Dorothy Dix free essay sample

In 1812 a 10 year old was given the responsibility of raising herself and her two younger brothers, this overwhelming task was in conjunction with the care-taking of her mentally ill mother and alcoholic father. Looking back on her life, the events of that fateful winter day visit in 1841, shaped her passion and future endeavourers. The suffering of the insane inmates at the East Cambridge Jail, changed her forever. In retrospect, this sudden flash (heart wrench ins visit) was the catalyst of inspiration that shaped her unwavering sire to help the weak and the mentally ill, this would be her calling.The girl was me. As mentioned, In March 1841 1 visited Cambridge House of Corrections to teach Sunday class to female inmates. That day forever changed my life. I saw the mentally ill were living together with inmates they were living under poor conditions in which the patients were chained in dark enclosed spaces, lying in their own filth and wearing inadequate clothing. We will write a custom essay sample on Dorothy Dix or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page They were also physically and sexually abused. This caused me to take matters into my own hands, which lead me to deliver a report to the Massachusetts State Legislature regarding the poor living conditions at the prison.At first, I was criticized and the reports were denied, but after hiring an independent observation group, the legislature allocated funds to expand the State Mental Hospital at Worcester. What a victory this was. This began my drive for improvements of jails and care of the mentally ill in Massachusetts. This lead to the winning court battles for the mentally ill. In 1845 1 wrote Remarks of prison and prison discipline of the United States which discussed the reforms that I wanted the government to implement.Some of the reforms that were to be implemented were the educating of prisoners and separation of various types of offenders which included murderers, rapists, and kidnappers from the mentally ill. I continued to advocate for these issues in the following decades in the United States and Europe. In the U. S. Alone; I established 32 hospitals, opened a government hospital, and 15 schools for the feeble minded. Because of my endeavors, facilities for the mentally ill increased 10-fold, from 13 to 123.And in older facilities, fostered reorganization, enlargement, and the re-staffing with intelligent and well-trained personnel from existing hospitals. My desire to help the mentally ill and insane is continuously growing, but unfortunately there is a lack of funding available to this patient population. In order to continue my goal to care for the mentally ill, needed financial support. After much lobbying and vigorous debate with government officials, the Bill for the Benefit of the Indigent Insane was passed, it set aside land for the building of institutions for the insane.Proceeds from this land helped the effort to maintain the cause for caring of the insane individuals. This would fix the poor treatment and living conditions of the patients. I believed that society needed to accept and understand the insane are human beings and needed to be treated in a humane and civil manner, not like animals in cages. This is often what it seemed like. The push for progression of helping the insane was often thwarted due to financial downfalls. It was very difficult to find support for these programs. A big halt in the process occurred when PresidentFranklin Pierce vetoed the bill and did not agree with the governments involvement with the Insane, and felt that it was a responsibility at the state level. This was a major dent in the journey to provide care to the insane. During the civil war, the military was not a hospitable environment for women. Despite this I was appointed Superintendent of Union Army Nurses. (appointed by whom) I did this with no formal training as a nurse, but by showing my superiors that had tenacity and exceptional organizational skills. I convinced military personnel that women could provide equal quality f care as ambulatory nurses.This position was previously held exclusively by men. This lead me to recruiting 2000 women into the army. I felt that I could provide nursing care to our wounded soldiers by the hands Of nurtures, that were personally selected by myself. I needed to make sure that the women I chose were required to be exceedingly competent, but plain looking, this requirement was so their appearance would not be distracting. It was very important for us army nurses not to engage in any relationships with soldiers, doctors, or military personnel.Exploitation of female nurses is absolutely unacceptable and this would detract from success in our line of work. Throughout my journey to enhance patient advocacy, I successfully lobbied state legislators to pass bills that improved the quality of care of the mentally ill and to correct the inhumane conditions found in prisons. I paved the road for women to serve in the army equally, shoulder to shoulder, with men in the nursing field. This led me to be the first to advocate that the national government should be involved in health care.