[BCMA] Riverview Museum

Fri May 18 10:08:55 PDT 2012

Could someone post some kind of link to the museum at Riverview. I've
googled and went to the Riverview/BCMAS site but didn't find mention
of it. Would like to find out where it is on the site, phone #, open
days/hours etc.  Thanks

From: bcma-bounces at lists.vvv.com [mailto:bcma-bounces at lists.vvv.com]
On Behalf Of Moderated BCMA subscriber listserv.
Sent: Thursday, May 17, 2012 12:42 PM
To: bcma at lists.vvv.com
Subject: Re: [BCMA] CMA Clip Serv: Wanted: Room for a museum

Locating patients in the Vancouver Downtown Eastside will not give
them much of an advantage of where they live now.  The Riverview
Hospital buildings are very usable, have wonderful grounds and can
offer a "new life".  The shutting down of hospitals treating mental
illness was also one gigantic push from the bleeding hearts who now
blame all levels of government without looking into the mirror.

There is a museum at Riverview and the Riverview Hospital Historical
Society do a great job along with the Riverview Horticultural Centre
Society who conduct tours and promote the wonderful horticulture on
the site.   The SPARC Radio Museum is also located at Riverview.
Riverview is very well maintained and functionable.  The biggest
future problem is that the lack of use of the many buildings and
large tract of land make it a great financial target for the
provincial government to sell off for development.  Now thnis is a
cause worth fighting for.

Ron Hyde 

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From: bcma-bounces at lists.vvv.com [mailto:bcma-bounces at lists.vvv.com]
On Behalf Of Moderated BCMA subscriber listserv.
Sent: Wednesday, May 16, 2012 4:46 PM
To: bcma at lists.vvv.com
Subject: Re: [BCMA] CMA Clip Serv: Wanted: Room for a museum

How about a Vancouver Downtown Eastside location?

So many of the inmates discharged willy-nilly of this Institution
landed up there that it would be poetic justice.

The big push in North America during the latter part of the 20th
Century to shut down asylums and release the residents with the aim
of new mental health drugs to control behaviours did not work well at
all, if we consider the ongoing problems of poverty, unemployment,
homelessness, addictions, street violence, or severe psychoses so
many of these souls face - now virtually on their own.

Then our Federal politicians, spurred-on by privacy advocates, passed
laws that put patients' rights ahead of their health, meaning that
unless a person either seeks medical help themselves or is an
immediate risk to life or limb, they cannot be compelled to even take
their medications, far less be detained for 72 hours of psychiatric
review,

Any honest museum dedicated to Riverview Hospital surely would
include a gallery dedicated to a sequel such as this.

Dan Gallacher 

----- Original Message ----- 

From: Moderated BCMA subscriber listserv. <mailto:bcma at lists.vvv.com>

To: bcma at lists.vvv.com 

Sent: Wednesday, April 18, 2012 10:01 AM

Subject: [BCMA] CMA Clip Serv: Wanted: Room for a museum

Wanted: Room for a museum 

Diane Strandberg, Tri-City News, Wednesday, April 18, 2012 

A collection of artifacts that tell the story of 100 years of mental
health care at Riverview Hospital is being put into storage but not
abandoned. 

Heritage advocates are lobbying for museum space in Coquitlam to
showcase hospital equipment, furniture and uniforms, and the health
authority responsible for Riverview is also looking for space to
house the collection. 

"We are working with the historical society to find an appropriate
location," said David Weir, spokesperson for the Provincial Health
Services Authority. "There needs to be an appropriate location to
house the collection," Weir said. 

Weir said the health authority has to vacate the buildings it leases
from the provincial government through Shared Services B.C. as part
of a long-planned closure of the hospital involving the relocation of
patients and services to new facilities being developed in B.C.
communities. For years, the health authority has leased space 

in the Industrial Services Building on the Riverview lands for the
items collected by the Riverview Historical Society, but that
building is closing at the end of May. 

"Because we lease the space, we have a deadline to get out of the
hospital buildings," explained Weir, who said the remainder of the
hospital will close by summer, including the administration
buildings. 

The scheduled closure of Riverview Hospital for this summer has
raised numerous concerns about the future of the 244 acre site. But
the immediate concern is what to do with the historical collection,
which chronicles the change in methods and philosophy of mental
health care over a century and has been the subject of much study 

by students and others working in the field. 

In March, the Coquitlam Heritage Society renewed its call for a
museum to house the collection as well as other archival material
languishing in basements throughout the city. Coun. Craig Hodge, a
former president of the society who currently chairs the Riverview
Lands Advisory Committee, agreed the city needs a permanent 

museum to store Coquitlam's heritage artifacts and the hospital
collection. 

Heritage assets 

"The city is aware that throughout the city there are a number of
heritage assets that the city has to preserve so they will be there
for the future," Hodge said. 

Although the city has Mackin House in Maillardville, a period home
reflecting life in the early days, it is unsuitable for storing a
large collection, Hodge said. However, he predicted the city's 125th
anniversary in four years could provide an opportunity for developing
a strategy for preserving and exhibiting Coquitlam's historical
items. 

"We have an opportunity to bring heritage to the forefront," Hodge
said. 

Meanwhile, the executive director of the Coquitlam Heritage Society
hopes the city will find a space for a museum. Jill Cook said the
society is working with the city on a museum proposal but it's a long
way from fruition. "We are currently on neither the A nor B list for
capital projects so there is much work to do," said Cook in an email
message. 

For Anna Tremere, founder of the Riverview Hospital Historical
Society, packing the collection for storage is an immediate concern
and a big job. "We have to find sufficient space for all the items,"
was all she would say about the future of the collection. 

Meanwhile, the province is looking at the heritage value of Riverview
Hospital buildings and is paying $95,000 to a consultant for a
Heritage Conservation Plan, due in the fall. Although the study won't
make recommendations for the property, it will guide future planning.

Although the site has to be vacated by this summer, some mental
health care will continue in recently-built Connolly, Cottonwood and
Cypress Lodges. 

---   30   --- 

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