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Description

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About Us
As an agency of the Mississippi Department of Mental Health East Mississippi State Hospital is the second largest of four state psychiatric hospitals and the third largest employer in the Meridian area The facility is licensed for 372 psychiatric beds 35 chemical dependency beds 226 nursing home beds and serves more than 100 clients in the Division of Community Services

EMSH is a modern psychiatric treatment facility serving individuals in 31 counties of the state for adult psychiatric and substance abuse and adolescent males for psychiatric treatment Adolescent males are also treated at EMSH for substance abuse from all 82 counties of the state The Reginald P White Nursing Facility admits residents for nursing home care from the public and private sector from all across the state EMSH presently has a staff of approximately 1150 workers and in recent years the hospital has also averaged around 4000 volunteer hours per year

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History

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On March 8 1882 the Mississippi State Legislature approved enabling legislation to establish the East Mississippi State Insane Asylum This came about largely due to the efforts of Miss Dorothea Dix a champion for the mentally ill in the United States The city of Meridian purchased and donated 560 acres of land for the construction of the facility The asylum opened its doors for service in January of 1885 with a 19 year old man from Meridian as the first patient

In the years 1893 and 1894 three native magnolia trees and three Japanese magnolia trees were planted in front of the Administration Building These trees make a beautiful entrance to the hospital even today

The name of the institution was changed from East Mississippi State Insane Asylum to East Mississippi Insane Hospital in 1898 and finally to East Mississippi State Hospital in the early 1930s perhaps reflecting changes in attitudes toward the mentally ill nationwide

During the early years the hospital was almost self sufficient with farming facilities a hog farm a cattle farm a dairy barn a poultry plant and orchards of peach apple pear and pecan trees A canning plant was built to process the produce

In the mid 1950s the hospital realized much progress toward becoming a modern psychiatric hospital Since Springtime bloom from 115 year old Magnolia tree
its beginning the hospital had provided for only custodial purposes but during the 1950s it began to develop treatment services for the patients With adequate and welltrained medical and psychiatric staff the various kinds of therapies and the use of the buildings was converted into a skilled level nursing facility in order to provide nursing home services for those patients who no longer required psychiatric care but were in need