Download 1 Timeline of Significance for the Saskatchewan Hospital, North

Timeline of Significance for the Saskatchewan Hospital, North Battleford
Compiled by: Blaine Wickham, Ph.D. Candidate
Department of History
University of Saskatchewan
1879: An Act representing the keeping of “dangerous lunatics” was passed in the Northwest
Territories. The mentally ill were sent to Stony Mountain, a penitentiary in Manitoba.
1885: An Act was passed whereby the transfer of mentally ill people could be made from Stony
Mountain to the Selkirk Lunatic Asylum or any other lunatic asylum.
1905: Saskatchewan became a province, and with its new status came the responsibility of
providing for its own mentally insane, who were being held in Selkirk Lunatic Asylum in
Brandon, Manitoba.
1906: The Saskatchewan government passed The Insanity Act.
1910: The Provincial Government commissioned Regina architects Edgar M. Storey and
William G. Van Egmond to design the asylum.
1911: Construction begins. The Saskatchewan Building Construction Company of Regina was
awarded the contract as a cost of $446,000 and was projected to be ready for occupation
by December, 1912.
1913: Dr. J. W. MacNeill was instructed by the Saskatchewan Government to begin plans for
the first provincial asylum. He travels east and to Europe to examine the “most up-to-date
institutions in the world.” The opening of the hospital is delayed until February of 1914.
1914: The Saskatchewan Hospital was completed, as well as the #12 building. 346 initial
patients (230 males and 116 females) arrive from Brandon, Manitoba to Battleford at
11:00 am on February 4, 1914. MacNeill’s main therapy is “occupational therapy” to
cure the patients and hydrotherapy and electrotherapy to help sooth them.
1916: A north-west addition, the new men’s wing was constructed at a cost of $130,184.00, as
well as a new warehouse, six modern cottages, a greenhouse, and the #8 and #10
buildings.
1917: Mental Health was moved from the Attorney General’s authority to that of the Minister
of Public Works. Even before this move, MacNeill had been sending his reports to the
Department of Public Works. On the asylum grounds, 23’ X 100’ implement shed and a
30’ X 120’ root cellar were built at a total cost of $2,100.00.
1918: Wilson & Wilson were contracted by the government to construct a Nurses’ Home for
$23,475.00. The building itself is 34’ X 104’, it had two floors and basement, was heated
by steam, and could accommodate up about thirty-five nurses.
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1919: A school for children of staff was built, as the old one was destroyed by fire. The
Isolation (or Tuberculosis) wing was built. The general contract was awarded to Wilson
& Wilson, for $72,800.00. The total building cost was $73,273.00. Additionally, ten staff
cottages were constructed for $35,604.00 and hospital barn was built at an approximate
cost of $15,000.00.
1920: The Dangerous Lunatics Act was passed, the institution is now designated a hospital.
Canadian National Committee for Mental Hygiene visits and is pleased at how MacNeill
runs the institution. They recommend that the government take steps to medicalize
insanity further.
At the hospital, three additional cottages were constructed by the institutional mechanics.
1921: The mental hospital in Weyburn opened; 476 patients were transferred there from North
Battleford.
1922: MacNeill noted in his annual report the name change of the institution from Asylum to
Hospital and the patients from insane to mentally ill. C. M. Learmonth, Superintendent of
Institutional Farms, boasts the hospital had one of the best institutional farms with
2,471.79 square acres.
Saskatchewan forms the Department of Public Health with Dr. John Uhrich as its first
minister. The hospital remains part of Public Works.
1925: Mrs. Penn began a system whereby those in charge were to teach, as well as supervise.
1929: Construction for a staff building, for $230,596.00 was awarded to the A. W. Cassidy &
Company, Limited, of Saskatoon.
1930: The staff building is completed. It has three floors and a basement. Basement floor
contained six 7-room suites, two large locker rooms and two laundries. On the ground
floor, there are four 6-room suites, four 5-room suites and four 4-room suites. The first
and second floors had the same layout and the same number of suites as the ground floor.
Rent is set at $25.00 a month.
Saskatchewan Hospital, North Battleford is transferred to the Department of Public
Health. Although, for the next 20 years its superintendents continue to send their annual
reports to both departments.
1931: MacNeill begins his optional three-year, 100-hour lecture course lectures for all nursing
personnel.
A new building is erected to house the bakery, extra supplies, and pasteurization plant for
$19,747.00. The old warehouse is remodeled and converted into a day room and
dormitory for about 40 male working patients.
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The depression began.
1933: MacNeill now boasts, “Our hospital farm has progressed, and our stock is improving all
the time until it is felt that we have one of the best farms in the province.”
The isolation wing undergoes renovations to make it habitable for the patients in cold
weather and to extend the wing to and provide bed space for around 75 additional
patients.
