In 1950, within two years of the exposé and the UCC report's findings, Youngdahl appointed Dr. Ralph Rossen as the state's first commissioner of mental health and hospitals. A visionary, Rossen brought a new philosophy to the care system. The focus, he said, must be on the individual rather than "mass care."
According to Rossen, every person is an individual with unique needs and experiences. Thus, state support must start with the individual. State hospitals were too often concerned with per capita costs and custodial care of large numbers of people, neglecting individual needs.
The only way to change, he said, was through persistent, consistent teaching and training of staff members.
As one of his first initiatives, Dr. Rossen set a goal that each resident should receive five minutes of individual attention during an eight-hour shift.
While that may sound ridiculously low by today's standards, it was considered unattainable at the time. With a ratio of one staff member for every 75 to 100 residents, residents were lucky if they received basic care.
With residents outnumbering staff 100 to 1, personal attention was impossible.
Dr. Ralph Rossen