“Pius Brânzeu” Emergency Clinical County Hospital Timișoara The history of the Timisoara Clinical County Hospital begins in the early ‘70s, when, by the merit of some leading personalities from the medical life of Timisoara, such as Prof. Dr. Pius Branzeu, Prof. Dr. Stefan Gavrilescu, Conf. Dr. Ion Lighezan, and Prof. Dr. Ferdinand Nistor, it was brought to the attention of the government of that time the urgent need to build a modern medical unit in this city. This is how the project of the future Clinical County Hospital is born – on architect Nicolae Dancu’s drawing board. The year 1974 finds the Clinical County Hospital Timisoara in the final phase of construction, in the autumn of the same year it starts its activity with 1030 beds and 13 clinical departments. The period of ’70 coincides with the period of medical school makers in Banat, because in ’80 the first kidney transplants in Romania are made, the urological endoscopy is introduced, the endoscopy of the digestive tract is developed, and the activity of the Heart Pacemaker Implant Center continues. In ’90 the computerized tomography department came into operation, the ultrasound diagnosis was extensively developed, and the endoscopic surgery was extended. The third millennium represents the moment when the infrastructure is developed through the establishment of new Orthopedic Clinics and also the construction of the new Traumatology Center “House Austria”, health facilities that are at the unanimously accepted international standards in terms of patient comfort and at the same time the working conditions of doctors.

Center for Mental Health No. 1 The Center for Mental Health 1 Timisoara has a tradition of almost half a century. In 1974, the first normative act that addressed mental health services in accordance with the principles of community appeared; At that time the first ambulatory care centers developed in Timisoara within the County Hospital, ensuring the continuity of the services offered to the mental patients. In 1975, The Outpatient Facility was established in a new complex structure that will be called the Mental Health Laboratory. Shortly after, in 1977, the first occupational therapy structures and ergotherapy workshops were created. The years that followed were rich in innovative experiences for community psychiatry in Romania. Between 1990 and 2012, both the structure and the specific activities underwent changes, and variations, which partially changed the former image of the existing community structures. Currently, the Center for Mental Health 1 (CSM 1) is a department of the Emergency County Clinical Hospital Timisoara. The European projects, and the collaborations with international experts, have increased the expertise of professionals from the Center for Mental Health 1 Timisoara. Under the pressure of the European bodies, a strategy for the development of mental Health Centers was created at national level, involving both central institutions (National Mental Health Center, Ministry of Health) and especially local institutions. Among the Centers for Mental Health in Romania, the one in Timisoara became, along with 3 other centers, a pilot center for community service development. In 2007 CSM TIMISOARA received the title of Center of Excellence within the project of the National Center for Mental Health “Initiative for quality” (2007.) Other large-scale projects in which CSM 1 was a partner have resulted in innovative initiatives. For example: The project for institutional twinning: Twinning Project, “Family Involvement”( Support for the Development of Community Mental Health Services and the Deinstitutionalization of Persons with Mental Disorders RO/06/IB/OT/02) march 2008 – mai 2009; The “Reinforce” project for the implementation of Crisis Intervention Services, in collaboration with the Government of the Netherlands and the M.A.D. Foundation (Netherlands), 2007-2009, at the end of which members of the CSM 1 team became trainers for crisis intervention and developed in collaboration with the project partners the first crisis intervention manual in Romania (Ileana Stoica, Liana Dehelean, Simona Tamasan, Emil Bollu, Martin Willems, 2009, intervention in crisis in mental health services, University Horizons Publishing House, Timisoara). CSM 1 is currently a complex unit where the multidisciplinary team offers a wide range of mental health services.

Thus, within CSM 1 various programs are carried out, which include, in addition to medical and related specialized services, rehabilitation and recovery services: club activities, literary circle, art therapy, combined therapies (movement therapies, psycho-kinetotherapy), paid ergotherapy and occupational therapies (until 2013 supported by the National Program for Prophylaxis in Psychiatric and Psychosocial Pathology). Currently, Dr. Ileana-Pepita Stoica, primary care psychiatrist with a PhD in medical sciences, holds the position of head of the Center for Mental Health, within the Emergency Clinical County Hospital “Pius Brînzeu” Timisoara. For over a decade, the Center for Mental Health 1 has benefited from the collaboration with Prof. Dr. Carol David, who taught visual arts at the Faculty of Visual Arts and Design at the West University of Timisoara. He retired about 5 years ago, but the art therapy activity continued, proving to be more effective in post-trauma interventions during the COVID-19 pandemic. Over time, a collection of psychopathological art was also created, of which, unfortunately, only a part was preserved, which will be illustrated, within the Art in/Sane project, through a number of 21 works of art (drawings and paintings).