1934: The farm cost $33,004.35, which included everything from wages to hail insurance and
brought in $37,248.51, for a profit of $4,244.16.
1935: The farm begins to suffer due to dry weather. It cost $32,613.08 to maintain and only
brought in $29,531.19, for a loss of $3,081.89.
1936: The weather is better and the farm brings in $1,528.29. There was such an extreme
drought that no grain “of any kind” was threshed. MacNeill, tired of the farm’s
inconsistency, reports in the annual report that “a system of irrigation is being
inaugurated on the hospital property.”
1937: The farm improves slightly by bringing in $3,428.42. MacNeill reports that the drought
made all the crops “almost a complete failure.”
1938: The Irrigation Project is open and the farm is produces great returns of vegetables. In
addition to this, 62 acres of prairie sod is broken for cropping and 8 acres are leveled for
an orchard.
The patients are doing all the upkeep and minor building projects on the hospital grounds.
Under the heading “Industrial Occupation” MacNeill lists that the patients had completed
a “Curling rink,” a “sterilizer building,” and that they had erected temporary “building
and installed Delco lighting system at irrigation project” in addition to many other minor
tasks.
The construction on the main Irrigation Building begins. The building takes one year to
finish and costs the province $293,467.00.
1940: Drought is ending and the house farm is producing better yields.
1941: The irrigation farm building opens. The large four-story building can accommodate up to
300 male patients who labor on the off-site farm. The Irrigation farm is well worth the
expenditure. The farms “sold $51,852.04 to the hospital and $11,363.20 to the public.
1942: Emil Schoen, a patient at the hospital finished building the Saskatchewan Hospital
Chapel, which was designed by E. J. Gilbert. Schoen also build many other items around
the grounds including bridges, retaining walls and gate pillars.
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1943: MacNeill continues to list “Industrial Occupation” in his reports, which ranges from
rebuilding pig troughs to painting the bakeshop, from repairing roofs to laying new cable
at both the main hospital and at the irrigation farm.
1945: Dr. MacNeill retired after 31 years on the job. Dr. G. F. Nelson, M.D. takes his place as
superintendent and he continues the use of “industrial occupation.”
The attendants unionize An agreement between the Government and the United Civil
Servants of Canada, Local No. 3 was introduced on August 1, 1945. Ward employees
now only work 8-hour days.
Flooding puts most of the farm was underwater for a week and quite a large section is
destroyed. North Battleford has the lower population compared to Weyburn (1,721 to
2,497) and still the hospital made $2,204.07 more from farm sales.
1947: Training for Registered psychiatric Nurses began. The program followed that introduced
first by MacNeill in 1931. It followed a three-year 500-hour salaried apprenticeship.
1948: Legislation was passed whereby Registered Psychiatric Nursing was a profession.
1949: Hospital therapy expands to include insulin sub-coma and coma therapy,
electroconvulsive therapy, neurosurgery.
1950: Pharmacology and the psychotropic drugs are introduced.
The school for children for the hospital staff was closed.
1952: The irrigation farm was turned into The Geriatric Unit of the Saskatchewan Hospital,
North Battleford.
1954: Industrial therapy (which had been referred to as “industrial occupation,” and
“occupation therapy” in the past) is phased out. The government sells off the hospital’s
farmlands.
1957: The Geriatric Unit undergoes renovations to alleviate the general overcrowding
conditions at the main hospital. The government finances the addition of four new wings
that are added to the rear of the building. E. J. McCudden, a Regina architect, drafted the
plans for the additions and the contract is awarded to W. C. Wells Construction Company
of Saskatoon for $394,287.03.
1958: Renovations at the Geriatrics Unit is completed. The total cost is $466,692.23.
1960s: The hospital population is on the decline and many of the auxiliary resident buildings are
vacated or repurposed as well as the staff family housing.
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1963: Wards 8A, 8B, 6A, and 6B undergo a major renovation done by local tradesmen. The
work was to update the general design of the wards; to replace worn out materials and
run-down facilities; and generally to present a modern, bright atmosphere.
1971: The hospital stops the practice of burying deceased patients on hospital grounds. Due to
this practice, there are three cemeteries where 1,507 people are buried. There are only 10
regular headstones, 1,497 are only marked with a number.
1976: A fire broke out on April 24. Damages were estimated to be up to $3 million. The fire,
which police later attributed to arson, heavily damaged the hospital. Following a plan to
lower the patient population, the government only finances the necessary renovations to
maintain the integrity of the damaged areas and reopen essential areas.
1980: The Star-Phoenix releases a series of articles that aims to help improve the image of the
hospital and its patients. Among other things, it highlights how the hospital keeps an open
door policy and is willing to give a tour and talk to all interested parties.
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