Friends Hospital 200+ years of RE in Philadelphia

Founded in 1813 by Quakers, Friends Hospital is the oldest psychiatric hospital in the nation. It broke new ground in therapy techniques, including pet therapy, horticulture, hydrotherapy, and a gymnasium. At the time it was founded, it afforded patients abundant air and light on its rural 100 acre campus, which today sits directly on Route 1 (Roosevelt Boulevard), one of the most traveled thoroughfares in the city. More at: friendshospital.com/ While scientific and clinical advancements have developed with increasing speed over the last 2 centuries, the mission of the institution is little changed from it’s 1813 statement: “To provide for the suitable accommodation of persons who are or may be deprived of the use of their reason and the maintenance of an asylum for their reception, which is intended to furnish, besides requisite medical aid, such tender, sympathetic attention as may soothe their agitated minds, and under the Divine Blessing, facilitate their recovery.”