Trip to Orlando Sunland

On Saturday, I traveled to the site of the former Sunland hospital in Orlando. Of the seven Sunland sites, two were housed in former tuberculosis hospitals: the Orlando and Tallahassee locations.

The Orlando Sunland opened in 1960. It purpose from the beginning was to house the most serious patients, including many non-ambulatory, developmentally disabled patients. These patients typically had multiple disabilities.

Beginning in 1972, the Association for Retarded Citizens (ARC), along with individual citizens and legislators, had been concerned about conditions in the Orlando Sunland hospital. These concerns included warehousing of patients, poor living conditions, and substandard treatement. Other sources also show that the Orlando Sunland had a rate of gastrostomy feeding tube placement far exceeding that of any other facility in the country.

In August of 1979, ARC of Florida and six individual residents filed a federal class action lawsuit against the State of Florida and Governor Bob Graham, calling for the closing of the Orlando hospital. Following protracted legal proceedings, Judge Elizabeth Kovachevich signed an order on October 1, 1982 instructing the center to depopulate by July 1, 1984, and to "no longer use the center as a residential facility for the developmentally disabled".

Records show that the center finally closed in 1985, following numerous problems in placing some of the more severely disabled residents in community settings. The hospital then stood vacant until December of 1998, when it was razed.

Today, the site houses a juvenile justice facility and numerous other buildings, including some that date back to Sunland times. Here are a couple of photos taken on the former Sunland campus.

Sources:

photos: author

Association for Retarded Citizens.(undated, approximately 1983). The End of an Era: ARC/Florida Suit Closes Institution. Booklet available at Orange County Library main branch.

Orlando Sentinel. Dec. 1, 1998. Sunland is No More.

Orlando Sentinel Aug. 10, 1998. Sandra Mathers, writer: None will mourn when Sunland walls fall down.