Columbia Memorial | Health Compass | Spring 2020

St. Mary’s Hospital was established in 1880 at 15th and Duane Street in Astoria. The hospital was purchased by CMH in 1971. When our present-day hospital was built, St. Mary’s was converted into the Owens-Adair apartment building. Photo courtesy of the Clatsop County Historical Society. 4 HEALTH COMPASS SPRING 2020 began emphasizing the obstetrical department, or maternity ward. As with most hospitals at the time, both St. Mary’s and CMH maintained nurseries that housed infants separately from the rooms in which new mothers recuperated. This served the dual trend of promoting in-hospital births to women as a sort of vacation from the burdens of their home lives while granting increased authority over the birthing process to trained medical staff. Changing times In 1951, Wilson gave birth to Cope’s mother at the old CMH building, which now houses the Clatsop Care Health & Rehabilitation Center. “My mom is in her late 60s,” Cope says. “In 60 years, the birthing experience has changed so much.” Cope says her grandmother wasn’t conscious and may have experienced what was known as twilight sleep while giving birth to her children. Twilight sleep was By Sarah Bello, Marketing and Communications Coordinator For 140 years, CMH has cared for babies in Clatsop County. CMH Med/Surg Manager Kelly Cope counts four generations in her family that have been born at CMH, each born in different eras, with new developments in medicine. Maternity care then Cope’s maternal grandmother’s family came to Astoria from Norway and Sweden around 1920. In 1922, Ethel (Soderstrom) Wilson was born at the old St. Mary’s Hospital, built at 15th and Duane Street in Astoria. (CMH began in 1919 and purchased St. Mary’s in 1971.) At the time, fathers were not allowed in the delivery room, so Wilson’s father likely waited down the hall. Between 1915 and 1921, 12 women were registered in the county to act as midwives. Prenatal care was a concern throughout the U.S., and when the Clatsop County Health Association was formed the year of Wilson’s birth, prenatal assistance for expectant mothers was among its primary missions. Following national developments in the late 1930s, ads for CMH generations CMH has cared for moms and babies for over 100 years — and we’re ready for the next generation, too Care for