear to my eye at the strangest of times.

[Charmedone9805]

oh nice its good to see what it looked like before it was vandalised btw it clsoed in 1996 not 1997 but it clsoed at the end of 1996 but yea cool vid

[nhoverhaulinfan2]

I love this video, thanks for added this video.

[sew11754]

Thank you for your kind Comment!

[menef79]

Well, I guess the staff didn't want to discuss the barbaric "treatments" performed there, such as pre-frontal lobotomies and the still-used electro-shock therapy. And psych drugs can be a lobotomy in a pill. However, the beer park sounded like a good idea. I hope the patients were allowed to indulge.

[Granite11]

Is there anyway to get a copy of the original documentary?

[commackangel]

cool video, loved it .

[mapobjecky]

I really loved the sincerity of this documentary. I was born and raised in Kings Park, I worked in the various buildings during high school and beyond for about five years in the kitchens and dinning rooms. My mother was a supervisor in Group 4 and there were more friends and family who had some employment in Kings Park. This town never saw the depression because of the multitudes employed here.  Thanks for the great memories. Great Job!!!

[UNOWHO29]

WOW flash back, I usto go here ALOT when i was young. Went from the top where mountains of dead birds/poo lined its floors from birds that had wondered in through broken windows to the underground channels connecting each building to one another. Very spooky even during the day. I remember a friend daring me to spend 20 minutes locked in a tray in the morgue that still had huge old stains on the floor that looked like blood (uncomfortable to say the least. Good times! Any-who..CHECK OUT MY VIDS!

[ScreaminMeemes]

They really loved blue paint in Mental hospitals

[ScreaminMeemes]

Hundreds of these places are all around the country just rottening away, and for the life of me I can't understand why each town doesn't take the time to clean these areas up and build parks for our children, turn something that totured people and make it a thing of groth. Peace

[sew11754]

I second that!

[ashleighhhhhomg]

Wow, you I love King's Park too, I havn't been there in so long. You have like so many videos && stuff about it. Good job, they're entretaining :]

[sew11754]

Rock On, thanks!

[Tauruspt2]

Go KP woot i luv to go to that place

[ambermcdonald]

kp sux

[urbanexplorer13]

ha good try

[johnc1970]

12 hour shifts, 6 days a week? Only 4 days off a month? Oh man....they don't call them the 'Greatest Generation' for nothing, I suppose.

[hornedbeast91]

kp owns my town was built on a mental hospital and go KP

[guitarman13]

How far out did they build thse houses?

[hornedbeast91]

far

[ItIsCody]

right next to the center. I live there.

[killerkimmy]

GOOD ONE! Interviews with employees on what life was like at KP. Thorough history!

[sew11754]

Thanks, everytime I see Mr Szurnicki speak it brings a tear to my eye, he just passed on a few months ago, that why I beleive these types of videos are so important, once these people leave us, with out this record, these memories would be lost forever!

all the best

Steve