- James Walter MacNeill
Dr. James MacNeill (1873–1945) was the first superintendent of
Saskatchewan Hospital ,North Battleford for mentally ill patients in the province of Saskatchewan.He was born in
Prince Edward Island , educated atMcGill University , where he received anMD degree in 1901. He practiced inNew Brunswick and then moved toHanley, Saskatchewan in 1906 where he practiced as family physician until 1912. He was elected to the Saskatchewan Legislature in 1908 as a Liberal member until 1913. He travelled toEngland and theUSA in 1913, where he studied the administration mental hospitals for his new role as the medical superintendent of Saskatchewan Hospital. He served in this position until 1945.At Saskatchewan Hospital, he changed the organization and program delivery from that of a prison and asylum to that of a modern (for the time) mental health hospital. He valued
moral therapy - the use of productive work for its therapeutic value. During his tenure, a farm project and golf course were built on the hospital grounds. He established a 2 year attendant training program in 1930 and at theWeyburn Mental Hospital, where the province's second mental health hospital was built in 1921.His other contributions were reform of housing for the mentally handicapped in Saskatchewan and building of the
Moose Jaw Training School . He died shortly following his retirement in June 1945. He had received a honourary degree from theUniversity of Saskatchewan in 1941 [ cite web |url=http://www.usask.ca/archives/history/hondegrees.php?id=28&view=detail&keyword=&campuses= |title=Honourary degree listing for Dr. James MacNeill |date=1941 |accessdate=2008-04-26] . The child and youth mental health clinic inSaskatoon was named MacNeill Clinic from the 1950s to 1994, when theSaskatoon Health Region absorbed all community mental health services intoSaskatoon City Hospital andRoyal University Hospital .References
External links
* [http://esask.uregina.ca/entry/mental_health_services.html Encyclopedia of Saskatchewan, mental health services]
* Smith, Colin (1971) A History of the Saskatchewan Hospital North Battleford. Published by the University of Saskatchewan.
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