Cafeteria Through Iron

I think they were used to look down and watch the little insano's while they ate lunch.

yum yum! Wouldnt you love to have dinner in there? lol

The EXACT SAME ornamental iron was used to outfit the main-entrance first-floor balconies on the "C" buildings at Byberry.

I'm guessing it was so that staff could watch the clients eat, especially if the staff ratio was low. Where I worked we had a little kitchen raised above the dining room in the cottages so that we could always make sure the clients would not choke.

Although we ate at the same table as them, it was easier to get a full view of the dining table from being a little higher up.

One might say, symmetrical chaos.

Yes, usually a staff person would supervise the entire cafeteria from up there, not only to watch for possible choking , but to watch for any disturbances: fights, stealing, etc. There'd be staff at the tables too, but of course the views were more obstructed "on the floor".

That first comment is creepy for some reason. what did they do to these people?

this place is really scary because there is all these ghost and goblins around I'll scream if I see one because I am really scared of all of this because it's really gross

=8-o

My shower curtain is really gross and that scares me too.

THIS IS ALSO THE SAME ornament USED ON THE ROOF PLAY GROUND AT THE GLAN DALE CHILDRENS HOSPITAL....

I've worked with many individuals who lived much of their lives institutions where the patient population included people with mental retardation as well as people with mental illness. Nearly all of them had what we called "institutional behaviors" that stemmed from their experiences in the hospital. There was a preoccupation with coffee and cigarettes, as those two items provided a good deal of the structure of the hospital day, and because there were staff who used the next coffee break or smoke break to control a patient's behavior ("you have to get dressed before you can have coffee," for example, or "calm down if you want your next cigarette"). Except in very rare and specific cases, in community placements we could not use cigarettes as a reinforcer for behavior plans. We had to try every other reinforcer first. Of course we encouraged people to quit smoking, but for many it was a decades-long habit. There has also been some research which showed that patients with schizophrenia may be self-medicating when they smoke, because there is apparently something in nicotine that acts on the parts of the brain affected by the illness. Other institutional behaviors included eating very rapidly and eating with one arm wrapped around one's plate, both done to protect the individual from those at the table who would otherwise steal their food. We also saw people who would carry their most valuable possessions (often coffee, cigarettes, sugar) with them everywhere they went because that was the only way they could be sure someone wouldn't take them while they were out of the room. Some people wore many layers of clothing even in the summer for the same reason. Other behaviors came from the large doses of antipsychotic medications they had been given, such as the "Haldol" shuffle and tardive dyskensia.

i was supposed to look for music and the music site was out , i was bored and found this cool place. im telling my friends about it.

whats weird is my great grandfather was a nurse here and one of his patients haunted him so he ouit lol.

FOOD FIGHT!!!!!

This is one awesome photo...Thank you so much for sharing it...