Sanatorium

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One of the remaining turrets of the Grunwald Sanatorium (now Sokolowsko, Poland).

A sanatorium (also spelled sanitorium and sanitarium) is a medical facility for long-term illness, most typically associated with treatment of tuberculosis (TB) before antibiotics. A distinction is sometimes made between "sanitarium" (a kind of health resort, as in the Battle Creek Sanitarium) and "sanatorium" (a hospital).^[1][2]

[edit] History

The rationale for sanatoria was that before antibiotic treatments existed, a regimen of rest and good nutrition offered the best chance that the sufferer's immune system would "wall off" pockets of pulmonary tuberculosis (TB) infection. In 1863, Hermann Brehmer opened the Brehmerschen Heilanstalt für Lungenkranke in Görbersdorf (Sokołowsko), Silesia (now Poland), for the treatment of tuberculosis. Patients were exposed to plentiful amounts of high altitude fresh air and good nutrition.^[3] Tuberculosis sanatoria became common throughout Europe from the late 19th century onwards.

The Adirondack Cottage Sanitarium, established in Saranac Lake, New York, in 1882, was the first such establishment in North America. According to the Saskatchewan Lung Association, when the National Anti-Tuberculosis Association (Canada) was founded in 1904, its members believed that a distinction should be made between the health resorts with which people were familiar and the new tuberculosis treatment hospitals: "So they decided to use a new word which instead of being derived from the Latin noun sanitas, meaning health, would emphasize the need for scientific healing or treatment. Accordingly, they took the Latin verb root sano, meaning to heal, and adopted the new word sanatorium.^[1]

Switzerland had many sanatoria, as health professionals believed that clean, cold mountain air was the best treatment for lung diseases. In Finland, a series of tuberculosis sanatoria were built throughout the country in isolated forest areas. The most famous was the Paimio Sanatorium, built in 1930 and designed by world-renowned architect Alvar Aalto. It had rooftop terraces where the patients would lay all day on specially designed chairs, the Paimio Chair. In Portugal, the Heliantia Sanatorium in Valadares, was used for the treatment of bone tuberculosis between the 1930s and 1960s.

In the early 20th century, tuberculosis sanatoria became common in the United States. The first tuberculosis sanatorium for blacks in the segregated South was the Piedmont Sanatorium in Burkeville, Virginia. Waverly Hills Sanatorium, a Louisville, Kentucky, tuberculosis sanatorium, was founded in 1911. It has become a mecca for curiosity seekers who believe it is haunted.^[4] Because of its dry climate, Colorado Springs was home to several sanatoria. A. G. Holley Hospital in Lantana, Florida is the last remaining freestanding tuberculosis sanatorium in the United States.^[5]

After 1943, when Albert Schatz, then a graduate student at Rutgers University, discovered streptomycin, an antibiotic and the first cure for tuberculosis, sanatoria began to close. As in the case of the Paimio Sanatorium, many were transformed into general hospitals. By the 1950s, tuberculosis was no longer a major public health threat; it was controlled by antibiotics rather than extended rest. Most sanatoria were demolished years ago.

Some, however, have been adapted for new medical roles. The Tambaram Sanatorium in south India is now a hospital for AIDS patients.^[6] The state hospital in Sanatorium, Mississippi is now a regional center for programs for treatment and occupational therapy associated with mental retardation. In Japan in 2001, the ministry of welfare suggested changing the names of a leprosarium to a sanatorium. For instance, National Leprosarium Tama Zenshoen was changed to National Sanatorium Tama Zenshoen.

[edit] Sanatorium as a resort

Palace of Princess Anastasia Haharina — now the administrative centre of the sanatorium "Utos", located in the seaside town of Utos, in Crimea, Ukraine.

In Russia, Ukraine, and other former Soviet Union republics, the term has a slightly different meaning. in these countries, the term "sanatorium" is generally used for a combination resort/recreational facility and a medical facility to provide short-term complex rest and medical services. It is similar to spa resorts with medical services in addition.

[edit] In popular culture

• The Magic Mountain (1924), a novel by the German author Thomas Mann, is set in a sanatorium.
• In Erich Maria Remarque's novel, Three Comrades, Pat goes to a mountain sanatorium to stay over the winter.
• In The Dressmaker (1973), a novel set in the 1950s by Beryl Bainbridge, one of the characters goes to a sanatorium for treatment.
• Alice Cooper's 1978 concept album, From The Inside, was based on his experiences at a New York sanatorium for alcoholism treatment.
• Critically acclaimed but little-known novel The Rack (1958), by A.E. Ellis (pseudonym of Derek Lindsay), is set in a T.B. sanatorium in the French Alps.

The former Firland Tuberculosis Hospital: the sanatorium where the writer Betty MacDonald was a patient. The building is now a private Christian school, King's High School

.

• In her semi-autobiographical novel, The Plague and I (19xx), Betty MacDonald described her diagnosis and year in a sanatorium near Seattle, Washington.
• In the film Scarface (1983), Tony Montana and Manolo mention a sanatorium.
• In the film "My Neighbor Totoro" (1988), the mother appears to be recovering in a sanatorium.
• Andrea Barrett set her 2007 novel The Air We Breathe in the Adirondacks at an early 20th-century TB sanatorium.
• In the western Tombstone, Doc Holiday goes to a sanatorium for treatment for TB.
• In Silent Hill Origins, Travis goes to the Silent Hill sanatorium.
• In Battlefield 2 Special Forces, there is a map called Devil's Perch, of which a cap point is a Sanatorium.
• "Welcome Home (Sanitarium)" is a well-known song by the heavy metal band Metallica.
• In Koji Suzuki's Ringu, the well where Sadako drowns was originally on the grounds of a T.B. sanatorium in Japan.

[edit] See also

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Tuberculosis hospitals

• Adirondack Cottage Sanitarium
• Losheng Sanatorium
• Waverly Hills Sanatorium

[edit] Notes

[edit] References

• The Sanatorium Age: "Sanatorium" vs. "Sanitarium", The Saskatchewan Lung Association.
• Waverly Hills Sanatorium still source of local curiosity, Douglas Kleier, Jr., Louisville Cardinal Online, Oct. 21, 2003.