Today, the Kashchenko Hospital is an advanced scientific and treatment center in the field of psychiatry, which employs leading experts from the country and the world. Those who are the most vulnerable and at the same time dangerous category of patients are sent to this institution for help. People with mental disorders are unable to account for their actions. And during the period of exacerbation of the disease, they can do anything.
The richest history of Russian psychiatry
It was decided to open a psychiatric hospital in Moscow in 1894 for the first time. At that time, doctors had long understood that mental patients should be treated, and not isolated, succumbing to medieval prejudices, and this was done successfully. Funds for the construction were donated by patrons under the direct control of the then mayor N. A. Alekseev. A plot of land was purchased especially for the new clinic and construction began. The first buildings with 508 beds were opened in1894 and 1896, Alekseev had died by that time. He died at the hands of the one whom he tried to help so much: he was killed by a mentally ill person. Construction was completed in 1905. In 1994, a chapel was built in memory of the founder.
Since 1922, this medical institution was renamed in honor of the former chief physician P. P. Kashchenko, who led the hospital from 1904 to 1907. Among the people, the clinic began to simply be called: "Kashchenko's hospital." In 1994, historical justice was restored, and the hospital was named after its founder N. A. Alekseev, but the old name was firmly entrenched in people's memory.
Folklore and culture
Since its renaming and gaining wide popularity, the word "Kashchenko" means a lunatic asylum and has been actively used in jokes, songs and works of art. It is possible that the famous writer and doctor M. A. Bulgakov praised the Kashchenko hospital in the novel The Master and Margarita. It was there that Ivan Bezdomny landed, who was treated with such success by Professor Stravinsky. But maybe this is another medical institution, the writer did not leave a clear reference to which institution served as the prototype of the famous clinic. The Kashchenko hospital is also mentioned in several songs by V. S. Vysotsky.
Not just a hospital, but also a museum
The history of psychiatry has many ups and downs, and today all this can be traced in the museum of the hospital, popularly called "Kanatchikov's Dacha", by the name of the merchant Kanatchikov, from whom the plot was boughtland for the construction of a future clinic. The idea of creating a museum arose in the late seventies of the last century.
On the territory of only three exhibition halls, converted from hospital wards, and fits the whole story. There is something to look at. By the way, not only medical students may be interested in such an excursion, but also a simple layman who decides to expand his horizons. And here you can listen to lectures by leading scientists in the field of psychiatry.
There is something to see
In addition to history, the museum also honors legends, of which there are many collected here. According to one of them, a certain merchant told the head of Moscow that if he publicly bows at his feet, he will donate a million to the construction of the hospital (according to other sources - only 300 thousand). Most likely, the rich man could not even think that Alekseev would agree to such an action. But … the merchant had to fork out. The museum collection contains items that belonged to Nikolai Alekseev.
You can also trace the history of the development of science over the past two centuries, the metamorphosis of attitudes towards people with a sick psyche, especially in the century before last and earlier, when the nature of such diseases was not known and it was believed that the mentally ill were associated with the devil, and applied to them barbaric "treatment" technologies. The Soviet period in the history of psychiatry, when doctors could do anything, is also abundantly represented. They will also tell here about their theater and nightclub. The museum guide, a former hospital employee who has devoted more than half a century to the work of a nurse, herself witnessed what she tells the audience.
Old case histories can be seen with your own eyes, along with drawings drawn by patients, personal belongings of doctors and just life photographs. You can see everything completely free of charge, the museum receives visitors three times a week: on Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday. And with a group of more than 15 people, you can listen to the guide's story.
Modernity
Now the hospital is headed by O. V. Limankin, an excellent psychiatrist and a talented organizer. The personnel structure for today is completely saved and constantly increases, keeping at the same time the traditions put in a basis by Kashchenko's school. Today it is a high-class institution providing psychiatric care to the population. Among other things, the development of new methods of treatment and diagnosis of diseases, as well as the improvement of existing therapy options.
All for and against
The best way to tell about the activities of doctors is only patients, for whom the Kashchenko hospital becomes the last hope. Moscow beckons hundreds of desperate people, because mental disorders are very serious, and sometimes it is very difficult to help. Responsive and understanding staff helps a person to overcome his problems. It is their staff that the clinic is so proud of. Kashchenko. The hospital (reviews of its former patients are the best proof of this) is highly respected among the relatives of patients and those who have been helped to cope with the disease. After all, sometimes they come here without any hope of salvation, andpeople come out with a different, normal vision of the world and life. For anyone in the country, and especially in Moscow, it is no secret what the clinic is. Kashchenko. The hospital (address: Moscow, Zagorodnoye shosse, 2) is one of the largest specialized hospitals in the capital.
This is a modern medical diagnostic and scientific center, which makes it possible to solve many problems of the psyche. Here, the most modern scientific research is carried out and the latest drugs are used, and the treatment is completely free. Of course, there are problems, like any other medical institution, but they are all solved within the hospital. They do not affect patients in any way.
