Friday, February 10, 2006

Documentary on Lexington Looks for Former Patients/Inmates

A documentary on Lexington, KY and the Public Health Hospital is being made. For many years this was just about the only place that anyone addicted to opiates could get treatment. There was also a prison attached so many patients were not there voluntarily being sent from courts all over the US. This is where Dr. Nyswander first met "heroin addicts" and after leaving there and going to New York she continued treating them. This film will document the hospital's history and they are looking former patients and inmates, or their families to interview about there experience. Below is the Announcement with all the information.

Announcement

February 10, 2006


Documentary on Lexington Looks for Former Patients/Inmates

Hello, my name is JP Olsen and I'm working on a documentary that covers the history of Lexington's US Public Health Service Hospital and I need your help.

This film - which has been funded by the New York State Council on the Arts, the Jerome Foundation and the Fund for Investigative Journalism - features interviews with former patients and inmates of Lexington's "Narcotics Hospital," as well as interviews with doctors who worked there. I have interviewed half a dozen former inmates and/or Lexington patients.

However, I am having some difficulty finding people who were at the facility between the years of 1945 and 1960. If you or some one you know was at this facility as a patient and or inmate - particularly if you participated in the Addiction Research Program - I would be extremely interested in meeting with you to discuss this film.

Though I am based out of New York, I would be happy to travel to meet you, regardless of the location. My contact information is as follows:

JP Olsen
502 13th Street
Brooklyn, NY 11215
Home number: 917-576-2374
Email: jporudy@aol