Besides Cooper, West Jersey, and Lady of Lourdes Hospital, Camden residents used other medical facilities over the years. Some, like the Municipal Hospital and Belleview Hospital, both long closed, were in the city limits. One in particular, the County Hospital at Lakeland, was not, and is worth writing about.
In a wiser time, Camden County provided for its indigent and for those whose mental and physical and mental health posed a threat to the general community by operating a series of facilities in the isolated Lakeland area of Gloucester Township. The thought of operating facilities of this in the middle of a populated city or town was properly considered absurd, especially in an era where communicable diseases such as tuberculosis ran rampant.
The County operated its Alms House — today we would call this a homeless shelter — at Lakeland, and in 1872 an infirmary was opened which developed into the County General Hospital, which is no more. Other facilities were built at the Lakeland Complex after this. Times may change, and names may change, but it is interesting to see what was not meant to be side by side with the tax-paying public — before someone had the frankly stupid idea to put all of it in the center of Camden.
Social services have their place, but they have no greater claim to location than the general public, the taxpayer, the businessman,the student. Social service programs whose activities HARM everyone whom they do not serve should NOT be located where they can cause harm.
It is worth noting that by May of 1964, the Shelter for Children, which had been operated within the City of Camden for over 70 years at 915 Haddon Avenue and later on Kaighn Avenue, had been relocated to Lakeland. This facility has become more of a juvenile detention center than a shelter over the years. Centrally located shelters for children have been eliminated, and our unfortunate children have been left to dependence on a foster care system which has proved to be an abject failure.
Phil Cohen, September 16, 2005
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Camden County General Hospital
Besides Cooper, West Jersey, and Lady of Lourdes Hospital, Camden residents used other medical facilities over the years. Some, like the Municipal Hospital and Belleview Hospital, both long closed, were in the city limits. One in particular, the County Hospital at Lakeland, was not, and is worth writing about. In a wiser time, Camden County…
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Lakeland Medical Facilities Had Humble Start in 1872
Camden Courier-Post – May 19, 1964 The Alms House Infirmary opened in 1872 in what was then known as Blackwoodtown. From this humble beginning there have grown at Lakeland: the Camden County General Hospital, Hospital for Chest Diseases, Mental Hospital, Camden County Alms House and the Shelter for Children. In 1926 a receiving building and…
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