The Birth of Riverview

1906 photo taken by Philip Timms of the Public Hospital for the Insane in New Westminster. The white buildings are housing for the prison staff - the prison was north east of the asylum.

1910, same photographer as above and the same building.

Taken sometime in the early 1900's, Philip Timms took this photo of the Public Hospital for the Insane.

Entrance to the Public Hospital for the Insane at the corner of McBride and Columbia Streets.

Photos from the Vancouver Public Library collection.

Crease

Enclosed inside these walls one finds 
The shattered dreams of years. 

Enclosed inside these walls one has 
The cause of many tears. 

Enclosed inside these hearts one has 
The cause of many fears. 

Enclosed together, many think and strive 
To build a life anew. 

Enclosed inside these walls one finds 
Such suffering and tears. 

By L.S., From February 1967 Leader

The Mental Health Act brought the amalgamation of the Crease Clinic and the Essondale Provincial Mental Hospital, creating one facility - the Riverview Hospital. The name Essondale faded into history.

The glass sidewalk in Chinatown changes colours.

Ever since its earliest days, Essondale had been conducting research, informally. It was in the 1960's though that the research began to get widespread attention. Dr. Anthony Grenier's research into schizophrenia made valuable contributions towards understanding this mental illness.

“We wonder if the patients here at Riverview Hospital are aware of the fact that Dr. Anthony Greiner, Unit Director of North Lawn, through his research on schizophrenia has attracted world-wide attention, and some of his theories have lately been tested in debate at scientific conferences at several major U.S. universities. Dr. Greiner’s general hypothesis is that some cases of schizophrenia are a metabolic disease, and his work lives in this field…Many years of painstaking endeavour still live ahead, but in Dr. Greiner’s own words: 

‘This is the first time in history that there has been a positive finding in schizophrenia that we can work with, and that we will soon probably be able to use as a diagnostic tool. I think we now have a lead which has not yet been fully explored. I’m convinced it will guide us toward the solution to schizophrenia.’”

 February 1967 Leader

The nurses' uniforms at Riverview contrasted sharply with the bell-bottoms and miniskirts the young people in public wore.

The students could not have hair that touched their collar, no make-up or jewellery, except for small stud earrings. A nursing instructor carried a ruler and would measure to assure the skirt's hem was 2 1/2 inches below the knee.

By the late 1950's, the nurses were allowed to wear a white, one piece uniform, then pant suits then coloured uniforms. In the 1970's and 80's, a business dress code was allowed if the nurse was not working in the geriatric ward or medical unit at Riverview.

No more starched collars and caps.

Thanks to the PDF, Riverview, A Legacy of Care and Compassion for the above information.

I hope you find the beauty around you.

Karen Magill

Age and Changes

 

Mystery Bus Tour

“A group of patients went on a bus trip. We went towards New Westminster across the Patullo Bridge. We drove to Ladner. A lot of us had never seen Ladner before. We looked at the nice houses and different roads and farms and cattle, horses and sheep. We all liked Ladner very much, and enjoyed the ride too. Thank you Mrs. Franklin and bus driver.”

April 10, 1960 Leader

In the 1960's the focus at Essondale was on rehabilitation. On helping the patients transition from institution life to the outside world. There was more emphasis on psychosocial rehabilitation, vocational services, open wards and ward community meetings. There was even an Activities of Daily Living Unit established.

“I came to head up the Rehabilitation Program at Hillside in 1964. It was an attempt to provide basic preparation before people took the big leap into the community. We gave them a chance to get to a better setting. The idea was to provide meaningful work activity and prepare them for employment. We worked with two different groups: long-term patients who were going to move to boarding homes and patients who would live independently. The care we gave them was more individualized than on the wards. Once they left Riverview, a rehab officer would follow up with them in the community, make sure they had found work and were getting along well. It was quite a neat program.” 

Alice McSweeney Staff psychologist intermittently from 1948-1974

There were drastic changes to the Riverside building in 1965. Veterans were living at that building on Colony Farms and they were transferred to other areas on the grounds. The Riverside Building became a maximum security area.

Patients with criminal records associated with a mental disorder were admitted to the building. The first floor was dedicated to a concentrated treatment program for patients suffering from acute alcoholism. Ten years later, Riverview was designated the Forensic Psychiatric Service Commission and became a separate organization from the hospital. The non-forensic patients, over 90 of them, were transferred into other sections.

The Riverside building was renamed the Forensic Psychiatric Unit, becoming a 142-bed secure hospital to provide assessment and treatment to those found unfit to stand trial or not guilty by reason of insanity. It also provided care for the prisoners who became mentally ill during incarceration.

Also in 1965, the BC Mental Health Act was passed. This act combined five previous laws relating to mental health care, encouraged "locally operated mental health services" and the creation of mental health societies.

Overcrowding at Essondale continued and many of the buildings were beginning to show their age. The Crease Clinic though shone in comparison.

“When provincial NDP leader Robert Strachan toured the provincial mental hospital in November 1964 he described Essondale as old and overcrowded, but clean. ‘Old metal beds are lined up so close in the dormitories that there is no room for bedside tables where patients could keep personal belongings,’ Strachan said. In contrast, adjoining Crease Clinic, for short-term care, is bright and well furnished. ‘I didn’t know what was wrong with Essondale until I saw Crease Clinic,’ Strachan said.”

Vancouver Sun, November 25, 1964

Thanks to the PDF, Riverview, A Legacy of Care and Compassion for the above information.

I hope you find the beauty around you.

Karen Magill

Strike at Essondale

 

Essondale was at the forefront of the government employees' movement in BC. Ever since 1919, when the first meeting of the Provincial Civil Service Association was held. In 1944, the BC Government Employees' Association was formed and Essondale 575 members. That was more than any other branch in the province including the government employees in Victoria!

Premier W.A.C. Bennett's government had an uneasy relationship with the Government Employees' Association. On March 13, 1959, members of the Association went out on strike. Including the staff at Essondale. It was a short strike, four hours long.

The issue was bargaining rights. The pickets went up at government buildings at 7 am. By 10:30 am, the B.C. Supreme Court had issued an injunction calling for an end to the strike and the picket lines went down.

However short it was, the strike had an effect on Essondale.

 Some of the psychologists asked to be allowed through the picket line (at Essondale). The nurses said: No dice. The patients will bear up quite well without them. The patients enjoyed themselves. The monotony was broken for one day.” 

Roy LaVigne, quoted in A Union Amongst Government Employees: A History of the B.C. Government Employees’ Union, 1919-1979 by Bruce McLean.

In 1969, the BC Government Employees' Association became the BC Government Employees' Union. Riverview - as Essondale was now known - employees are still members of the public sector unions represented by the BC Government Employees Union (BCGEU), the BC Nurses Union (BCNU), the Professional Employees Association (PEA) and the Union of Psychiatric Nurses of BC (UPN).

Remember I mentioned the newsletter at Essondale, The Leader? By 1960, it was no longer a little newsletter. It was a 28-page, twice monthly publication - almost a small town newspaper. The paper had an advisory board, editorial board, ward reporters, artists, typists and even a feature writer. 

In a typical issue, a reader would find a calendar of events, church services, reports from the wards, a movie schedule. They would also find jokes, news from Colony Farms, gardening tips, horoscopes, make-up tips and book reviews. Groups such as the English Club, Journalism Club, Drama Club and Reducing Club - which offered exercises and marching - published their news in The Leader.

Thanks to the PDF, Riverview, A Legacy of Care and Compassion for the above information.

I hope you find the beauty around you.

Karen Magill