"7f62700f-3b6a-4862-b61c-f1c5e466410f"@en . "CONTENTdm"@en . "INSANE ASYLUM."@en . "http://resolve.library.ubc.ca/cgi-bin/catsearch?bid=1198198"@en . "Sessional Papers of the Province of British Columbia"@en . "British Columbia. Legislative Assembly"@en . "2016-06-24"@en . "[1884]"@en . "https://open.library.ubc.ca/collections/bcsessional/items/1.0060620/source.json"@en . "application/pdf"@en . " 47 Vic. Insane Asylum. 281\nASYLUM FOR THE INSANE.\nREPORT OF COMMISSIONERS.\nNew Westminster, B. 0.,\nSeptember 22nd, 1883.\nTo the Honourable the Provincial Secretary, Victoria.\nSir,\u00E2\u0080\u0094Your Commissioners appointed to enquire into the conduct and management of the\nProvincial Asylum for the Insane, report as follows:\u00E2\u0080\u0094\nThat on entering the building the place impressed them as resembling a prison rather\nthan a hospital for the insane, and as a far less preferable place of abode than the Penitentiary\nat New Westminster. The place is gloomy in the extreme; the corridors narrow and sombre in\nappearance; the windows high above the ground and unnecessarily barred; the ventilation\ndefective; the water supply deficient; the apparatus for extinguishing fire of the worst kind;\nand, worst of all, the establishment exceedingly overcrowded, the patients being herded together\nmore like cattle than human beings.\nThe external arrangements are even more defective than the internal, consisting of\nground enclosed to the extent of three or four acres. This space is divided off into yards for\nmale and female patients, a small kitchen garden, and a ground for drying clothes.\nThe system of conducting the Institution we consider unsatisfactory. There is a Medical\nOfficer who visits about every second day, a Superintendent, six or seven Keepers, a Matron,\nand a Night-watchman. Even among this small staff, your Commissioners noticed that lack\nof esprit de corps, or working in unison and for the general good, without which the care of the\ninsane can never be undertaken with any degree of success.\nYour Commissioners recommend the following :\u00E2\u0080\u0094\nThere should be a Resident Physician-in-Chief, who should be Superintendent and Executive Officer of the Establishment. He should serve during good behaviour, and his compensation should be so liberal as to enable him to devote his whole time and energies to the welfare\nof the Institution. He should nominate to the Government suitable persons to act as his\nsubordinates, and have entire control over the medical, moral, and dietetic treatment of the\npatients, the unrestricted power of appointment and discharge of all persons engaged in their\ncare, and should exercise a general supervision over every department of the Institution. It\nis only by the appointment of such an officer that the wranglings and difficulties in the household will be avoided, and regularity, good order, economy, and an efficient discipline secured.\nThe building should be enlarged and the whole of the grounds belonging to the Asylum\nsurrounded by a substantial fence. Of this land, a large proportion should be converted into\na kitchen garden and kept in a high state of cultivation. It will not only be of great importance in furnishing an abundant supply of fresh vegetables for the use of the Instituti. n, but it\nwill be found the very best dependence for outdoor labour for the patients. The other part of the\ngrounds should be laid out with shade trees, shrubs, &c., and everything done to give the place\nan attractive appearance. A gymnasium, with the right kind of apparatus, suitable in its\nfitting up for insane men, and a calisthenium for the women, would be found useful. The 282 Insane Asylum. 1883\nvarious games of ball, the use of a car on a circular railroad, tenpins, &c, are among the kinds\nof exercise that would be enjoyed by many patients. Dry walks around the grounds are extremely useful, and should certainly be provided.\nIn regard to the interior of the building, your Commissioners noticed many defects-\nBesides being infinitely too small for the number of patients, the rooms or cells are badly ven\"\ntilated and destitute of furniture. None of them contain more than a bed firmly fixed to the\nfloor. Your Commissioners would suggest that the furniture be varied according to the class\nof patient by whom it is to be used. It should, at all events, equal in neatness and comfort\nthat of a plain lodging-house. Pictures should be placed on the walls of every ward, on account\nof the favourable effect they have on the patients. Books, periodicals, and newspapers should\nalso be provided.\nThe windows in the building can be greatly improved by being extended to the floor.\nThis would render the rooms far more cheerful and habitable, especially in the rainy season\nwhen the patients are huddled together between four whitewashed walls, unable to catch a\nglimpse of the outer world.\nThe store-room is quite inadequate in size, an apartment fully four times as large being\nrequired.\nThe fire-extinguishing apparatus is lamentably defective. The water supply cannot be\ndepended on, and of the apparatus in the building only one or two of the keepers appeared to\nunderstand its use.\nYour Commissioners would call attention to the long hours of the keepers or attendants.\nThe work of these men, when faithfully performed, is often harassing, and among excited\npatients peculiarly so. For this reason pains should be taken to give them as much relaxation\nas possible.\nHenry V. Edmonds,\nChairman."@en . "Legislative proceedings"@en . "J110.L5 S7"@en . "1884_20_281_282"@en . "10.14288/1.0060620"@en . "English"@en . "Vancouver : University of British Columbia Library"@en . "Victoria, BC : Government Printer"@en . "Images provided for research and reference use only. For permission to publish, copy or otherwise distribute these images please contact the Legislative Library of British Columbia"@en . "Original Format: Legislative Assembly of British Columbia. Library. Sessional Papers of the Province of British Columbia"@en . "ASYLUM FOR THE INSANE. REPORT OF COMMISSIONERS."@en . "Text"@en . ""@en .