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

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

1938: 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.

1950: The Hughes 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 hospital adjacent to the old one.

1972: Community Psychiatric Centers purchased Fairfax from the Hambletons and gradually took over the administration and running of the hospital. The new owners retained and enhanced the highly skilled professional staff of the hospital. New services, including children's services, were developed. In the 1980's, a new wing was added to Fairfax, including a gymnasium, kitchen and dining facilities, a therapeutic activities room, classrooms and offices. In 2005, a major renovation was completed up-grading furnishings and fixtures and adding Acute Care Units.

While ownership of Fairfax Hospital has changed over the years, the tradition of providing the best possible psychiatric care for our community continues. 2003 marked our 65th anniversary in Kirkland and 2005 our 75th anniversary of continuous operation. Today, Fairfax is the largest private inpatient psychiatric hospital in Washington State and the only private psychiatric hospital in Western Washington with treatment programs for children, adolescents and adults.