Today, Kashchenko Hospital is an advanced scientific and medical center in the field of psychiatry, in which leading specialists of the country and the world work. For help, those who are the most vulnerable and at the same time dangerous category of patients are sent to this institution. People with mental disorders are unable to report on their actions. And during the period of exacerbation of the disease, they can do anything.
The richest history of domestic psychiatry
For the first time, a psychiatric hospital was decided to open in Moscow in 1894. At that time, doctors have long understood that mental patients should be treated, and not isolated, succumbing to medieval prejudice, and this was done successfully. Whether the funds for the construction were donated by patrons under the direct control of the then mayor N. A. Alekseev. Especially for the new clinic, they acquired a plot of land and began construction. The first buildings, which housed 508 beds, opened in 1894 and 1896, Alekseev was dead by then. He died at the hands of the one whom he tried so hard to help: he was killed by a mentally ill person. The 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 head physician P. P. Kashchenko, who managed the hospital from 1904 to 1907. The people began to simply call the clinic: "Kashchenko 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 the memory of people.
Folklore and culture
Since its renaming and gaining wide popularity, the word "Kashchenko" means a madhouse and is actively used in jokes, songs and artworks. It is possible that the famous writer and physician M. A. Bulgakov Kashchenko Hospital was praised in the novel "The Master and Margarita." It was there that
Ivan Bezdomny fell
, whom Professor Stravinsky had treated with such success. But maybe this is another medical institution, the writer did not leave a clear reference, which institution served as the prototype of the famous clinic. 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 referred to as the “Kanatchikova Dacha”, by the name of the merchant Kanatchikov, from whom they bought a plot of land 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 rooms, and the whole story fits. There is something to see. 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 honors legends, which are many here. According to one of them, a certain merchant told the Moscow head, saying that if he publicly bowed to his feet, he would donate a million for 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. In the collection of the museum there are things that belonged to Nikolai Alekseev.
You can trace the history of the development of science over the past two centuries, metamorphoses of attitude towards people with a mentally ill, especially in the century before last and before, when the nature of such diseases did not know and believed that the mentally ill were connected with the devil, and applied barbarous “treatment” technologies to them . The Soviet period in the history of psychiatry is abundantly represented, when doctors could do everything. They will also tell about their theater and night club. The museum’s guide, a former hospital employee who devoted more than half a century to the work of a nurse, herself witnessed what she was telling the audience.
Ancient medical histories can be seen with your own eyes, along with drawings drawn by patients, personal belongings of doctors and simply life photographs. You can see everything completely free, 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 story of the guide.
Modernity
Now the hospital is headed by O. V. Limankin, an excellent psychiatrist and talented organizer. The staff today is fully preserved and constantly growing, while preserving the traditions laid down by the Kashchenko school. Today it is a high-class institution that provides 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 treatment options.
All the pros and cons
Only patients, for whom the Kashchenko hospital is the last hope, will best tell about the activities of doctors. Moscow beckons hundreds of desperate people, because mental disorders are very serious, and sometimes it can be very difficult to help. Responsive and understanding staff helps a person overcome his problems. The clinic is so proud of their personnel. Kashchenko. The hospital (the reviews of its former patients are the best evidence of this) is highly respected among the relatives of patients and those who were helped to cope with the disease. After all, people come here sometimes without any hope of salvation, but people come out with a different, normal vision of the world and life. For anyone in the country, and especially in Moscow, it is not a secret what constitutes a clinic to them. 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 mental problems. Here, the most modern scientific research is conducted and the latest drugs are used, and treatment is completely free. Of course, there are problems, like any other medical institution, but they are all solved within the hospital. They are not reflected in any way on patients.