Friends Hospital
It was the first private mental hospital in the United States, and is the oldest such institution with a continuous history of operation.[1] The 1813 mission statement of the hospital was "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."[2] The Quakers established Friends Hospital in 1813, drawing on a belief that all persons could live a "moral, ordered existence if treated with kindness, dignity, and respect", despite disabilities.This model served as an inspiration for the establishment of the Friends Asylum for Persons Deprived of the Use of Their Reason; it was the United States' first privately run psychiatric hospital.Some residents chose to make the Greystone Program their permanent home while others transition to a less structured environment.