Sanatorium

“ All life is a compromise; between the dream and the exigencies of Dr. Jakes' position the Sanatorium had emerged. The fine, simple, old house had an air of its own, which no base use could entirely destroy. Its flat front, pedestaled upon a wide, flagged stoep, faced to the southeast and made a stronghold of shade in the noonday vehemence of the sun. Its rooms were great and low, with wide solemn windows regarding the monotony of the level veld ”

“ A letter just received from the Countess de Noailles urges me to begin a sanatorium in the country near New York. She says: ‘As the central hospital already exists in New York, if you will allow me to help in beginning a sanatorium in country air I should be able to realise my idea at once. I think you might obtain some house or farmhouse for the purpose in the 224 course of the autumn or spring. The importance of convalescent hospitals in the country is beginning to be recognised in England; let women be the first to set the example of one in America. ”

“ THE SANATORIUM Toward the end of November an old Scotsman, a member of my barracks (No. 5) , was returned to camp from the sanatorium in Charlottenburg. I questioned him about the place. It appeared that no desperate illness was necessary to get there, as long as one was willing to pay for oneself instead of coming down upon the British Government funds ordinarily provided for that purpose. ”

“ No unimportant function of the sanatorium is that which finds its result in the influence of the education in hygiene and tuberculosis prevention, upon those who leave after having been cured or benefited by the treatment. ”

“ When a patient enters a sanatorium, the nurse must see that he is supplied with clothing heavy and warm enough for outdoor living. If he has money, he should be instructed what to buy. If he has none, these things must 212then be procured through some charitable association. No patient should be permitted to enter a sanatorium unless properly equipped, and frequently his decision against going is due to lack of such equipment. ”

“ He had another sanatorium down in Southern California; he maintained that these two of his patients had graduated from it; he argued that with proper care they would progress safely and rapidly into perfect, rugged health; he held himself responsible for another sanatorium to which such "graduates" as they should go. ”

“ Don't you like us here at the Sanatorium?
MURRAY (smiling) . Oh—you—yes! (Then seriously.) I don't care for the atmosphere, though. (He waves his hand towards the partition looking out on the porch.) All those people in bed out there on the porch seem so sick. It's depressing. I can't do anything for them—and—it makes me feel so helpless.
MISS HOWARD. Well, it's the rules, you know. All the patients have to come here first until Doctor Stanton finds out whether they're well enough to be sent out to the huts and cottages. ”

“ The sanatorium at Virginia Water is a magnificent building, containing four hundred and eighty rooms, and giving accommodation to two hundred and forty patients. It was opened by King Edward VII and Queen Alexandra, when Prince and Princess of Wales, 15 June 1885. ”

“ Since the sanatorium is designed for the treatment of those ill with tuberculosis in the early stages of the disease, there is only a small building for hospital accommodations. The rest of the buildings, in which the patients practically live outdoors, are portable houses and shacks. All the frills and ruffles so universally connected with the construction of public buildings have been omitted; everything has been subordinated to that which is best for the patients. ”

“ Students of the National Art Training School, under Mr. Poynter, did much of the art work. There are no blank walls.
The Holloway Sanatorium, which is five hundred feet by two hundred feet in extent, has a model laundry in a separate building, pretty red brick houses for the staff and those who are not obliged to sleep in the building, a pleasure-house for rest and recreation for the inmates, and a handsome chapel.
Four hundred or more patients can be accommodated. A moderate charge is made for those who can afford to pay, and only those persons thought to be curable are received. ”

“ The establishment of such a sanatorium here in this altitude and in this unrivaled climate, to which such men might be invalided, would mean the restoration to the service of thousands of fine young men who otherwise must be lost, not only to the Army, but as useful factors in civil life. ”

“ In such a short stay in a sanatorium what may be called tuberculosis discipline can be and is acquired when the sanatorium is satisfactorily administered; and the patient thus disciplined is in a much more favorable position for securing his own welfare and that of others than the undisciplined patient, just as the soldier who has had routine drill under a competent [Pg 234] instructor is more efficient than the untrained recruit.
The preceding remarks as to the treatment of tuberculosis in sanatoria illustrate certain well-known features in the natural history of this disease. ”

“ To meet this need, and to grant to the fullest the wish of segregation on the part of the World War men, two branch Homes were set aside and their domiciliary and hospital population moved to other branch Homes, and acting under the advice of the most competent experts, the Board could find, the branch at Johnson City, Tennessee was changed into a tuberculosis sanatorium, and the branch at Marion, Indiana was changed into a neuro-psychiatric sanatorium. ”

“ I arranged with the camp authorities and the German authorities for permission to enter into a contract with Dr. Weiler. Under this contract Dr. Weiler, who had a sanatorium in the West of Berlin, received patients from Ruhleben. Those who were able paid for themselves, the poorer ones being paid for by the British Government. This sanatorium, occupied several villas. I had many disputes with Dr. Weiler, but finally managed to get this sanatorium in such condition that the prisoners who resided there were fairly well taken care of. ”

“ It is at this point that the nurse has her great opportunity. She teaches him to apply what he has learned, and how he may approximate sanatorium conditions and routine. She goes to work much as she does upon her first visit to the home, but this time she is working in a soil already ploughed. The patient himself may be almost as helpless, but he will follow suggestions, and co-operate with an intelligent enthusiasm gained through his sanatorium education. ”

“ He entered the Goerbersdorf Sanatorium as a patient, becoming later an assistant of Brehmer. Dr. Dettweiler laid great emphasis upon rest in treatment.
In 1888, Dr. Otto Walther opened his famous sanatorium at Nordrach in the Black Forest, in Germany.
The first sanatorium for the care of the consumptive in the United States was opened at Saranac Lake by Dr. Edward L. Trudeau in 1884. He was the pioneer of the sanatorium treatment in this country, and an example of what a man, although tuberculous himself, can do for his fellow men. ”

