Residents, researchers and film crews wanting to borrow a piece of medical history from Coquitlam can now apply to the city.
Last week, the municipality unveiled its online database for the Riverview Hospital Artifact Collection, which includes 2,500 objects from the century-old hospital that used to be called Essondale.
In 2021, it changed to its name to səmiq̓wəʔelə, which translates to Place of the Great Blue Heron in the First Nations language of hən̓q̓əmin̓əm.
The items were donated to the City of Coquitlam by the Riverview Hospital Historical Society when the psychiatric facility closed in 2012.
Dr. Hilary Letwin, Coquitlam’s culture services manager, told the Tri-City News that public access to the hospital artifacts has been limited since then; however, “we are now able to consider requests to view artifacts in person at city facilities, as well as to consider loan requests from other organizations for the purposes of exhibition," she said.
Funded through the province’s 150 Time Immemorial Grant Program that’s administered by Heritage BC, the online database gives readers more photos than the existing PDF catalogues and more details about the artifacts; the digital platform will be updated as needed, she said.
Among the images displayed on the portal include items dating back to 1913, when the mental health institution opened, such as:
- medical equipment
- furniture
- uniforms
- clothing
- personal items
In 2017, the city hired Lisa Codd and her company, Shared Solutions Inc., to identify and record the artifacts from səmiq̓wəʔelə that, at its peak, had 4,500 patients and was served by 2,000 employees.
"Each object tells a story," Codd said during the interview seven years ago. "These objects are the witness to mental health history in the province."
The city has two catalogues produced by Codd, photographer Scott Leslie and designer Shannon Bettles: Collecting Riverview and Riverview Hospital Artifact Collection.
As well, Coquitlam Archives offers public access to the səmiq̓wəʔelə photos and documents in its collection; it has posted two online exhibits about the hospital’s past.
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