Clinic Collection – Hornby Island Archives

Hornby Island Community Archives

RG 27

Acc. No.: 2019-01-30/60; 2019-07-11/76

2019-10-09/82; 2019-11-25/96

2019-12-19/101

Finding aid created by Regan Fahey

Last Updated: November, 2019

Title: Clinic Collection

Level of description: Collection

General material designation: textual records

Extent: 26 cm

Creator(s): Hornby Island Clinic, Doris Savoie, Betty Smith

Dates of creation: 1973-2011

Administrative History: In 1970 Dr.Mary Wertheim became Hornby Island’s first resident doctor. With the arrival of a resident doctor a Clinic Committee was formed, with the original members being Ed Colin, Ann Zielinksi, Betty Smith and Doris Savoie. Doris Savoie would serve as Chair of the Clinic Committee for 25 years, retiring from that position in 1997. In 1973 Doris Savoie wrote to the Minister of Health with two proposals : that Dr.Wertheim (known locally as Dr.Mary) be paid a salary and that plans for a Health Clinic be made. In early 1974, with lots of local volunteer labour, a road was built and the Clinic site and preparations began in earnest. On December 1, 1974 the clinic was opened, at the time servicing an approximate population of 250. Over time the Clinic came to house other health practicioners such as public health nurses, massage therapists and Peter Walford’s dental bus as well as the Island’s doctors. The clinic operated under the auspices of the Hornby Island Resdidents and Ratepayers Association (HIRRA). By 2008 it had become clear that the community had outgrown the Clinic housed at the Doris Savoie Center, as it had become named. Hornby Island had grown to approximately 1000 full time residents, with visitors of up to 20,000 over the course of the summer. The project cost just over half a million dollars and was completely community, volunteer and donation driven, there was no funding provided by the government. The site of the new Hornby Island Medical Clinic was on land leased to HIRRA for 30 years, with the building being owned by the Hornby Denman Community Health Care Society and leased by the Vancouver Island Health Authority. The official opening was June 4, 2011.

Scope and content: The records pertain to the formation and operation of the Hornby Island clinic – in terms of day to day logistics of operating a medical clinic and interactions with the wider community and other governmental bodies.

Source of supplied title: Title is based on the creator of the collection

Immediate source of acquisition: All of the records with the accession number 2019-01-30/60 came from the private residence of Doris Savoie, donated by her daghters Mary Savoie and Elaine Savoie after her death. There was a clear seperation of personal and clinic related records and so the decision was made to seperate the material into a Clinic Collection as well as a Doris Savoie Collection.

Arrangement: The original filing scheme of the records was reconstructed during archival arrangement on the basis of file markings and chronological order to retain as much of the original order as possible. However, some rearrangement of the records may have occured when Doris Savoie’s daughters Mary and Elaine sorted their mother’s belongings in prepartation for donation to the Hornby Island Community Archives.

Language of material: English

Record no.: 27

Repository: Hornby Island Community Archives

Finding aids: Finding aid available with file level control

Related group of records: Material related to the clinic can also be found in the HIRRA Collection.

Accruals: 2019-07-11/76 accrual was a retroactive accession containing previously accessioned files (985.155 and 992.168) collected by archivists and committee members Jan Bevan, Hilary Brown and Kathi Linman, all other accession dates and donors are unknown as the Archives acquried teh records several years earlier. Accrual 2019-10-09/82 was created and donated by Karin Ritsau. Accrual 2019-11-25/97 was donated by Oakley Rankin from files he kept in his home as a member of the New Clinic Committee. Accrual 2019-12-19/101 was donated by Mary Savoie and contained files created by Doris Savoie and stored in her home until their donation to the Archives after her death.

File Inventory

Box 1

1-1 Aquisition of land and establishment of the Hornby Island Health Clinic: Correspondence, map and ephemera, 1973-1974

Re: request to Minister of Health from HIRRA Secretary and Dr.Wertheim for support for a publically funded health clinic, correspondence concerning the lease of Crown land for clinic use, the lease agreement, invitations for the opening of the Clinic and miscellaneous.

1-2 Pharmacy: Inventory and costs, 1974-1976

1-3 Correspondence and lists, 1976

Re: Inventory lists, inventory replacement after the departure of Dr. Mary

1-4 Financial documents, 1976-1977

Re: expenses and income of Dr.Ely Garfinkle

1-5 Correspondence and ephemera, 1977-1980

Re: correspondence, invoices, and packing slips concerning the stocking of labratory and surgical supplies in the Clinic

1-6 B.C Lottery Fund: Correspondence and application, 1979-1980

Re: request for assistance of lottery fund to purchase medical supplies for the clinic, approval of $3000 grant, application form and miscellaneous

1-7 Health Clinic Committee: minutes, notes, reports and ephemera, 1983, 1985, n.d

Re: Board meeting minutes, Health Clinic Committee report to HIRRA, outline of the responsiblities of the Committee

1-8 Clinic Committee: notebook, 1978-1986

Re: Doris Savoie’s notebook, with many loose pages interspersed throughout

1-9 Inventory lists, 1980, 1984-1985, 1987

Re: list of items donated or purchased by the community for the Clinic, lists of inventory and value of each item

1-10 Correspondence, notes and ephemera, 1983-1985

Re: request from Fire Department for Clinic committee to pay for ambulance radio, notes organizing a Bake Sale to raise funds for the cost of the radio, notes organizing a bake sale fundraiser split between clinic and home support, typewriter repair, newspaper clipping, wheelchair maitenance

