History and Mission

Fairfax Hospital Mission Statement

We are committed to:

• Providing high-quality, cost-effective mental health services to our communities
• Continually improving the quality of our customer service
• Measuring quality through information generated from customer feedback
• Using project teams to improve quality
• Applying the major principles of continuous Performance Improvement to all of our activities
• Consistency of purpose, understanding of health care processes, training, and empowerment
• Making quality the focus of every employee and Professional Staff member
• Regularly improving our quality mission

History of Fairfax Hospital

Fairfax Hospital was founded in 1930 by Arthur and Caroline Hughes. They had been working as psychiatric aides at the old Meadows Sanitarium at the south end of Boeing Field. They decided to establish a sanitarium of their own and purchased a large frame house on Queen Anne Hill in Seattle for this purpose. They named this facility Fairfax after a street which existed on Queen Anne Hill in the 1930's. They gradually built their reputation for good care to the point that in 1936, they had to add a portable unit for the additional patients being transferred to them. There were five psychiatrists in Seattle in 1937 and three of them were using the Fairfax facilities for patients needing hospitalization.

In 1938, Fairfax was forced to move outside the city of Seattle because of a law that forbid the care of patients within the city limits. The Hughes purchased an estate on the outskirts of Kirkland and moved the portable unit by barge across Lake Washington to their new location. This formed the nucleus of the new Fairfax Sanitarium near Juanita.

In 1950, the Hugheses retired and the ownership and management of Fairfax Hospital, as it was now called, was taken over by their relatives, Bernard and Marian Hambleton.

By 1968, the old facilities were no longer adequate to handle the increasing patient volume and modern therapeutic procedures, so the Hambletons built a new 108 bed hospital adjacent to the old one.

In 1972, Community Psychiatric Centers (CPC) purchased Fairfax from the Hambletons and gradually took over the administration and running of the hospital. Fortunately for Fairfax, the new owners were dedicated to continuing quality psychiatric care. They retained and enhanced the highly skilled professional staff of the hospital. In addition to providing services for adults, Fairfax also added programs for adolescents and children.

In 1996, Fairfax Hospital was purchased by Behavioral Healthcare Corporation (BHC). Over the past few years, new and innovative programs have been introduced in response to the changing needs of our community. These include The Northwest School of Innovative Learning, dual diagnosis treatment for both adults and adolescents, and clinical trials.