This week in Prince George history, Oct. 9-15:
Oct. 9, 1964: The chairman of the Prince George Regional Hospital's board of trustees, along with two senior administrators, resigned in disgust during a meeting of the board on the night of Oct. 8, The Citizen reported.
"Ald. Charlie Graham, chairman of the board of trustees, said his position was untenable because there could be no agreement on hospital policy," The Citizen reported.
Graham, who retained his seat on the board of trustees, was the fourth chairman of the board in 18 months. Vic Smith, the former vice-chairman of the board, automatically became the board's new chairman following Graham's resignation.
Hospital senior administrator Gordon Townsend and director of nursing Mary McGowan also resigned over the inability of the trustees to enact policy.
"It was like being president of a banana republic," Graham said. "The resignation of the administrator and director of nurses was a direct result of the lack of policies. The fact that there was a lack of written policy reflected on myself as chairman."
Graham said that since taking on the chairperson role earlier that year he'd tried to get the board to develop a written policy guide, and had appointed a committee to complete the work.
"Ald. Graham said his idea was to compile a collection of policy statements - policy from precedents and from areas which had not been covered by the board," The Citizen reported.
Townsend, who had administered the hospital for five years, gave three months notice - effectively terminating his position on Jan. 8, 1965.
"(Townsend) said he could not 'effectively administer this hospital under the prevailing conditions and the lack of policy by the board, which is not conductive to patient care,'" The Citizen reported.
McGowan had been in charge of the hospital's 124 nurses, who were "most loyal and have given me excellent service," she wrote in her resignation letter. She had held the position for four years.
"... My health will not stand the strain of the continual tension and the mental anxiety created by the lack of effective policy, which affects the smooth-running of hospital administration," McGowan wrote in her resignation letter.
The meeting, which began at 8 p.m. and broke up shortly after midnight, had been called to discuss a report by the B.C. Hospital Insurance Service (BCHIS).
McGowan urged for the BCHIS report to be made public.
"When a reporter visited the hospital's board room early this morning, the ash trays were over-flowing with cigarette butts and a plate of sandwiches which had been provided for the trustees had not been touched," The Citizen reported.
The B.C. Hospital Insurance Service was created by the provincial government in 1948 and provided hospital care through mandatory payroll deductions and direct premiums. Despite some administrative issues around the collection of premiums, the service acted as an intermediary step between private healthcare systems and the 1966 federal Medical Care Act which was the cornerstone of universal healthcare in Canada.
The embattled Prince George Regional Hospital board would have more questions to answer about the content of the BCHIS report later that year:
On Nov. 27. 1964 the Prince George Regional Hospital board of trustees faced a confidence vote at a extraordinary meeting of the hospital society, after board members received a petition from 11 members to hold the meeting.
Despite the cold weather, more than 60 members of the society attended the meeting at Connaught Elementary school. The agenda for the meeting include the confidence vote, discussion of the BCHIS report and revisions to the society's bylaws.
"During the discussion, Ald. Charlie Graham, the city's representative on (the) hospital board, revealed that the report criticized a lack of written policy for the hospital," The Citizen reported. "He also said the report claimed some trustees were interfering with the administration."
However, both current chairman, Vic Smith, and Graham, the former chairman, argued the BCHIS report should not be released to the public - or at least not in full.
"When I was in Vancouver, the minister (Health Minister Martin) impressed on me how important it was to keep this report in confidence," Graham said during the meeting. "Also, if the minister had the report, he should make it public. Why throw the onus on the board?"
Smith said the team of BCHIS investigators prepared the report with the understanding it would remain confidential.
"If the investigators thought it would be made public, it undoubtedly would shackle them and for this reason they asked it be kept confidential," Smith said.
When questioned about the content of the report, Smith said the report was "critical of certain phases of administration."
"It also criticized the board and medical administration. It criticized all areas of the hospital," Smith said.
Graham said the report included more than criticism in some cases, "it also had words of condemnation."
"The report said the board and administration suffered because of lack of firm, written policy. This is being rectified," Graham said. "There was also criticism that some of the trustees interfered with administration. There are some things which I agree with and others I take issue with but because I was chairman I was, in part, responsible for it and it (his resignation) was the only honourable thing for me to do."
Trustee Geoff Richmond, chair of the board's policy committee, said the board had adopted policy on a continuous basis and it was the role of administration, not the board, to prepare written policy.
"We have had policy," Richmond said. "However, there has been a lack of putting it in the manual form."
Both Smith and Graham said improvements were being made on the issues identified in the BCHIS report, and the hospital should have no trouble getting accredited once the changes were enacted.
"Prince George Regional Hospital twice has been inspected by the Canadian Council of Hospital Accreditation and has been given provisional accreditation in each case," The Citizen reported. "It has one more chance to meet standards."
The assembled members of the hospital society voted in favour of keeping the BCHIS report confidential and supported the board of trustees in a confidence motion.
The vote of confidence in the board was moved by Dr. DB Konrad, president of the hospital's medical staff.
"I have complete confidence in this board," Konrad said. "I hope you'll feel likewise. Please accept this advice from me because board members are working for a better hospital."
It's hard to image a hospital in the 19th century, let alone the 20th century, operating without some form of written policies. Modern hospitals, including the University Hospital of Northern B.C., now operate with reams of labyrinthine rules and policies which one could take a lifetime to unravel.
To explore 100 years of local history yourself, visit the Prince George Citizen archives online at: pgc.cc/PGCarchive. The Prince George Citizen online archives are maintained by the Prince George Public Library.
