Formerly Taylor Manor Hospital

Isaac Taylor acquired Taylor Manor Hospital in 1939 as a family business. Isaac was a successful Ellicott City optometrist and merchant who had built the Taylor’s Furniture Store. He purchased the Howard County Sanitarium Company, which was established in 1907 and was called Patapsco Manor. Patapsco Manor had ten to twelve patients on an estate of 56 acres. Isaac’s son Irving was then a first year medical student. In the 1940’s the facility was renamed the Pinel Clinic, after a French physician renowned for humane treatment of the mentally ill. While Irving Taylor completed his medical training and fulfilled his military duty, Isaac served as the hospital’s administrator, remaining active in this role until his death in 1978.

In 1949 Irving J. Taylor, MD became the Medical Director. In 1954, the hospital was given the family name and became Taylor Manor Hospital. Under Dr. Irving Taylor’s direction, Taylor Manor was the first hospital in the country to use Thorazine, the first neuroleptic, in 1953. He went on to work with each new antipsychotic, antidepressant and antianxiety medication before it came to market in the ‘50s and ‘60s’. His research included therapeutic benefits, side effects and clinical dose equivalences of the new medications. In 1966, Dr. Irving Taylor started the first psychiatric hospital treatment program in Maryland specifically for adolescents. This was followed in the ‘70s by the development of a Dual-Diagnosis Program for emotionally ill substance abusers, called Group 9 and by a specialized Young Adult Treatment Program.

Edith Taylor, Irving’s wife and the Hospital’s Executive Director, helped design and build a new Center Building which was occupied in 1968, expanding the Hospital’s capacity to 176 beds. Edith Taylor received the Artist’s Equity Award for her placement of original artwork throughout the building to promote a sense of beauty, tranquility and a home-like atmosphere. She also developed the Hospital’s turquoise color scheme and its logo. In 1968, the Hospital held its first Annual Symposium. Only two years later a major 3-day symposium entitled “Discoveries in Biological Psychiatry” highlighted the major advances in psychopharmacology with presentations by 18 of the world’s major researchers. The Educational Programs, and the publications that have resulted, have helped to shape the psychiatric education of thousands of professionals throughout the country.

Dr. Bruce Taylor, the current Medical Director, completed his psychiatric residency at Johns Hopkins Hospital and joined the full-time staff in 1979. In addition to his administrative duties, Dr. Bruce Taylor is actively involved in the treatment of patients throughout the hospital. He has also been involved in clinical research, including being the first to use Wellbutrin in adolescent populations in the United States.

Under the Taylors’ direction the Hospital expanded so that its services included Inpatient, Outpatient, Partial Hospitalization and Crisis Programs of all ages. Respite Programs, a specialized Residential Treatment Center and therapeutic Group Homes are also available for adolescents on campus.

In May, 2002 the Sheppard Pratt Health System and Taylor Manor Hospital signed a binding letter of intent leading to Sheppard Pratt’s asset acquisition of the programs on July 1, 2002. “The reimbursement climate for psychiatric services has become increasingly difficult,” explains Dr. Bruce Taylor. “After much soul searching, our family of owners decided that it was preferable to find an organization who could introduce economies of scale as part of its larger organization in order to assure the perpetuation of what we have built over the past 60 plus years. We have seen several other private psychiatric hospitals in our state succumb to bankruptcy over the past decade, and we were determined not to experience that fate.” Dr. Steven S. Sharfstein, president and chief executive officer of Sheppard Pratt Health System, speaking about this arrangement, recently said “This is a marriage of two of Central Maryland’s most esteemed providers of psychiatric care. We are delighted that we have been able to craft this agreement, which will preserve the legacy of Taylor Manor and the delivery of services to the community it has served for so many years.”

Sheppard Pratt, Maryland’s largest provider of psychiatric services, is a comprehensive behavioral health provider delivering mental health and special education services in 13 Maryland jurisdictions and Virginia. Its flagship campus, located in Towson, is home to the Sheppard and Enoch Pratt Hospital, which is licensed for 322 psychiatric beds. The Health System and its affiliated agencies serve 30,000 patients annually. Visit Sheppard Pratt Health System on the web at www.sheppardpratt.org.

The Sheppard Pratt at Ellicott City hospital is currently licensed for 92 psychiatric beds and also operates the Taylor Residential Treatment center and special education school, as well as an adolescent respite service.
 

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