Riverview Hospital
by Melissa Anderson
The solution for mental health care has been an ongoing issue since the early 1870’s when BC’s first insane asylum, Royal Hospital (photo), opened in Victoria. By 1878 Royal Hospital had closed and the patients were relocated to New Westminster’s Provincial Asylum for the Insane (photo), later renamed the Provincial Hospital for the Insane (PHI). Psychiatric research in the early 1900’s indicated that overindulgence, genetics, syphilis and masturbation were the main origins of insanity. Overcrowding of mental institutions during this time leads the government of BC to purchase 1,000 acres of land in Coquitlam in 1904; the initial planning stages of Riverview (map) begin to take shape as a new mental hospital is designed. Clearing of this land was done mainly through patient labour and, at the same time, Colony Farm (photo) was created to produce food for PHI. The Hospital for the Mind, later called Essondale, officially opened in 1913, receiving over 300 critically ill male patients from PHI. This new, highly efficient building would be renamed as the Male Chronic Building (photo); and then again later as West Lawn Building (1950), as it is known today. Included on the grounds was a botanical garden and arboretum, the first in western Canada, founded by John Davidson the previous year; the original collection of trees are still maintained today, along with newer additions. A plaque, located on the lawn below the North Lawn building, describes a collection of eight magnolia trees, planted to commemorate the 80th anniversary of the hospital.
From the opening in 1913 to 1959, a series of new buildings were designed and opened on the property to accommodate the demanding growth and advancement of mental health in BC. The Boys’ Industrial School was constructed in 1920 to allow a safe place for troubled juveniles to be morally rehabilitated. The Acute Psychopathic Unit was opened in 1924 to test treatment methods and assign treatment plans to new admissions; today this building is called Centre Lawn. 1930 brought about the opening of a female patient building called the Female Chronic Unit, and known today as the East Lawn Building (photo). This 675 bed facility enabled most of PHI female patients to transfer to Essondale. It also opened the doors for the first psychiatric nursing training school in BC to begin. Other disciplines that followed were occupational therapy and social work. The Veterans’ Unit was opened in 1934, and in 1949, the second half of this building was completed; entirely renamed as the Crease Clinic of Psychological Medicine. The Crease Clinic functioned as an acute hospitalization unit for voluntary patients to be admitted and treated; allowing people to voluntarily seek help was a key step in recognizing mental illness on the same level of importance as physical illness. 1951 Essondale introduces the opening of Pennington Hall (photo), encouraging recreational activities for patients. By 1955, Riverview reaches its peak population of over 4,700 patients before beginning to decline in population. That year also includes the opening of a Tuberculosis Unit; a 230-bed unit that is known today as the North Lawn Building. Finally, in 1959, Valleyview 300 opens as the last big patient residential building on the Essondale site. Even though Essondale was renamed Riverview in 1966, Valleyview continued to independently function well into the 1980’s. Due to the population decrease and changes in mental health planning, Riverview facilities began to close down. These closures included: the West Lawn Building and Colony Farm operations in 1983; the Crease Clinic in 1992; the East Lawn Building in 2005; and Riverview as a facility for the mentally ill officially closed in the summer of 2012. In 1997 a brand new Forensic Psychiatric Hospital was opened on the remaining Colony Farm site, which replaced the original unit built in 1949. It is a 190-bed facility housing the “criminally insane,” or in recent terms, people who cannot be found guilty due to a mental disorder.
Since the opening of the first BC insane asylum, views of the mentally ill and mental health as a whole have evolved through advancement in research, knowledge and understanding. BC passed its first legislation relating to mental illness in 1873, the Insane Asylums Act. In 1897 an act was passed that allowed the mentally ill to be committed, involuntarily, with two medical referrals. By 1940 the Mental Hospital Act of BC is revised to eliminate the terms “insane” and “lunatic” in relation to mental illness. The BC Mental Health Act was established in 1965, initiating the change in how mental health was viewed. By the 1990’s these changes were being implemented across the province by replacing Riverview with planned regional facilities, specializing in mental health services. The Charter of Patient Rights was introduced at Riverview in 1994; the first in Canada. The Redevelopment Project for Riverview was described in 2002, indicating that the site would be gradually shut down and all patients transferred to smaller community care facilities within the health regions of BC. This change allowed patients to be relocated closer, if not in, their home communities; closer to friends and family for added support.
