Delaware General Assembly


CHAPTER 139

APPROPRIATION - DELAWARE STATE HOSPITAL AT FARNHURST

AN ACT FOR THE COMPLETION, EQUIPPING AND FURNISHING OF TWO PARTIALLY FINISHED BUILDINGS, THE REPAIRS, REMODELING AND REFURNISHING OF ONE EXISTING BUILDING, THE ENLARGEMENT, AND EQUIPPING OF THE PRESENT KITCHEN, ENLARGEMENT OF TILE BOILER PLANT AND THE UTILITY SERVICES, AND THE CONSTRUCTION, EQUIPPING AND FURNISHING OF EMPLOYEES RESIDENCES AT THE DELAWARE STATE HOSPITAL AT FARNHURST; MAKING AN APPROPRIATION THEREFOR AND AUTHORIZING THE STATE OF DELAWARE TO BORROW MONEY AND ISSUE BONDS FOR THE PAYMENT OF THE MONEY SO APPROPRIATED.

WHEREAS, the Delaware State Hospital now has a normal bed capacity for nine hundred and forty-nine (949) patients; and

WHEREAS, by the end of October, 1951 there will be additional housing facilities for one hundred and sixty (160) patients; and

WHEREAS, the Delaware State Hospital at the present time has a daily average patient population of one thousand three hundred and sixty-five (1,365); and

WHEREAS, by January, 1952 the Delaware State Hospital will have an average daily patient population of one thousand four hundred and twenty-five (1,425); and

WHEREAS, the Delaware State Hospital has been and still is desperately in need of additional buildings to adequately house the patients as well as the employees; and

WHEREAS, the failure to meet these critical needs, at this time, will not only set us back in the treatment and care of our patients, but will destroy the foundation of the scientific achievement in the care and treatment of our mentally ill patients, for which the State of Delaware has been the envy of many states; and

WHEREAS, the mental and emotional stability of our people should be considered as one of the most important factors in our ability to maintain our determination, our hope and devotion to our principles and create all the necessary drives for the endurance and the preservation of our courage in the presence of danger; NOW, THEREFORE,

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the State of Delaware in General Assembly met:

Section 1. Within the appropriation under Section 2 of this Act, the State Board of Trustees of the Delaware State Hospital at Farnhurst is hereby authorized, empowered and directed to complete the construction and the furnishing of the new psychiatric unit to accommodate one hundred and thirty-seven (137) male patients, to complete the construction and the furnishing of the Nurses' Home to accommodate eighty-five (85) nurses; to complete the remodeling, repairing and furnishing the existing Annex building for the establishment of a new Receiving ward; to complete the enlargement of the present kitchen, to enable the preparation of daily meals for one thousand eight hundred (1,800) patients and employees; to complete the enlargement of the boiler plant and underground electric system and other utilities; to erect and furnish new residences for the employees on the grounds of the Delaware State Hospital at Farnhurst.

Section 2. There is hereby appropriated to the State Board of Trustees of the Delaware State Hospital at Farnhurst the sum of One Million One Hundred Thousand Dollars ($1,100,000.00), or so much thereof as may be necessary out of the proceeds of a bond issue authorized to provide the necessary funds for the purpose of this Act. The funds so appropriated shall not revert to the General Fund of the State Treasury at the end of any fiscal year but shall remain and be available for the purpose indicated until the same has been expended.

Section 3. This Act shall be known as a Supplementary Appropriation Act, and the money hereby appropriated shall be paid by the State Treasurer upon warrants of the proper officials of the State Board of Trustees of the Delaware State Hospital drawn according to law, out of moneys deposited in the Farmers' Bank in the State of Delaware, at Dover, consisting of money received from the sale of, bonds authorized by an Act of this 116th General Assembly, of the State of Delaware, entitled "AN AT AUTHORIZING THE STATE OF DELAWARE TO BORROW A CERTAIN SUM OF MONEY FOR CERTAIN SUNDRY CAPITAL IMPROVEMENTS AND EXPENDITURES IN THE NATURE OF CAPITAL INVESTMENTS, AND TO ISSUE BONDS THEREFOR."

Approved May 28, 1951.