The release of people incapable of taking care of themselves does them no good. In most cases they end up wasting away homeless or being taken advantage of by others. Asylums did have a purpose but I swear everyone in government watched "One Flew Over The Cookoo's Nest" and assumed every institution was bad.
In the early 70's I drove a fellow to Dammasch State Mental Hospital as a favor to his pastor. The the poor fellow suffered from debilitating epileptic seizures and was pretty much homeless. He'd been admitted to Dammasch previously when the frequency of his seizures put him in crisis. He knew were I was taking him and he really did not want to go there but had no other choices available. The closer we got to the hospital the more upset he became. Fortunately, he didn't have a seizure while in the car because I was ill equipped to handle it having no prior experience with anything like that.
Dammacsch Hospital was shuttered in 1995. I have no idea where people with conditions like his go today when the frequency and severity of their seizures are out control. Perhaps, the nearest hospital emergency room. That's a really just short term solution. Imagine being homeless with epilepsy and having seizures on the streets. These folks are at great risk of dying from the seizure an/or from physical harm caused by others because the are defenseless. Hopefully, the medications to help control epileptic seizures is more advanced today then it was then.
The hospital was demolished and today is a housing development known as Villebois.
Dammasch Hospital, Wilsonville, OR
Villebois
