Eric Cordingley of Portland emailed a very interesting article from the Oregonian about Morningside Hospital. Written in 1964, the article spotlighted Morningside as an example of new approaches to institutional care.
I was surprised by a number of things in the article:
- Morningside was the largest private psychiatric hospital if the West Coast
- 135 Alaskans, many of whom were Alaska Natives, were still patients
- Nearly a third of the patients were children, most of whom were developmentally disabled
The treatment philosophy (therapeutic community) described in the article is rather forward-thinking for 1964. The article noted that Morningside looked more like a farm than a hospital, there were no uniforms for the patients or staff, patients were encouraged to participate in education/work and recreation, and the goal for most patients was self-sufficiency and discharge.
You can read the whole article here: Morningside Hospital Aids Community Mental Health (307)
2 Comments
I am building a family tree finally and joined ancestry.com and came across something about Morningside. I think it was patients at that hospital in the early years. Made me think of this project. Have you gone to their website?
I’ve used ancestry.com to find additional information on a number of Morningside patients. It’s a great source of family history information.