Map of the Hospital

((Okay, so the hospital's not quite this grungy, but, hey... Can you blame me? I love atmospheric photos. :I

All of the pictures were found here.))




The Corridors
Here, you may run across anyone: doctors, guards, third-warders being dragged to therapy, first- and second-warders with roaming privileges...well, roaming about, and pretty much anyone else who's not shut up in their rooms. This is also how you get to patients in other wards, if you have the right to visit them.



The First Ward
First-warders get to experience all the fun (?) of communal living, as they are considered 'well behaved' enough to be together safely. A vast number of patients here are likely not even truly insane. But while occupants of the first ward live on minimum security, they are still subjected to constant monitoring--and punishment, when necessary. First-warders do not have to earn roaming privileges, though they can have them taken away.



The Second Ward
Second-warders are those considered "potentially" dangerous. Some interpret this to mean more so. Many here have just as much capability to harm as those in the third ward, but enough self-control to conceal it. Most here live in separate rooms, though there is some communal living. Second-warders must adamantly exhibit good behavior to get the same privileges as first-warders.



The Third Ward
Reserved for only the most violent or uncontrollable cases. Or for the sane who resist the staff too passionately--though a prolonged stay here will guarantee that one will not be sane for much longer. The walls tend to be padded, as third ward patients are typically just as much of a danger to themselves as they are to others. There is no communal living here; patients are kept to separate rooms, and hallways are heavily guarded.

Doors are made of steel, and the windows are reinforced with chicken mesh. There are no handles on the insides. Food and other small items are often transferred to the patient (assuming they are not restrained) through slots under the doors.



Seclusion Rooms
Any patient, from any ward, can be sent here, at any time. They are gringy, soundproof, locked, lack artificial lighting, and generally used as punishment for misconduct. If a guard is feeling particularly bitter, they may 'accidentally' throw you in with a third-ward patient and forget to come back for you. There is one benefit to seclusion, though: it is the only place patients can go where they know for certain that they are not being monitored. To some, it is equivalent to privacy.



Hydrotheraphy Room
Hydrotherapy can be administered as either a wet sheet pack or a continuous bath. The former involves wrapping a patient snugly in sheets soaked in water, ranging in temperatures from 40 to 100 degrees Fahrenheit. The patient may remain in this 'cocoon' for several hours, allowing the water to evaporate. Resistant patients are secured to a bed during the process. The continuous bath is more or less the same procedure, but with a steady flow of water running over the sheets, controlled by an attendant (note the control panel to the left).



Shock Therapy
Shock therapies come in three forms: Insulin, Metrazol, and electroconvulsive (ECT). The first is used to treat psychotic patients, and involves administering large doses of insulin to put the individual into a coma. Metrazol is a drug that, when taken in large doses, causes convulsions (aftereffects like seizures may be unavoidable). It is used primarily to treat depressive disorders. ECT induces seizures in patients (who are bound and gagged) through electricity, and is used to treat severe depression, mania, and catatonia. The patient is unconscious throughout the process. It may cause extreme memory loss, or damage to cognitive functioning.



Room 101
The lobotomy room, that all patients fear. And for good reason. Lobotomy works by inserting a thin instrument (called an orbitoclast) under a patient's eyelid, hammering it into the brain, and swiveling it around to destroy white matter in the frontal lobe. It is then removed and repeated on the other side. Lobotomy has been criticized as turning "an insane person into an idiot", as doctors from the USSR put it, when they outlawed the procedure four years after it's invention. On your way to the O.R. is likely the only time you will ever be wishing desperately to live in the Soviet Union, instead.



The Cafeteria
First- and second-warders who have permission are allowed to eat in the cafeteria. Third-warders and anyone else confined to their rooms, or seclusion, have their meals brought to them. The cafeteria is also where pills get distributed.



The Rec Room
Some entertainment activities can be found here. Again, first- and second-warders with permission are allowed access to these facilities--though unlike other areas of the hospital, guards may allow patients in here on a whim (as opposed to needing express roaming privileges from one of the doctors), based on good behavior. It tends to get frequented by catatonics and depressives, who cluster in groups around the faulty television set like zombies.



The Basement
Something of a labyrinth lying beneath the building, the vast and winding passages of the basement provide a variety of functions: storage, laundry rooms, fallout shelter... Everything you could ask for.



The Grounds
A place most patients only ever get glimpses of through barred windows. Rest assured that only the sanest of the insane get to step outside--and even then, usually only in supervised groups. The grounds are surrounded by fences and guard posts reminiscent of a high-security prison; nobody is getting away without taking a bullet to the skull as a souvenir.