Fonds F39 - Herbert William Henderson fonds

Dr. Herbert William Henderson, also known as Bill Henderson, was born in St. Catharines, Ontario, in 1921. He graduated from St. Catharines Collegiate in 1940 and continued his studies at Queen’s University in Kingston, Ontario. In 1946 he was awarded the Victor Lyall Goodwill Memorial Scholarship in internal medicine and the Dr. B.T. McGhie Memorial Scholarship in psychiatry and psychosomatic medicine. He graduated the following year from Queen’s with a degree in medicine and subsequently interned at Hamilton General Hospital in Hamilton, Ontario, until 1948. He obtained a diploma in psychological medicine from the University of Toronto in 1952 for which he was awarded the Faulkner Gold Medal. Also in that year Dr. Henderson received specialist certification in psychiatry from the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons in Canada. In 1952, Dr. Henderson left for Ottawa, where he worked as the area consultant for the Ottawa region and as the Director of the Mental Health Clinic at Ottawa Cure Hospital. He was also a lecturer in psychiatry at Queen’s University during this time. Returning to Toronto in 1957, Dr. Henderson served as Director of Community Health Services for the Ontario Department of Health; there he led the provincial government’s initiative to move psychiatric patients out of psychiatric hospitals and into nursing and residential homes. Dr. Henderson continued this innovative work under Homes for Special Care, a program that he began. For those patients requiring hospitalization, Dr. Henderson fought to establish psychiatric units within general hospitals. This was successful despite the initial resistance that was encountered. Also during 1957-1966, Dr. Henderson was on faculty as a lecturer in the School of Hygiene at the University of Toronto. From 1966 to 1972, he was appointed to part-time faculty positions as an associate professor at the University of Toronto and McMaster University. In 1966 Dr. Henderson was appointed Executive Director, Mental Health Division, Department of Health (Ontario) where he advocated for and won greater financial independence for hospitals; fiscal policies were no longer to be made by the provincial comptroller but rather dictated by the budgetary needs of the hospitals themselves. Dr. Henderson also contributed his energies toward having psychiatric treatments covered under Medicare. Then, as Assistant Deputy Minister of Health (Ontario) from 1972-1976, he oversaw the reorganization of provincial health services under a new Ministry of Health. He was first Assistant Deputy Minister of Health in Health Standards (1972-1974) and subsequently in Research, Development and Information Services (1974-1976). Afterwards, until his retirement in 1984, Dr. Henderson was the Deputy Registrar of the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario. During his time there, he founded the Project for Doctors on Chemicals in 1977, a treatment program for physicians with drug and alcohol addictions. Dr. Henderson retired in 1984 and served temporarily as acting Chief Executive Officer of the Donwood Institute, a drug and alcohol treatment centre in Toronto later merged as part of the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH). He was granted Emeritus status from the College of Physicians and Surgeons in 1987. Dr. Henderson also was a Charter Member of the Canadian Psychiatric Association. Dr. Henderson was married to Betty and together they had two children, Susan and Barbara. Betty Henderson died after an 18-year battle with cancer in 1995. Shortly before Dr. Henderson’s death in 1996 from stomach cancer in Aurora, Ontario, he set up an endowment in his and Betty’s names at North York General Hospital for nurses in palliative and oncology care.