• Home
• 2017 General Session
• H.C.R. 3

H.C.R. 3 Concurrent Resolution Recognizing and Remembering the Forgotten Patients of the Utah State Hospital

• Bill Text
• Status
• Hearings/Debate

Bill Sponsor: Rep. Redd, Edward H.

Floor Sponsor: Sen. Bramble, Curtis S.

• Drafting Attorney: Lee A. Killian

---

• Bill Text
  • Introduced
  • Enrolled (Currently Displayed)

---

• Related Documents
  • Fiscal Note
  • House Transmittal Letter 1
  • House Transmittal Letter 2
  • Senate Transmittal Letter 1
  • Agency Perf Note

---

• Information
  • Last Action: 17 Mar 2017, Governor Signed
  • Last Location: Lieutenant Governor's office for filing
  • Effective Date: 17 Mar 2017

---

• Similar Bills
  • Resolutions
  • Mental Health
  • Human Services

---

Enrolled

Printer Friendly

H.C.R. 3

1     CONCURRENT RESOLUTION RECOGNIZING AND
2     REMEMBERING THE FORGOTTEN PATIENTS OF THE
3     UTAH STATE HOSPITAL
4     2017 GENERAL SESSION
5     STATE OF UTAH
6     Chief Sponsor: Edward H. Redd
7     Senate Sponsor: Curtis S. Bramble
8     

---

9     LONG TITLE
10     General Description:
11          This concurrent resolution of the Legislature and the Governor supports efforts by the
12     staff of the Utah State Hospital and individuals and private entities to build and
13     maintain markers and monuments at the grave sites of former Utah State Hospital
14     patients and support ongoing use of evidence-based best practices and interventions to
15     treat Utahns suffering from mental illness and other complex diseases of the brain.
16     Highlighted Provisions:
17          This resolution:
18          ▸     expresses support for current efforts by staff of the Utah State Hospital to partner
19     with individuals and private entities to build and maintain appropriate markers and
20     monuments at the grave sites of former patients of the Utah State Hospital as a
21     tangible effort to appropriately recognize and remember their courageous and often
22     lonely struggle with mental illness during an earlier era when effective treatments
23     and hope for recovery were very limited and long-term institutionalization was often
24     the only viable intervention; and
25          ▸     honors the lives of these once-forgotten individuals who suffered immensely from
26     mental illness by continuing to support ongoing use of evidence-based best
27     practices and interventions to effectively treat citizens of Utah who are currently
28     suffering from mental illness and other complex diseases of the brain.
29     Special Clauses:

---

30          None
31     

---

32     Be it resolved by the Legislature of the state of Utah, the Governor concurring therein:
33          WHEREAS, the Utah State Hospital in Provo, Utah, began as the Territorial Insane
34     Asylum and admitted its first patients in 1885;
35          WHEREAS, the Utah State Hospital patient census climbed from 69 in 1886 to 314 in
36     1900, 1,310 in 1946, and to its peak of 1,500 patients in 1955;
37          WHEREAS, during the 133 years of its existence, staff and providers at the Utah State
38     Hospital have embraced and used resources and best practices available to do the best they
39     could to address the needs of persons with severe mental illness and other complex disorders of
40     the brain;
41          WHEREAS, during the 19th and early 20th centuries the science guiding the evaluation
42     and treatment of mental disorders was in its infancy and there was a substantial lack of
43     effective interventions to treat severe mental illness and other brain disorders;
44          WHEREAS, in the 19th and early 20th centuries the pervasive public perception was
45     that a person diagnosed with a mental illness would never recover;
46          WHEREAS, due to the severe hardships and challenges inherent in caring for a person
47     with uncontrolled severe mental illness, many families across the United States were
48     encouraged to essentially give up the care of their family members with mental illness and
49     place them in large private or state-run hospitals where most of them remained until they died;
50          WHEREAS, during the 19th and early 20th centuries, transportation needed to make
51     face-to-face visits was limited and arduous, and because of this, opportunities for personal
52     contact by family members and friends with patients at the Utah State Hospital were very
53     limited and this sometimes resulted in weakening of the emotional bonds that tie people and
54     families together;
55          WHEREAS, as a result of these insidious and deleterious effects on outside
56     relationships, some long-term institutionalized patients at the Utah State Hospital gradually lost
57     outside support and contact with family and friends and sometimes died while still residing at

---

58     the Utah State Hospital;
59          WHEREAS, during the 19th and early 20th centuries 474 such patients at the Utah
60     State Hospital died mostly alone and forgotten and were given paupers' burials in unmarked
61     graves located at the west end of the Provo City Cemetery;
62          WHEREAS, the names of these individuals and the locations of most of the graves are
63     currently known, but the graves remain unmarked and unknown to the general public;
64          WHEREAS, the understanding of mental illness and the ability to effectively treat
65     people with severe mental illness and other complex brain disorders such as epilepsy has
66     progressed immensely during the past 75 years;
67          WHEREAS, public perception of mental illness has matured to the point where most of
68     the general public see mental illnesses as brain disorders that can be successfully treated;
69          WHEREAS, with the advancement of science and the availability of effective
70     treatments in the mental health arena, the Utah State Hospital is no longer a place for long-term
71     custodial care of people with mental illness;
72          WHEREAS, the Utah State Hospital is now an institution dedicated to intensive
73     treatment of individuals with severe mental illness with the goal of healing and integration
74     back into the communities from whence they were referred; and
75          WHEREAS, had they been able to access and receive treatments and interventions
76     currently available in the 21st century, including improved quality of life and integration back
77     into their respective communities and families, many of the early patients at the Utah State
78     Hospital who were institutionalized until death and largely forgotten by society would have
79     experienced very different outcomes:
80          NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that the Legislature of the state of Utah, the
81     Governor concurring therein, representing the citizens of Utah, expresses support for current
82     efforts by staff of the Utah State Hospital to partner with individuals and private entities to
83     build and maintain appropriate markers and monuments at the grave sites of these incredible
84     people as a tangible effort to appropriately recognize and remember their courageous and often
85     lonely struggles with mental illness during an earlier era when effective treatments and hope

---

86     for recovery were very limited and long-term institutionalization was often the only viable
87     intervention.
88          BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Legislature and the Governor honor the lives of
89     these once-forgotten individuals who suffered immensely from mental illness by continuing to
90     support ongoing use of evidence-based best practices and interventions to effectively treat
91     citizens of Utah who are currently suffering from mental illness and other complex diseases of
92     the brain.
93          BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that a copy of this resolution be sent to the Utah State
94     Hospital and the Utah Department of Human Services.