Civilian Public Service Unit (Denver, Colorado, USA)
Civilian Public Service Unit No. 78 was a Mental Hospital unit at Colorado Psychopathic Hospital near the intersection of Colorado Boulevard and East 9th Avenue in Denver, Colorado. Operated by the Mennonite Central Committee, the unit opened in January 1943 and closed in March 1946.
Unit staff directors were Albert Ewert and Roy Diener.
As World War II continued, a critical shortage of workers in the nation's psychiatric hospitals developed because staff frequently left for better paying jobs and improved working conditions. Thus, CPS Unit No. 78 was established to enable assignees to meet the staffing shortage at Colorado's state mental institution and enable it to keep operating through the war years. Ten men arrived on 16 January 1943, and five men arrived later. The hospital needed 15 attendants in the male ward to meet state standards of safety and security. A total of 21 men served in the unit during its years of operation. The first men to arrive attended an orientation that included 30 hours of lectures and classes on hospital practices and procedures, patient issues, and psychiatric treatment. Assignees preformed the duties of ward attendants, assuming responsibility for assistance in the control of violent patients.
Bibliography
"CPS Unit Number 078-01." The Civilian Public Service Story: Living Peace in a Time of War. Web. 26 January 2012. http://civilianpublicservice.org/camps/78/1.
Gingerich, Melvin. Service for Peace: a History of Mennonite Civilian Public Service. Akron, Pa.: Mennonite Central Committee, 1949.
Additional Information
Original Article from Mennonite Encyclopedia
Vol. 2, p. 39 by Melvin Gingerich
The Denver unit (No. 78) of the Civilian Public Service program was opened in January 1943 at the Colorado Psychopathic Hospital, and closed in March 1946. This unit, under the Mennonite Central Committee, was one of the smaller mental hospital units within the CPS system.
| Author(s) | Harlan D Unrau |
|---|---|
| Date Published | February 2012 |
Cite This Article
MLA style
Unrau, Harlan D. "Civilian Public Service Unit (Denver, Colorado, USA)." Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online. February 2012. Web. 16 Apr 2024. https://gameo.org/index.php?title=Civilian_Public_Service_Unit_(Denver,_Colorado,_USA)&oldid=94161.
APA style
Unrau, Harlan D. (February 2012). Civilian Public Service Unit (Denver, Colorado, USA). Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online. Retrieved 16 April 2024, from https://gameo.org/index.php?title=Civilian_Public_Service_Unit_(Denver,_Colorado,_USA)&oldid=94161.
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