A range of treatment therapies were implemented and introduced over the course of Riverview’s history. The hospital shifted away from previous confinement and punishment tactics and provided instead, a work therapy treatment. Early patients on this site took part in working on Colony farm; working the land or caring for livestock. Spending time outside in a rural setting, or in the gardens, were main therapeutic treatment plans during the early 20th century. Although not a sufficient treatment on its own in current research, nature still has added therapeutic benefits today in mental health. Electro-convulsive therapy was introduced in 1942 to treat patients with severe depression; other therapy plans occurring shortly after included psychosurgery, such as lobotomies, for treatment of schizophrenia, mania and other psychotic disorders. The use of sulfa drugs was also implemented. In 1954 Riverview used chlorpromazine, a psychiatric drug, for the first time. This treatment replaced the use of shock therapy and guided the way for future treatment in mental illness. It transformed the previous notion of the mentally ill being untreatable, to being treatable.
Today Riverview still has functional buildings and cottages, which are rented out to generate income for the site. The Crease Clinic and East Lawn, as examples, are two of the buildings regularly being used by the film industry for movies or TV shows. Other buildings are used as training facilities, a daycare centre, and Fraser Health Tertiary Residential Care services, to name a few. The BC Ambulance Service is also located on site. Some buildings are so old and unsafe that they cannot be used and are boarded up, thus restricting access. The grounds are maintained year round and security holds a constant presence. There is even a bus route (map) that drives directly through this historic site. The walkways and hiking trails are used often by locals and tourists alike, enjoying the park setting as the pathways interchange throughout the grounds. Unique species of 100 year old trees and kept gardens create a peaceful atmosphere. The surrounding area is mainly residential, with the preserved Colony Farm Regional Park (map) on the other side of the highway, right next to the Forensic Psychiatric Hospital.
Additional Links
A History of Madness
For the future of Riverview video
History of North Lawn Building
History of East Lawn Building
Riverview lands 2012 summary report
Bracken, Patrick and Philip Thomas
2001 Postpsychiatry: A New Direction for Mental Health. Education and Debate 322:724-727.
Glynn, Shirley M.
1990 Token Economy Approaches for Psychiatric Patients: Progress and Pitfalls Over 25 Years. Behavior Modification 14:383–407.
Lesage, Alain, David Groden, Elliot M. Goldner, Daniel Gelinas and Leslie M. Arnold
2008 Regionalised Tertiary Psychiatric Residential Facilities. Epidemiologia e Psichiatria Sociale 17:3846 doi:10.1017/S1121189X00002670
Lisanby, Sarah H.
2007 Electroconvulsive Therapy for Depression. New England Journal of Medicine 357:1939-1945
Menzies, Robert
2001 Contesting Criminal Lunacy: Narratives of Law and Madness in West Coast Canada, 1874-1950. History of Psychiatry 7:123-156.
Menzies, Robert
2002 Historical Profiles of Criminal Insanity. International Journal of Law and Psychiatry 25:379-404.
Moreno, J. L.
1939 Psychodramatic Shock Therapy a Sociometric Approach to the Problem of Mental Disorders Sociometry 2(1):1-30.
For the future of Riverview video
History of North Lawn Building
History of East Lawn Building
Riverview lands 2012 summary report
Bracken, Patrick and Philip Thomas
2001 Postpsychiatry: A New Direction for Mental Health. Education and Debate 322:724-727.
Glynn, Shirley M.
1990 Token Economy Approaches for Psychiatric Patients: Progress and Pitfalls Over 25 Years. Behavior Modification 14:383–407.
Lesage, Alain, David Groden, Elliot M. Goldner, Daniel Gelinas and Leslie M. Arnold
2008 Regionalised Tertiary Psychiatric Residential Facilities. Epidemiologia e Psichiatria Sociale 17:3846 doi:10.1017/S1121189X00002670
Lisanby, Sarah H.
2007 Electroconvulsive Therapy for Depression. New England Journal of Medicine 357:1939-1945
Menzies, Robert
2001 Contesting Criminal Lunacy: Narratives of Law and Madness in West Coast Canada, 1874-1950. History of Psychiatry 7:123-156.
Menzies, Robert
2002 Historical Profiles of Criminal Insanity. International Journal of Law and Psychiatry 25:379-404.
Moreno, J. L.
1939 Psychodramatic Shock Therapy a Sociometric Approach to the Problem of Mental Disorders Sociometry 2(1):1-30.