Accomplishments of Dorothea Dix

Accomplishments of Dorothea DixDorothea DixNekisha RileyIn this paper I ease up elect the public health pi matchlesser Dorothea Dix to discuss. Dorothea was the per give-and-take responsible for devoting her time to the well-being of the mentally light. She was besides and educator and an activist for umpteen. In this paper, I allow for discuss the impact that Dorothea had on public health, what she did to advance public health, and any(prenominal) of the obstacles that she had to overcome.Dorothea Dix excessively know as Dolly was born in 1802 in Hampden, Maine to Joseph and Mary Dix. Dorothea was the eldest of her two siblings (Norbury, 1999). Dorotheas father was a Methodist preacher and an alcoholic while her mother suffered from mental chastisementness. Her father was known to be abusive, save Joseph was known for educating his children (Parry, 2006). Dorotheas father taught her and her two brothers how to contract and write.In 1812, the Dix family took up and moved t o Vermont due to the war of 1812 (Gollaher, 1993). Dorothea and her family remained as whiz until Dorothea felt she had had enough of her dysfunctional family. At this time, Dorothea had dealt with enough of her fathers abuse, so she fixed to run away at the age of 12 to live with her nan in Boston. Dorothea stayed with her grandmother for a brief totality of time before moving with her aunt in Worcester, Massachu hard-boiledts (Parry, 2006). afterwards staying with her aunt for two age, Dorothea opened up her first private develop to help children learn to read and write. When Dorothea realize that her give instruction was now a success, she went back to reside with her grandmother Dix in Boston. This is when Dorothea opened her second school and added a night school for the poor, which was one of the first ones in the dry land (Gollaher, 1993).After being an educator for about four years now, Dorothea met Edward, which posterior became her fianc (Gollaher, 1993). The unr ealistic thing about her new relationship was her now fianc was also her first cousin (Parry, 2006). It was about three months later her father died and Dorothea decided that she no womb-to-tomb wanted to get married.Dorothea spent the next equalize of years educating as many an(prenominal) an(prenominal) hoi polloi as she could. She was also be conferences to educate herself. At this depute, Dorothea has been working so much without getting the seemly amount rest that she has fallen very ill with a double-dyed(a) upper respiratory ailment. It was at this time, Dorothea decided to move to Liverpool, England to stay with the Rathbone family for almost a year while recovering from her illness (Ivan, 1976). The Rathbone family took a passion to her and showed her more affection that her family had.In 1837, Dorothea returned to the United States . At this point her grandmother passed away which her mother died a couple of days afterwards (Ivan, 1976). She was noneffervescent ill and did not have the strength to resume teaching yet, so she used the Dix estate and savings to support herself (Ivan, 1976).In 1841, Dorothea met a ministerial student, who was teaching Sunday class for women who were incarcerated in East Cambridge Jail (Norbury, 1999). The ministerial student became so frustrated with his efforts of trying to teach these women, that he asked Dorothea for advice. When lecture to Dorothea, Dorothea realized that this could be an opportunity for her to volunteer at this jail. This was the turning point of Dorotheas life.She started volunteering at Cambridge Jail and noticed the support conditions and how the mentally ill was mistreated (Gollaher, 1993). The jail had no heat in any of the living quarters. Those incarcerated were not segregated and all lived together including substantialened criminals, feeble-minded children, and the mentally ill (Norbury, 1999). Dorothea was determined to get the prisoners some heat by going by means of the c ourt system. In Massachusetts, Dorothea had her first memorial for a law that they had permitting them to sway women and men who had mental issues (Ivan, 1976).In 1848, Dorothea asked Congress to grant 12 one thousand thousand acres of land for the benefits of the mentally ill, blind, and deaf. She had plans to build asylums to help house people that need help and could not receive it (Parry, 2006). Congress approved the bill, but six years later President Franklin Pierce vetoed it (Gollaher, 1993). This was one of the many setbacks that Dix had, but she did not allow it to hinder her from being devoted to luck the mentally ill. After having this minor setback she spent the next ten improving hospitals in Rhode Island and parvenue York (Ivan, 1976). She also effected hospitals in thirteen other states along with District of Columbia (DC), Ontario, and Nova Scotia (Ivan, 1976). At this point, in Dorotheas life she had become worn out from working so hard and not getting any rest .In 1854, Dorothea decided to travel to europium and rest (Gollaher, 1993). Once she was in europium she learned that the private hospitals for the wealthy and the public facility for the poor were very different. Dorothea traveled from 1854 to 1856 to 14 countries and instigated many changes (Parry, 2006).In 1856, Dorothea returned to the United States to resume her reform work. When she returns, the country is in an ruction from slavery issues (Gollaher, 1993). She had to remain neutral on the issue of slavery, or if she was anti-slavery the southern states would have refused to hear what she had to say and her reform for mental institution would have not taken place in the south.Five years later, the civil War began. Dorothea volunteered her services and became the Superintendent of United States Army Nurses. Dixs labor was to organize the first aid stations, recruit nurses, obtain supplies, and help to set up training facilities and hospitals (Ivan, 1976).Although Dix did have the determination required to pursue these tasks during the war, she lacked the fond skills. Dixs lack of social skills and training caused her to have some issues with the doctors. The doctors also felt equivalent Dix was stepping over the line for telling them about the insalubrious conditions, their drinking habits, and the treatment of the soldiers. At this point they were treating Dorothea differently and no time-consuming wanted her to be there. Dorothea resigned from her position but remained there to help scrape missing soldiers, write letters to families letting them know the status of their sons well-being, and helped soldiers with securing their pensions (Parry, 2006). After the war Dix returned to traveling around the United States and Europe helping the mentally ill, while gaining the support of the wealthy (Parry, 2006).Some of the hospitals that Dix helped upholded were now understaffed and overcrowded. Some people were saying that Dix no longer cared for what she had started many years ago. At this time, Dix said that the hospital needed to cater the clients with therapy and that everything would go back to normal. At this time Dix had founded 32 of 123 mental hospitals in the country (Gollaher, 1993). She has now reached the age of 80 years old and has returned to New Jersey due to her ailing health (Norbury, 1999). Dorothea later retired and moved into one of the guest rooms at one of the mental hospitals that she help establish more than three decades before. Dix remained at the hospital for about five years before she died in 1887 (Ivan, 1976).Dorothea had accomplishments that came along with some obstacles. She was able to help many have a safe place to stay and receive the fitting help that they needed. Dix was a pioneer to public health and stayed true to what she believed. objet dart Dix was never married, she was engaged to her cousin for about three months (Parry, 2006). Dorothea has many things in todays society that r emains in her memory like the Dorothea Dix hospital here in my home state of North Carolina.ReferencesGollaher, D.L. (1993). Dorothea Dix and the incline Origins of the American AsylumMovement. Canadian Review Of American Studies, 23(3), 149.Norbury, F.B. (1999). Dorothea Dix and the Founding of Illinois Firat rational Hospital. JournalOf The Illinois State Historical Society (1998-),Ivan, P.P. (1976). Pioneers in Special commandmentDorothea Lynde Dix (1802-1887).Journal Of Special Education, 10(1), 2.Parry, M.S. (2006). Dorethea Dix (1802-1887). American Journal of Public Health. pp. 624-625.