Bobbi Poushinsky and Juhree Zimmerman
We were working at Riverview in the 1990s during the downsizing process and remember the excitement, fear, and skepticism as plans were unveiled. It was never meant to be the way it turned out.
Building on the closer-to-home model, primary, secondary and tertiary care were envisioned to be more accessible to people where they lived. No more big warehousing of people; no more isolation from the friends and family who loved and cared for them.
While some of the Riverview residents had caring family, many of the residents were left isolated and alone. Some people were just dropped off as families and communities could no longer care for them, or to be honest, didn’t want to.
While Riverview had evolved to some extent over the years it was open, it remained institutional, where sadness rather than hope flourished.
Walking through the halls of East Lawn, Centre Lawn, North Lawn and Valleyview was a soul-shattering experience. We both recall the smell, the airing courts, the sounds of desperation and the wards with many beds and privacy curtains, as if there was any real privacy to be had.
And yet there were many kind, caring, loving staff who wanted to provide their patients with humane care in a safe environment.
Riverview, like most things, was neither all good nor all bad. Staff tried to make Riverview a better place to live and implemented initiatives such as patient councils; meal improvement initiatives; opening up the locked staff washrooms on the grounds so everyone could “go”; cottages for respite and private time with loved ones; communal gardens and personal development and creative arts programs.
Riverview, as it once was, should never be reopened. Instead, we need to look at how that beautiful pastoral place can be turned into a place of “honourable asylum.”
There are some in our society who truly need a safe and humane sanctuary and we have the ability to provide it; what is missing is the social and political will to do it.
It is time to go back and redefine the continuum of care, keeping in mind the changing needs of people with mental-health and addiction issues. We know what to do, we now just need to do it.
There is a saying that those who fail to learn from history are doomed to repeat it. Let’s not forget the people who are truly doomed if we fail to learn our lessons from the past.
Bobbi Poushinsky is a former manager of the Human Resource Development Centre at Riverview Hospital; Juhree Zimmerman is a former director of nursing operations.