Alaska Psychiatric Institute

The Alaska Psychiatric Institute is a psychiatric hospital in Anchorage, Alaska that provides inpatient and outpatient mental health services for the state.[1]

Alaska Psychiatric Institute
Geography
LocationAnchorage, Alaska, United States
Coordinates61.185511°N 149.828968°W / 61.185511; -149.828968
Organization
TypeSpecialist
Services
Beds72
SpecialityPsychiatric hospital
History
Opened1962
Links
ListsHospitals in Alaska

Operation

The institute has a normal capacity of 72 beds with a stretch capacity of 80. There have been concerns that this is not enough to meet demand.[2]

The beds are organized into three units: medium to long term, adolescent, and secure forensic.[3]

The Joint Commission recognized the institute in 2012 for being in the top third of its national performance rankings for psychiatric hospitals.[4]

History

The Institute opened in 1962.[5] It was commissioned in 1956 as part of the Alaska Mental Health Enabling Act which allotted 6.5 million dollars for its construction.[6]

In 1992 the institute employed 282 staff.[7]

Incidents

In 1982, while on limited release from the institute, Charles L. Meach, who had previously beaten a man to death and been found not guilty by reason of insanity in 1973, committed four murders.[8]

In 1985 the director of the institute was taken hostage at gunpoint by a patient. The situation was resolved the following day without injuries.[9]

Myers v. Alaska Psychiatric Institute

In 2003 Faith Myers was involuntarily committed to the institute by her family for refusing medication. The institute petitioned the Anchorage Superior Court and was authorized to compel her to take antipsychotics. Meyers challenged the ruling based on Alaska's constitutional guarantees of liberty and privacy. In 2006 the Alaska Supreme Court ruled in her favor and placed greater restrictions on non-emergency involuntary psychotropic medication in the state.[10]

References
  1. "Alaska Psychiatric Institute". dhss.alaska.gov.
  2. "Elderly filling Alaska Psychiatric Institute". Fairbanks Daily News Miner, 4/21/2010.
  3. "Alaska Psychiatric Institute (API) - Alaska Psychology Internship Consortium". www.ak-pic.org.
  4. Sarana Schell. "Alaska Psychiatric Institute recognized for high quality care in 2012". Alaska Department of Health and Social Services, 11/19/2013.
  5. "Governor tours new psychiatric hospital". SitNews, 10/14/2004.
  6. Rogers, Stanley J. "I. The Medical Program and the First Year Operation." Psychiatric Services 15.5 (1964): 243-247.
  7. Natalie Phillips. "Psychiatric Institute Lays Off 14 Workers". Anchorage Daily News , 8/1/1992.
  8. Wallace Turner (June 22, 1982). "New law on insanity plea stirs dispute in Alaska". New York Times.
  9. "Patient Holds Hospital Chief Hostage." The Deseret News, 9/25/1985.
  10. Hinton, Jeremy, and Robert Forrest. "Involuntary Non-emergent Psychotropic Medication." Journal of the American Academy of Psychiatry and the Law Online 35.3 (2007): 396-398.
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