Asbestos and funding constraints caused mental hospital to abandon buildingsSykesville, Maryland - The Springfield Hospital Center in Sykesville, Maryland is a provider of quality care for the mentally ill and one of the largest employers in the area. Yet in the 1980’s, federal budget cuts and the increased cost of patient care sharply reduced the number of hospital residents, and buildings and complexes at Springfield were gradually abandoned.
In addition to the financial constraints, asbestos, a carcinogenic mineral found in pre-1980’s construction, forced the administrators to the abandon some the oldest and most beautiful, but most asbestos-laden buildings. Although asbestos is relatively safe when not disturbed, in a building without proper upkeep, it can become a major threat to health and cause the development of lung cancer or mesothelioma, a rare cancer of the protective lining of the lungs, heart, chest and abdomen.
Mesothelioma, a particularly aggressive cancer, is caused almost exclusively by prolonged asbestos exposure, so not using the buildings with the most asbestos was really the only safe move. Asbestos exposure is a silent killer, which is why asbestos cancers can take decades to develop without being detected. Mesothelioma usually only becomes symptomatic once it reaches stage three or four. At that point mesothelioma treatment become purely palliative as it cannot do much more than add about six months to the patient’s life.
Removing asbestos from the abandoned hospital buildings is difficult and costly, but many believe that it should be done to preserve some of the community’s finer architecture.
