SENATE RESOLUTION NO. 50
WHEREAS, The North Texas State Hospital has provided
mental health services to the public for a century; and
WHEREAS, In 1922, the first patient was admitted to the
facility, known briefly as the Northwest Texas Insane Asylum
before its designation as the Wichita Falls State Hospital; it
was well equipped for its day, offering surgery, radiology,
laboratory analysis, electrotherapy, and hydrotherapy; by 1930,
a staff of 7 doctors and nearly 100 attendants served a
population of more than 1,500 patients; most personnel lived on
the 940-acre campus, which encompassed a farm that made the
community almost entirely self-sustaining during the Great
Depression; and
WHEREAS, The hospital expanded to nearly 100 buildings by
the 1940s, and during wartime labor shortages, a reduced staff
worked long hours to care for approximately 2,400 patients;
conditions improved, and in 1951, an annex to serve geriatric
patients was opened in Vernon; the number of residents decreased
over subsequent decades with the advent of effective
psychotropic medications and access to community programs and
nursing home care; the hospital was able to increase its service
area from 23 to 53 counties in the 1980s, and Vernon State
Hospital was redefined as the state's forensic psychiatric
facility; and
WHEREAS, In the late 1990s, the Texas Department of Mental
Health and Mental Retardation undertook efficiency reforms and
combined the administrations in Wichita Falls and Vernon as North
Texas State Hospital; today, it includes the Wichita Falls
campus, the main Vernon campus, and the Vernon-South Campus; NTSH
provides inpatient care for those referred by the local mental
health authority, as well as forensic psychiatry and competency
restoration services for adolescents and adults in the criminal
justice system; and
WHEREAS, Committed to excellence in mental health care,
North Texas State Hospital has made a positive difference in the
lives of countless people, and its 100th anniversary provides a
fitting opportunity to recognize its many contributions to the
communities it has served; now, therefore, be it
RESOLVED, That the Senate of the State of Texas, 88th
Legislature, hereby commemorate the centennial of North Texas
State Hospital and extend to all those associated with the
hospital sincere best wishes for the future; and, be it further
RESOLVED, That an official copy of this Resolution be
prepared for the hospital as an expression of high regard from
the Texas Senate.
Springer
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President of the Senate
I hereby certify that the
above Resolution was adopted by
the Senate on January 24, 2023.
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Secretary of the Senate
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Member, Texas Senate