Mother Joseph
Pioneer in care for the mentally ill
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A jail inmate was released 150 years ago in Vancouver, a processthat has been repeated fairly regularly ever since.
What Tom Riedlinger finds notable is the person who sprung thisinmate from the local lockup. The troubled woman became MotherJosephs first mental health patient.
After researching the history of care in the state, Riedlingerpoints to June 5, 1861, as the opening of Washingtons first mentalhealth care facility.
Riedlinger, a mental health professional in Olympia, describes itas the start of a system of compassionate care in what was thenWashington Territory.
Mother Joseph already had a lot on her plate. She and the fournuns who had come with her from Montreal were pioneers in education,health care and social services.
But they expanded their work when a Vancouver woman was jailedfor disruptive behavior. It was too much for the Sisters of Charityof Providence to bear, according to The Bell and the River, ahistory of Mother Josephs work in the Northwest.
There was the poor woman under the supervision of a man who hadneither morals or principles of any kind, wrote Sister MaryMcCrosson, quoting the chronicles of the religious order. We weremuch afflicted at this condition of things.
They decided to use two buildings near the boys orphanage forhousing the mentally deranged, according to the chronicles.
The woman, identified in the book as Marie Comito, was the firstpatient. However, the nuns apparently were not rookies in thisfield. A 19th-century reference said that the Sisters of Providencefounded in Montreal in 1828 have charge of the insane asylum nearthat city.
McCrossons book explains that Sister Praxedes, who had worked atthe Montreal asylum for several years, took charge of the Vancouverfacility for the mentally ill.
In 1862, the Washington Territory assumed responsibility for careof the mentally ill, said a state human-services website. Lackingfunds to build a hospital, the state contracted for the care of thementally ill with the Sisters of Charity.
The St. John of God Asylum welcomed Washington Territorys mentalhealth patients the most serious cases, anyway.
The community tolerated more disruptive behavior, Riedlingersaid. The less severe were cared for by their families, or leftalone. Mother Joseph got the most acute.
While there is no record of treatment methods, It was not asprimitive you as might think, said Riedlinger, who works in theinpatient psychiatry unit at Providence St. Peter Hospital inOlympia.
With psychiatric medications almost 100 years in the future,environment had a lot to do with stabilizing, Riedlinger said. Thesisters provided a stable and nurturing environment which was notthe case with the subsequent low bidders.
In 1866, two businessmen from what is now the Kelso area underbidthe sisters for the state contract.
After the low-bid process proved to be a poor basis for a mentalhealth system, Washingtons first asylum was established in 1871 atan abandoned Army post, Fort Steilacoom.
Still, there were problems. The states Department of Social andHealth Services website reports: In 1875, complaints about brutalityand poor living conditions led to the territorial government takingdirect control, and legislative approval of its director.
Riedlinger discovered that Marie Comito Mother Josephs firstpatient was among those who were transferred to the state facility.
There is another link that connects many current state residentswith that original patient, Riedlinger said.
Its still true that a great number of people who are mentally illare in jail.
Tom Vogt: 360-735-4558 or tom.vogt@columbian.com.
