St. Elizabeths Summer Concert Series
By Jerry W.

Imagine staying in a hospital where no one visits, stuck inside and not able to get out. It's similar to what many people probably think about aging, amplifying fears of warehousing people 'out of sight, out of mind.' That's a distant cousin to the Not In My Back Yard (NIMBY) syndrome, despite the Olmstead Supreme Court decision (think Brown v. Board of Education, but this one allowing people with disabilities to live in their own communities). Yes, psychiatric hospitals are different, conjuring up all sorts of fears.
Within this context and decades of mostly bland experience, I finally visited St Elizabeths summer concert series, at the historic federal psychiatric hospital in Southeast D.C.
The concert was good.  The CNL Combo performed from a new portable trailer turned sound stage, and all the guys, including the youngest, were good performers.  They were billed as R&B, Jazz and Gospel, although I don't recall any gospel.
Of course, my own musical talents consist of one instrument, playing the radio, and my neighbors say I'm not very good at it, so maybe I'm unqualified to critique the performance, but I really enjoyed it - oldies that I knew, and nothing I didn't like.  I wish I had recorded it for reference!
It seemed like a summer concert on the lawn with folding chairs.  Some people got
up and danced.  We had our cast of characters that I'm more accustomed to with
a Mental Health (MH) background. Unarmed guards hovered, but were friendly and even talked with me some.
It was rather eerie going on the psych hospital grounds for the first time.  St. Elizabeths is analogous to a big college-size campus of old abandoned buildings. Since Franklin Shelter is closing, and federal buildings with BRAC are being given to nonprofits, maybe we could use more of St. Elizabeths for low-income plus transitional supportive housing (D.C. already operates a shelter on the grounds).
The Department of Homeland Security is vying for chunks of the land to consolidate its office space and save on rent. St. Elizabeths has many old buildings in disrepair, as deinstitutionalization (and maybe the no-smoking policy?) have decreased its census from 7,000 to about 800. A new hospital building is due in Fall 2009, with photos shown on the DMH.DC.gov website.
There's a troubled history behind America's psychiatric hospitals - and even with deinstitutionalization and Olmstead, one person was recently discovered in seclusion and restraint over 20 years. But from the hospital perspective, many including consumers/ survivors/ ex-patients (CSX) are interested in decreasing the stigma.
At St. Elizabeths, many patients seemed subdued - perhaps typically over-medicated - but staff were nice and even offered free water and something frozen.
Some other visitors attended, including a group of young female students for an Anthropology with MH combination assignment.  A couple of young kids were there but I don't know of the affiliations.
You never know what goes on behind locked wards, and press typically focuses on the Dixon case and deaths, and reflections of 'One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest', but maybe Nurse Ratched retired? Thoughts of jail breaks loomed in my mind and I joked about getting back out myself, though nothing surfaced more than sensationalizations, based on stigma more than fact.
And anyway, with this insane world we live in, the odds of an incident are about like those for a traffic accident - but the analogy between hospital wards and the naming of zones of D.C. finally dawned on me.
I was one of the few Caucasians there, and while I felt different, I was more comfortable than I would have expected, and maybe more comfortable than I would have been with big names and political luminaries.
I think a good time was had by all, and a short one-hour concert on the lawn with some people dancing to the music seemed like music therapy to me. I know it helped me, although A/C on the bus home would have been nice!
Perhaps I can go back before the series ends September 24.  It truly was a civilized experience and turns out to be closer than Wolf Trap, free, and a community reintegration-minded activity.

Concerts at St. Elizabeths are free, every Wednesday at 7 p.m. through September 24 (except at 1 p.m. on September 17). Check DMH.DC.gov for full schedule. There is a no-camera policy on the grounds (probably for patient privacy).
Jerry rants about Mental Health issues on NoVAPeers.PBWiki.com and volunteers with the Street Sense writers group, hoping to incubate a similar process for mental health. He might be contacted at NoVAPeers@gmail.com.