1-11 Insurance policies, 1982, 1986, 1987

1-12 Notes, correspondence and ephemera, 1986, 1987-1989 (23 photographs)

Re: bake sale organizing, building data, history of the clinic committee, mobile dental 1-1-12 Notes, correspondence and ephemera, 1986, 1987-1989 (23 photographs)(con’t)

clinic, Co-op account, wheelchair donation, Ministry of Health discontinuing financing the annual rental costs of the Clinic, notice from British Columbia Buildings Corportion regarding their policies, zoning issues and ownership of clinic building by B.C.B.C, history of the Hornby clinic, sale of B.C.B.C property to HIRRA at the value of $42,800, interest in HIRRA acquiring the land and pursueing leasing arrangements with the RCMP, map, handwritten notes on RCMP arrangements, newspaper clipping about BC Lottery funds being granted to HIRRA for the purchase of the Clinic building, and miscellaneous

12-1 Communtiy Quilt, ticket selling. Aug.8, 1989

12-2 Clinic Quilt Draw, Oct.28, 1989

12-3 Clinic Quilt Draw, Oct.28, 1989

12-4 Clinic Quilt Draw, Oct.28, 1989

12-5 Dr.Mary Hodgson & Family (Wertheim)

12-6 to 12-23 land clearing around Clinic

1-13 Short term leases, 1988, 1992

Re: cleaning and maitenance contractor, massage therapist, mobile dental clinic, pysiotherapist, medical practice

1-14 Clinic rough notebook, 1988-1992

Re: Doris Savoie’s notebook, with many loose pages interspersed throughout

Box 2

2-1 Financial ledgers, 1988-1993

Re: was contained in a badly deteriorating binder, which was removed for preservation purposes

2-2 First Responder Vehicle: financial documents, 1993

Re: invoices and payment information for expenses related to the First Responder vehicle, which the Clinic and the Fire Department shared responsiblity for

2-3 First Responder Vehicle: Correspondence, financial documents, minutes, brief, notes and ephemera, 1993-1994

Re: donations to the First Responder Fund, notes on costs of FRV, pledge sheets for New Years Day polar bear swim, accounts figures, notes, Ist Responder Committee meeting minutes, brief from Ken Loven on behalf of First Responders

2-4 First Responder Vehicle: notes, 1993-1994

Re: Doris Savoie’s handwritten notes

2-5 Clinic notebook, 1992-1994

2-6 Noes, 1991-1996

Re: Doris Savoie’s handwritten notes

2-7 Clinic Committee: Reports, minutes, notes and financial documents, 1988-1990, 1996-1998

2-8 Notes, financial documents, map and correspondence, 1991-1993, 1996-1998 (15 photographs)

Re: rent reciepts, Report to Ratepayers, painting estimates, physician recruitment, estimate for builing renovations, notes on BC health care system, fundraising event, landscaping project, Katimovic and miscellaneous

8-1 to 8-14 interior of the Clinic, May 1992

8-15 Bonita Thornsbury, receptionist

2-9 Clinic notes: notebook, 1996-1998

Re:Doris Savoie’s notebook, with many loose pages interspersed throughout

2-10 Financial documents, 1979-1999

Re: receipts and payments, budgets and financial statements

2-11 Rural doctor issues: ephemera, correspondence, notices, notes, 1998-1999, n.d

Re: Dr. Wiseman seeking community input to find a solution to his being the only doctor, hence the only one available on call, on Hornby Island, notice to HIRRA that Dr. Wiseman is terminating his rental agreement and closing his practice, press release “Hornby Island losing its only physician Governement refuses to help”, Ministry of Health clarification of options available to deal with provision of medical services on the Island, notice to community from Dr. Wiseman on how to proceed as his practice is closed, letter to community from Clinic Committee regarding crisis, Medical On-Call Availability Program

2-12 New Clinic: ephemera, 2008, 2010, 2011

Re: pamplet, drawing, appeal for funds, forecast estimate, layout, fact sheet, newspaper clipping

Accrual 2019-07-11/76

2-13 Correspondence, ephemera and financial documents, 1973-1976, 1988, 1991-1992, 1995, n.d (11 photographs)

Re: reply to Hilary Brown letter requesting government support to Dr. Mary Wertheim as a rural, isolated doctor under new iniatives to fund community health, request from Dr. Mary for support to establish a medical facility on Hornby and the challenges of practicing medicine without one, newspaper articles about the new clinic, Dr. Mary’s suggestions to tackle sanitation and hygiene related issues on the Islandd and topics to be addressed in a public health survey, purchse of Dr. Mary’s equipment in the wake of her departing the Island and the question of what to do with the medical records, financial staemtents and budgets, notice of the departure of Dr. Usher, and miscellaneous

11-1 prreparing the land for the Clinic

11-2 prreparing the land for the Clinic

11-3 moving Clinic building to site

11-4 moving Clinic building to site

11-5 moving Clinic building to site

11-6 foundation site of Clinic

2-13 Correspondence, ephemera and financial documents, 1973-1976, 1988, 1991-1992, 1995, n.d (11 photographs) (con’t)

11-7 Clinic being used by Dentist

11-8 Interior photo of Clinic and equipment

11-9 Interior photo of Clinic and equipment

11-10 Interior photo of Clinic and equipment

11-11 Interior photo of Clinic and equipment

Accrual 2019-10-09/82

2-14 “How The New Hornby Island Medical Clinic Came To Be Built” scrapbook compiled by Karin Ristau, 2008-2011

Accrual 2019-11-25/97

Box 3

3-1 New Clinic: financial documents, correspondence and minutes, 2010-2011 (2 photographs)