Commemorating 50 years since the opening of the Yorkton Psychiatric Centre. Mayor W.E. Fichtner speaks at the official opening of the Yorkton Psychiatric Centre in August of 1964. Other notable figures spoke at the ceremonies: K. Izumi, Architect; G. Gallagher, Yorkton M.L.A., Wilf Gardiner, Minister of Public Works; W. J. Parr, Chairman Union Hospital Board; and Don Matheson, Matheson Bros. Construction.
In 1958 a new approach in dealing with psychiatric patients in Saskatchewan was piloted in Swift Current. Instead of sending patients by ambulance to the Weyburn Mental Hospital, doctors, police, hospitals and other referring agencies would refer the patient to the new Swift Current clinic operated by a Psychiatrist and a Psychiatric Social Worker. This resulted in a dramatic, reduced number of admissions to the Weyburn hospital.
Using this positive experience, and after several years of planning to change the delivery of services, the 48-bed Yorkton Psychiatric Centre was erected in 1963.
Contact Terri Lefebvre Prince,
Heritage Researcher,
City of Yorkton Archives,
Box 400, 37 Third Avenue North
Yorkton, Sask. S3N 2W3
306-786-1722
heritage@yorkton.ca