“ But for its sanatoria, Meran might be a cheerful place; their ubiquity reminds a healthy man too often that the air is really good. Being well enough himself, except for a few mental worries, he went to a gasthaus in the neighbourhood. In the sanatorium his cousins complained bitterly of the food, the ignorant “sisters,” the inattentive doctors, and the idiotic regulations generally⁠—which proves that people should not go to a sanatorium unless they are really ill. ”

“ The parking-lot is aswarm with people, fire engines and ambulances. There's a siren going off somewhere down in the bowels of the sanatorium, and still I can't get anyone to look up at the goddamned roof. ”

“ The graduated labour which forms part of the routine method of treatment in many sanatoria can be made a preparatory stage in this industrial training. The training may be made to merge into the pursuit of an actual livelihood; and then the sanatorium becomes an industrial colony. Market gardening, pig-keeping, forestry, and other occupations may be thus pursued for protracted periods, if the patients are suitably selected. The ex-patients continue to live under protected conditions, earning part at least of their livelihood. ”

“ It was stated as long ago as 1912 that overcoats, underclothing and food were given under sanatorium benefit, thus relieving public health and Poor Law funds, and sanatorium benefit was only a rechristened form of outdoor relief. As to the Poor Law, it may be observed in passing that its expense increased between the years 1911 and 1919 from £15,000,000 to £18,000,000 for England and Wales alone, and as old-age pensioners left the workhouse their places were filled by those under 70 years of age. ”

“ Enormously valuable as is the open-air sanatorium as a means of saving thousands of valuable and beloved lives, its richest promise lies in its function as a school of education for the living demonstration of methods by which the health and happiness of the ninety-five per cent of the community who never will come within its walls may be built up. Every consumptive cured in it goes home to be a living example and an enthusiastic missionary in the fresh-air campaign. ”

“ I think it’s the prettiest hospital in the great German Empire. It is even more elaborate than the wonderful Peterhead sanatorium at home, and the commandant is the nicest old gentleman. The staff, here, is also superior. We get the best of food and plenty of it and all kinds of recreation. Even visitors bring English magazines and treat me like a relative.
“After finishing it, I gave it to the nurse to read. ”

“ The last has been carried to rather extravagant lengths in some institutions, where the patients are stuffed with food whether they want it or not. The sanatorium movement on the German model is rapidly extending in all countries. For those who are able to do so advantage may be taken of the combined sanatorium and sun treatment. In certain high altitudes in Switzerland, which are favoured by a large amount of sunshine and a small percentage of moisture, much benefit has been derived from the exposure of the unclothed body to the sun’s rays. ”

“ This new method cells for super-vision by those who are perfectly familiar with all the symptoms, changes in flesh, mind and emotion which a fast brings on. The new sanatorium for reconstruction of the patient will not be in the hands of a sleek, fat, indulgent group of men and women who never gave themselves a moment's real discipline. ”

“ Experience appears to show that in a large sanatorium one nurse will generally be adequate for every twelve patients. In a hospital for advanced patients, or in a combined institution a larger staff may be required. ”

“ The discipline of the asylum and the sanatorium is probably the most efficient curative agent when these cases are at their worst. When the symptoms are beginning, a discipline of a milder character, yet resembling that of the institution, but appealing to higher motives and leading to frequently repeated actions for the benefit of others, will undoubtedly do much to prevent worse developments or make the future condition of the patient less serious than it would otherwise be. ”

“ It must be laid down as an axiom that the patient must have a mental as well as a physical change before the treatment can accomplish all the good of which it is capable. Such a mental change is highly improbable in the comfortable surroundings of the average sanatorium. No man or woman ever achieved it by sitting on a pleasant veranda in an easy-chair exchanging tales of symptoms with other invalids. ”

“ A number of experiments are being tried, all designed to point the way to future efforts if such experiments prove successful. The Red Triangle Farm Colony at Kinson in Dorset has been fitted up as a sanatorium for the benefit of men discharged from the Navy and Army who need sanatorium treatment because they are suffering from, or threatened with, consumption, and whilst the men are undergoing treatment they are trained in poultry-farming, horticulture, and other outdoor pursuits on plans cordially approved by the authorities. ”

“ Tabor Sanitarium was opened with facilities for about sixty patients. Doctor R. L. Gillespie became one of the medical directors, with Doctor Coe. In 1903 a reorganization was effected, the name was changed to Crystal Springs Sanatorium and Doctor W. T. Williamson, who had served since 1886 as assistant physician at the State Asylum in Salem was added to the staff.42 After the Lewis and Clark Exposition of 1905 in Portland, the Crystal Springs management purchased the Massachusetts Building on the fairgrounds and re-erected it as part of the sanatorium to be used exclusively for nervous cases. ”

“ The modern sanatorium may be likened to the mediæval monastery without its spiritual faith; the American University to a University without its inner illumination. It is an intellectual refuge without the integration of a central soul,—crassly material because it has no inner standards to redeem it from the idols of the market-place, or timid and anæmic because it lacks that quixotic fire98 which inheres in every act of faith. It is at one and the same time our greatest practical achievement and our greatest spiritual failure. ”

“ While Louis and his mother paid a visit to the Fairchilds at Newport, his wife and stepson went on to the mountain place to make arrangements.
This sanatorium was established by Doctor Edward Livingstone Trudeau, a New York physician who had (p. 126) nursed his brother through tuberculosis and later developed the disease himself. He had tried going South and taking daily exercise, but as these attempts at a cure only made matters worse, in a sort of desperation he went to the Adirondacks, not so much for health as for love of the great forest and the wild life. ”