From: penny_randy(a)msn.com
To: idahogenweb(a)gmail.com
Subject: Unclaimed cremated remains at the Oregon State Mental Hospital
Date: Mon, 7 Feb 2011 05:08:17 +0000
I read this article in the Lewiston Tribune about 3,500 unclaimed cremains at the Oregon
State Mental Hospital. Thought it might interest some of you. Please pass this along.
Perhaps we can reunited lost family members. Below is a link to the list and I cut/pasted
an article I found online.
http://www.oregon.gov/DHS/mentalhealth/osh/cremains.shtml
Hoping to unite families with the cremated remains of thousands of patients who died in
state custody long ago, the Oregon State Hospital has posted online a list of names of
those whose ashes still are stored at the Salem psychiatric facility.
The online registry took effect Friday.
OSH is the custodian of the cremated remains of about 3,500 people who died between 1914
and the 1970s.
Most of them died at the state hospital. But some were residents of the Oregon State
Penitentiary or four now-defunct institutions — Fairview Training Center, Dammasch State
Hospital, Oregon State Tuberculosis Hospital and Mid-Columbia Hospital.
In the past, any ashes not claimed by families of deceased patients were stored in sealed
canisters at OSH.
For decades, the cans were left to slowly rot in the darkness of a storage room. But that
changed in recent years, as publicity about the long-forgotten ashes transformed them into
stark symbols of the neglect of Oregon's main mental hospital, spurring reform-minded
efforts.
"It was the discovery of the room of forgotten souls in 2004 that served as the
catalyst for the construction of a new Oregon State Hospital and a new devotion to
improving the mental health care system in our state," said Senate President Peter
Courtney, D-Salem.
Courtney authored a law that allowed the state hospital to make public the names and dates
of birth of those former patients whose cremated remains are in the possession of OSH. The
information otherwise would be protected by medical confidentiality laws.
Hospital officials urge anyone who thinks he or she may have a family member who died at
OSH or at one of the other state institutions to review the list of names posted on the
Web site. As soon as the connection can be confirmed, the hospital will make arrangements
for the remains to be sent to the family.
"We hope all remains will be united with family, but we also know that may not be
possible given how much time has passed," hospital Superintendent Greg Roberts said.
"Those remains that stay at the hospital will be given a final resting place with all
due dignity and respect."
Plans call for creating a memorial at OSH to honor those patients whose remains went
unclaimed for decades, and those that may never be claimed.
The memorial is expected to be completed in 2012.