University of Alberta Hospital Acute and Convalescent Polio Care and the Reintegration of Polio Patients into Albertan Communities, 1953-80.

Following Canada's largest polio epidemic in 1953, Station 67 at the University of Alberta Hospital (UAH) in Edmonton became home to patients who contracted the virus. As young as nine years old, some of these patients lived at the UAH for more than three decades. Akin to wartime services, the epidemic banded together families, patients, doctors, nurses, community members, and later respiratory, physical, and occupational therapists. The nature of the disease, the government response, and the social and economic climate dramatically affected the lived experiences of patients in Alberta's fight against polio. Drawing on archival research and oral interviews, this article argues that it was the agency and resilience of patients, the contributions of healthcare providers to rapid developments in acute and convalescent care, and the dedication of families that were primarily responsible for the recovery and reintegration of polio patients back into the community.

[Insanity, life crises and longing for a "real life". On the discussion of deviant behavior and mental disorders in psychiatry of the 19th and 20th century]. / Von Wahnsinn, Lebenskrisen und der Sehnsucht nach einem "richtigen Leben". Zur Diskussion von abweichendem Verhalten und Geistesstörungen in der Psychiatrie des 19. und 20. Jahrhunderts am Beispiel von Patientenschicksalen.

On insanity, life crises and the longing for a "right life". A contribution to the discussion on the deviant behavior and mental disorders in the psychiatry of the 19th and 20th centuries using the example of patient stories. History of psychiatry, understood as social and cultural history, provides the framework for this micro-historical article. Using the example of three patients treated in Wuerttemberg or Baden psychiatric asylums between 1875 and 1912, the article focuses on the critical analysis of types of asylums, their practices of admissions, therapies and power relations between patients and staff. Ways of thinking and acting, subjective experiences and emotions are exemplified by patient records, personal testimonials and contemporary publications again by patients and staff. The article examines options of patients to influence the institutional daily asylum routine against the background of its complexity and dynamics. Borders, manipulations, malingering and querulous paranoia are at stake here. Furthermore, the article reflects various forms of social interaction with the power regulating therapeutic and disciplinary aspects against the backdrop of the "canons of rules" of the asylum as well as the contemporary political and legal framework.