The hospital provided space for a CPS office as one of the doctor’s offices was not in use. 

One CO, in a 1988 survey, reflected back on his experience at the hospital and in the community.

At the opening of our unit at the Medical State Hospital in Washington, there was a great deal of opposition, even enmity, directed at our CPS unit by both the hospital staff as well as the community.  We were socially rejected, both at the hospital as well as the community.  The Methodist minister who was supportive and friendly to us lost his post because of his support for us. . . . By the end of two years the unfriendly climate in which we found ourselves turned to nearly cordial.  (Sareyan p. 240)

Another CO, responding to the same survey, recalled his experience.

This was a time of personal growth for me.  Before my arrival at the Medical Lake unit, I had had little contact with the real world of pain, illness, deprivation, and emotional turmoil.  Within the first month of my arrival at the hospital I was ambushed and beaten by two patients.  Through the support of others in our CPS group and sympathetic patients, I lost my fears.  By not retaliating against my attackers, I became in, as well as theory, a nonviolent person.  (in Sareyan pp. 251-52)

In the same survey another man reflected, “In a real sense, I grew up during my stay as an attendant at Medical Lake.  I moved away from being a protester, and instead became an agent for social change”.  (Sareyan p. 251)

From November 1943 through June 1944 the men published the Journal of Unitology. In an undated one-page issue from Vol. 1, Phil Gifford, substituting for the regular editor, notified the men of recent materials received, magazines ordered, and reported news on the opening of the School of Fine Arts at Waldport as well as a Big Flats proposal for a representative policy making body for CPS men.  

The men appreciated that the hospital was not far from Spokane where they could “get away”.

They published a unit paper called The Ex-Change beginning in February 1944 and continued through March 1945.  Ex-Change reported on a series of issues related to unit morale.  Vol. I:4 (undated) reported on a visit from Dick Reuters of American Friends Service Committee (AFSC).  In it the men shared their feelings of isolation since it appeared that the AFSC leaders were “too far away” and “too busy” to maintain contact with them.  Reuters urged the men to make their feelings known to Philadelphia. 

The July 8, 1944 issue headlined homework for an upcoming meeting about the wisdom of and motives behind the Friends decision to become involved in CPS.  The men were asked to review twelve pages on reserve in the CPS library on how the Friends became involved in CPS, as well as additional reading on the development of pacifism in the western world, and on the mental hygiene program of CPS.

The October 14, 1944 of X-Change reported on a sense of complacency in the unit and that the men needed to be doing more for the patients.  The summary outlined an approach to addressing the concern at an upcoming meeting.

Why do we feel we should be doing more?

What do the patients need?

What can we do?

What problems are involved?

It closed with the announcement of two times for unit members to discuss the issue on the following Saturday, with wives invited to join in discussion of bettering the lives of the patients.

The October 19 X-Change opened by framing an issue for debate: “The Friends should have no part in any alternative service program under a peace-time conscription act”.  Chuck McEvens, Dale Porter, Bob Morgan and Clarence Angell each summarized their view in advance of two meetings, one for Day Men on Wednesday night and the other on Thursday morning for Night Men.

After a visit by Mr. Weaver of the National Service Board for Religious Objectors (NSBRO), the December 4, 1944 X-Change summarized issues regarding the future of the unit.  Superintendent Perry had hired a few more regular employees, and the men, AFSC and NSBRO . . . “all agreed that our maintenance based labor would not displace nor compete with people for wages”.  Since the unit was created to address acute staff shortage, then the unit “should be withdrawn when a supply of labor reappeared”.  Dr. Perry desired an orderly reduction and transition plan that would reduce the unit to fifteen.  The March 6, 1945 issue reported that seven men were transferring out and the unit would be reduced further to ten. The unit closed two months later.

The men published one issue of High Time in July 1945. The Swarthmore College Peace Collection holds the 25^th issue of House Organ published July 17, 1945.