Regional Mental Health Care

Historically, this site was known as the Asylum for the Insane, one of the original buildings of which still remains on the site. In its last generation, it was the London Psychiatric Hospital. Until this month, it was Regional Mental Health Care London. Now, it is simply a building with a history, and most likely no future.

Since the London Asylum for the Insane was opened in 1870, the property has been used in one way or another for mental health care. Though mental health care has evolved substantially in the past 144 years, the goal has remained the same. That said, London has always prided itself as being on the forefront of humane and compassionate care compared to the 19th and early 20th century industry standard of treating the mentally ill as prisoners.

The first superintendent of the asylum was a man by the name of Henry Landor, who was a pioneer in the field. He was later followed by Dr. Richard Maurice Bucke, a friend of poet Walt Whitman. The Hollywood film [i]Beautiful Dreamers[/i] was about the relationship between Whitman and Bucke and was set at the London hospital.

It was while Bucke was working at the London asylum that his famous book [i]Cosmic Consciousness[/i], that revolutionized psychiatry, was written.

This building was built in 1968.

Regional Mental Health Care London was closed because of yet another evolution in the way the mentally ill are treated, which led to the hospital organization, St. Joseph's Health Care, opening a new facility at the brand new Parkwood Institute in London, opened officially on November 17th, 2014.

After St. Joseph's closed the former Regional Mental Health Care St. Thomas (St. Thomas Psychiatric Hospital formerly) in lieu of the Southwest Centre for Forensic Mental Health Care, the latest change was the migration of services from RMHC London to the Parkwood Institute.

On November 16, 2014, the final move of patients and services to the new facility took place, forever ending healthcare services at RMHC London. For the next month, administrative services still operate out of a small section of the facility, but all units are empty. In January, the site will be handed over to the provincial government, which has no plans for the aging property.

The sub-basement has been out of commission for several years, and has decayed in many places. The same drab colours and "institutional" feel permeate in the rest of the building. There is a morgue on site, but I wasn't able to find it. I believe it is in the basement. There are some exterior cameras as well as cameras on parts of the main level, but movement within the facility is relatively easy undetected, despite a small security presence on-site. Entry is tougher.