History

The Moorhouse, 1968–c.1986

It was a patient lounge, and the funding for it was raised due to the dedicated efforts of the Association of Volunteers of the Lakeshore Psychiatric Hospital. The total cost, estimated at the time of the opening, was $40,000, and local community and businesses were among the donors of the money, collected through fundraising.

Moorehouse deserves special recognition within the history of the hospital because it was a very unique program in Canada. The building was named after Herbert Clayton Moorhouse, a former superintendent, who administrated the institution between 1959 and 1967, before he finally retired. It was officially open on April 20, 1968 by Dr. Moorhouse. It was essentially independent from the hospital, but the institution provided water, heat, and electricity in order to facilitate its services. Until the closure of the institution in 1979, volunteers operated the Moorhouse was twice daily from 2:00 pm to 4:00 pm and from 7:30 pm until 9:30 pm, every day of the week. Minimum of two volunteers were required for the building to be open.

Inside, the volunteers offered tea, coffee, cold drinks, and cookies for the patients, who could also choose from a variety of activities: play cards, listen to radio, watch television, engage in a conversation, or read a book from the Moorhouse’s library. The building was also equipped with a piano, a set of comfortable chairs, and dishwasher. At any single time, there were as many as thirty visiting patients, who were also allowed to receive their visitors there, in more comfortable and non-institutional surroundings, which sharply contrasted from the conditions inside the hospital.

It appears that the program was quite successful, but it occasionally suffered due to shortage of people willing to volunteer. The Association reported that many people were not willing to provide their time and volunteer, which they blamed on prejudice against psychiatric patients. A letter to the local newspaper, The Advertiser, entitled “Moorhouse,” dated July 13, 1972, and signed by “just a volunteer”, pleads to “Please help it keep going, it’s too nice a project to let it go to waste for lack of help.”

It is not known when the Moorhouse stopped operating as a program for patients. According to several maps, it was still open for business after the hospital closed in 1979 and when an out-patient clinic was opened in one of the cottages. One map from 1986 still shows the building, but it does not specify whether it was still in operation. Sadly, after the closure, the structure fell into a state of disrepair and it was finally demolished in the early nineties, around 1992, when Humber College started to renovate the former hospital buildings.

References:

The Executive, Volunteer Association, Lakeshore Psychiatric Hospital. “Lakeshore Psychiatric Hospital Should Not be Closed.” Letter. Oakville Journal Record February 9, 1979: 5.
“just a volunteer.” Letter. The Advertiser July 13, 1972.
“Moorhouse Marks Anniverary Ten.” Rapport April, 1978: 7.
“Sod is Turned Today.” The Advertiser.

All primary sources retrieved from the Archives for the History of Canadian Psychiatry and Mental Health Services, January 30 and April 21–22, 2005.