Operation Dignity
It’s a cemetery without a sign. Only numbers- not names- are engraved on the stone and metal markers indicating the final resting places of about 1,000 patients. Gowanda Psychiatric Center which opened as a “homeopathic hospital” in 1898 at it’s peak had 3,710 patients
Operation Dignity is a national movement to restore old abandoned Psychiatric Hospital Cemeteries across the country, that were no more than Potter’s Fields, where patients were buried in unmarked or numbered graves; sometimes the numbers were reused. Our mission is to give these people back their dignity.
The project began when an unidentified cemetery was accidentally discovered on Wheater Road in Collins, NY. An investigation revealed that the cemetery contained the bodies of approximately 1,000 individuals who had been patients at the Gowanda Psychiatric Center, which had been closed in 1994.
Led by the late, much loved Sandra Hooten, a peer advocate at Housing Options Made Easy, Inc. decided to honor the deceased by organizing Operation Dignity. Sandy believed that this blatant disregard for the deceased patients contributed to the stigmatizing practice of concealing neurological illnesses. The Peer Networking group, a group comprised of Peers from all over western New York started and finished a project on Route 62 in Gowanda, NY.
At the Dedication Ceremony, the people from our organization were so moved, they wanted to do something to help. It was at that point, a small grant was written and the project began.
The Compeer program and the Friendship Club along with friends of the Mental Health Association in Cattaraugus County and Allegany Rehab. Center plans to clean and mark the Wheater Road Cemetery in Collins.
Read Anna's Flyer (pdf)
To donate to this or other projects click here or please contact Tammy Querns at: tquerns.mhacc@verizon.net
Operation Dignity will resume in the spring! Please call (716)372-0208 for more information on how you can help.
Attention Teens! No One Way teen support group will be meeting every Friday from 3pm-6pm. Please call (716) 372-0208 to learn more.
GED Classes Mondays and Wednesdays 9am - 12pm. All are welcome.
Get Inspired! with quotes from our Inspiration Walk.
