Morningside Hospital » Quality of Care

1911 Investigation

Ellen — Sat, 03 Dec 2011 00:53:03 +0000

Joseph Von Kowski was adjudged insane in Tanana on March 13, 1911 and admitted to Morningside Hospital on April 15, 1911. He only stayed at the hospital for a short time, escaping on July 15. He subsequently wrote a letter to the matron of the Fairbanks Jail alleging that Morningside was “worst than any slaughterhouse from the beginning of the World” and that patients were “kept as slaves.” He also maintained that patients were tied up and beaten.

Walter Clark (right), Alaska’s first territorial governor, went to Morningside and spent 4 days “investigating conditions at the asylum”, where he conferred with Edward Dixon, the Department of the Interior inspector who also conducted the 1909 inspection.

The following documents detail the complaint and investigation.

Von Kowski Complaint: September 21, 9122 (0), Governor Clark Letter: December 11, 1911 (68), Dixon Inspection Report: December 29, 1911 (83)

1909 Dixon Investigation Report

Ellen — Fri, 18 Nov 2011 22:13:31 +0000

Henry Waldo Coe and his partners (the Sanitarium Company) began providing mental health care to Alaskans in 1904. Prior to winning their first contract, they operated Crystal Springs Sanitarium which provided care to private-pay patients.

The pictures below show how the hospital changed as it morphed into Morningside Hospital, going from private-pay patients to government contract supported care of Alaskans. These images are from an October, 1909 investigation report on the care of Alaskan patients at Crystal Springs Sanitarium. The report, written by Edward W. Dixon, is from US Department of the Interior records at the National Archives II in College Station, MD. You can read the full report and see additional photos here – 1909 Dixon Inspection Report (48).

The changes in the architecture are striking.

The Massachusetts Building (Crystal Springs Sanitarium) with the Nurses Cottage (to the left).

Morningside Asylum building, where Alaskan patients were housed.

Posting Morningside Administrative Records

Ellen — Fri, 18 Nov 2011 22:11:23 +0000

We’ve amassed a large collection of material from our research at the National Archives II in Maryland. The documents are primarily administrative correspondence between Morningside Hospital and administrators at the U S Department of the Interior Office of Territorial Affairs. These documents include information on patients (admissions, discharges, diagnoses, deaths, citizenship, assets, etc.), complaints and investigations, inspections, and personnel issues.

I’m going to begin posting the US DOI reports on the blog on a regular basis. They are fascinating reading and provide insight into mental health care in the first half of the 20^th century. You can find the first report (all 67 pages) in the next blog post, on the 1909 Dixon Investigation.

If you download a document, please take a few minutes to share your thoughts by leaving a comment.

1923 DOI Inspection

Ellen — Tue, 30 Nov 2010 02:38:28 +0000

Research team member Marylou Elton lives in Washington, DC, and spends many of her Wednesday’s at the National Archives II scanning Department of the Interior (DOI) administrative records of Morningside Hospital. She recently sent an interesting set of documents relating to the 1923 DOI inspection of the hospital, including the DOI inspectors report and recommendations, Morningside owner Henry Waldo Coe’s response, a list of exhibits and photos.

A few of the more interesting things in the report:

On July 25, 1923, there were 246 patients at Morningside, including 35 Alaska Natives.
25% of the patients had syphilis. One of the symptoms of late stage syphilis is mental illness.
472 patients out of the 973 admitted between 1904 and 1923 were discharged.
The federal government was paying $50 a month for each patient. The monthly rate for the Pioneer Home in Sitka was $103.
The inspector found that three Morningside patients were not insane and one other was doubtful.
The sexes were kept “entirely separate”.
The hospital grounds included 97 acres of farm land which was used to produce food for the patients.
The inspector found that there were no other institutions in the northwest that were “prepared to properly care for the Alaska insane” besides Morningside.
Emigration officials inspected patient records three times a year, and deported foreign patients regardless of their condition.
Deceased patients were buried in the Riverview Cemetery. The graves were “properly marked with a cement block imbedded in the ground and marked with a number, which corresponds to a like number, with name, shown on a plat kept by the Cemetery Association.”

1915 Investigation, Part II

Ellen — Sat, 20 Feb 2010 02:07:26 +0000

Many of the recently discovered burial sites and death certificates were from the early years at Morningside Hospital. In May, I wrote an article about the Department of the Interior’s 1915 investigation into the care provided at the hospital. In March of 1915, the judicial committee of the Alaska Territorial Legislature issued a report criticizing the facility and demanding that care be improved. Dr. Viola May Coe of Morningside Hospital denied the accusations and asserted that patients were well cared for.

During our August trip to the National Archives II, we found photos taken as part of a May 1915 investigation into the accusations by the Department of the Interior. They offer a glimpse of the conditions at Morningside with images of patients, facilities and treatment methods.

All of these photos are from Record Group 126, Records of the Office of the Territories, National Archives II, College Park, MD.

Notes attached to the photo above said, “This picture is intended to show the types of restraint used during the inspection. The man at the radiator is in wristlets but they do not show in the picture. He is in the midst of putting a cigarette to his lips. The man standing at the foot of the bed is in a muff of leather. He is unable to take hold of other patients or to scratch them or tear his clothing.”

The first photo below is women patients doing needle work and making baskets in front of the womens cottage. The second photo includes (from left) Morningside Hospital founder Dr. Henry Waldo Coe, and Alaska Native woman patient, and an inspector from the US Department of the Interior.

Patient Photos: 1935 Investigation

Ellen — Thu, 20 Aug 2009 19:00:00 +0000

Over the years, the Department of the Interior conducted a number of investigations of Morningside Hospital. The photographs taken as part of these investigations are one of the few sources of images of patients that we’ve found. Here are a few from the 1935 investigation.

One of the Men's Wards

Women Patients Doing Needlepoint

One of the Women's Wards

Questions about Quality of Care – 1915

Ellen — Tue, 12 May 2009 01:44:03 +0000

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 sanitarium at Portland Ore., where Alaska insane are cared for under contract with the government, was returned yesterday by the judicial committee of the territorial legislature. The report demanded “that conditions there, by which the syndicate is enriched $30,000 annually, be improved.”

The report says: “The ninety insane are in cramped and crowded quarters, with no reasonable space for living or sleeping. Some of the patients sleep on the floor.” Copies of the report were ordered forwarded to President Wilson, Secretary Lane, and Governor Strong.

Portland, Ore., March 27 – A denial that there was any ground for statements contained in the report of the judiciary committee to the Alaska territorial legislature critising the Morningside Sanitarium, where Alaska insane patients are cared for, was made by Dr. Viola May Coe, one of the owners of the sanitarium.

“The sanitarium is inspected by representatives of the government twice a year,” said Dr. Coe, “and the patients are well cared for. We have accomodations for 200 patients and at present there are but 98 there, so the charge that we are overcrowded is untrue.”