Overview
April 1st, 1913
The hospital for the Mind at Mount Coquitlam opened in Essondale. soon, the name changed to the Essondale hospital. it wouldn’t be until 1965 that the name changed to Riverview hospital. it would keep this name until the summer of 2012 when it finally closed.
The first building was the Male Chronic Wing built in 1913, with spots for 340 patients. By the end of 1913 however, it held 453 patients, marking the beginning of the overcrowding that would plague the hospital for years to come. Three years later, in 1916, there were 687 patients. It wouldn’t be until November 1st, 1924, that a second building, the acute Psychopathic Unit with a capacity of 300, opened.
Pathology room, East Lawn, Coquitlam archives C5.009
More buildings followed, and in 1922, the Boy’s industrial school at Coquitlam (BISCO) opened. this school held 69 boys and 24 staff, confined to the relative isolation of Essondale. it was an early attempt at juvenile reform, with all the boys sent to BISCO for breaking the law. in 1935, these buildings would be converted into a home for the aged, after new legislation required the operation of a provincial home for the elderly; which eventually opened in 1936.
Boys industrial school at Coquitlam Cottage 2, Coquitlam archives C5.052
The Crease Clinic had new operating facilities, which allowed for the performance of lobotomies, beginning in 1949. This treatment severed neural pathways to the prefrontal cortex to treat schizophrenia, anxiety, and depression. In 1951, 50 of these procedures were performed, it was only in 1954 that the procedure would lose favour. Other invasive and inhumane procedures regularly took place at the hospital. Other procedures included shock therapy, also known as Electro-Convulsive therapy, or ECT, and insulin Coma treatment. ECT involves the administration of electrical shocks, up to three times a day. In 1950, 413 patients were receiving treatment daily. It was used to treat mania, bipolar disorder, and other conditions. It was initially used without anesthetic. Insulin Coma Treatment was commonly used for schizophrenic patients. It involved overdosing the patient with insulin to trigger convulsions and coma.
It wouldn’t be until the 1980s that mental health care switched its focus to rehabilitation and placing people back into the community.
Tuberculosis struck the hospital in 1951, with over 200 affected. X-rays were used to attempt to catch the disease earlier but the problem persisted. In 1955, the North Lawn building opened to treat patients with TB.
Treatment options began to improve in 1950 with Pennington hall opening, offering recreational therapy. Activities included board games, tennis, bowling, swimming, and dancing. By 1954 Chlorpromazine was introduced, the first anti-psychotic. This drug largely replaced ECT, Lobotomies, and Insulin Coma treatments.
October 1930
The Chronic Female wing for 500 female patients opened. the building also served as a residence for the nurses and the new nurses training school. It began as a two-year course, with the first class graduating in 1932. From 1933 to 1951, however, it became a three-year course, reverting to the two-year program in 1952.
Many early pioneers of the study of mental health viewed women as inferior. Male doctors frequently failed to understand women’s physical and mental health. Many believed that women had a physical and mental need to be in the home; as such, women who deviated from this role were seen as mentally ill.
Women were checked into mental institutions by husbands or fathers. Post-partum depression was a common admission during Riverview’s operation. Hysteria was a common diagnosis for and mental illness suffered by a woman. The term remained in medical use until 1952. The most extreme treatment involved the removal of sexual organs.
Women were also the targets of eugenics driven treatments popular at the time. In the Essondale hospital, 200 sterilizations were carried out between 1933 and 1936. Most of those sterilized were women. Medical thought at the time was that mentally ill women were unfit to be mothers, and that they should not be allowed to pass on their genetics to the next generation.