Over the years, there were numerous occasions when concerns were raised about the quality of care provided by Morningside Hospital. The earliest we’ve found was in 1915. The Sunday, March 28, 1915 issue of the Atlanta Constitution included the following story: Syndicate Enriched from Insane Asylum Juneau, Alaska. March 27 – A report criticising the […]
Morningside Hospital was located on the current site of Mall 205, a community shopping center off Interstate 205 in East Portland. [mappress mapid=”1″]
Prior to the Alaska Mental Health Enabling Act of 1956, a person accused of being mentally ill was to be brought before a jury of six people, who would rule him sane or insane. The patient was often sent to prison until his transfer to Portland. Medical or psychiatric exams were not required. This commitment […]
The following post comes from the website of the Oregon Health Sciences University (OHSU) from a paper written by Olof Larsell, an Oregon medical historian. Larsell writes: “The gold rush to Alaska, beginning in 1897, had burdened the federal government with responsibility for gold seekers whose minds broke under the hardships and strain of their […]
Many of the children and adults who were sent to Morningside from Alaska never returned home. Often, they became faint memories or a part of family history that can’t be verified. The uncle no one talks about or the child everyone assumes died. One of the things we’d really like to do is collect and […]
By Ellen | April 28, 2009
“…the climate of Alaska is none too good for an insane patient. Winter sunlight lasts but a few hours in the day in the interior, and winter rains are largely constant upon the coast, the rainfall at Sitka and Juneau being about 90 inches per year. The undue length of the days in midsummer also […]
By Ellen | April 20, 2009
The preliminary examination of the records shows that Alaskans from all over the state – from Nome to Ketchikan – were sent to the Morningside. Dr Henry Waldo Coe, medical director and owner of Sanitarium Co which operated Morningside Hospital, provided the federal government with a report on the census of the hospital in March […]
Posted in 1900-1929, Morningside Hospital, Treatment/Outcomes | Tagged Alzheimers, chronic alcoholics, dementias, demographics, developmental disabilities, Dr. Henry Waldo Coe, March 1916 Hospital Census, mental illness, Morningside Hospital, Sanitarium Co |
By Ellen | April 15, 2009
The story of the hospital and the transition to building a care system over several decades is fascinating and sometimes quite heartbreaking. Lets face it –the standards of what we deem acceptable treatment for persons with mental illness and other conditions has evolved dramatically and for the better in the last one hundred years. Morningside […]
By Ellen | April 13, 2009
Sam Bonnifield was a professional gambler and saloon owner who followed the gold from Dawson City to Fairbanks in the early 1900’s. Sam and his brother founded the First National Bank in Fairbanks, which shipped out $3 million in gold dust before the depression hit. Bonnifield, who was known as “Square Sam” because he treated […]
