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The Origin And Growth Of The Sanatorium Treatment Of Pulmonary Tuberculosis In Massachusetts

From: Tuberculosis In Massachusetts -- Hospital For Consumptives
Creator: Vincent Y. Bowditch (author)
Date: 1908
Publisher: Wright & Potter, Boston
Source: Columbia University Libraries
Figures From This Artifact: Figure 2  Figure 3  Figure 4  Figure 5  Figure 6  Figure 7  Figure 8

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It should be added that, of those who died, the majority were advanced cases in which arrest of the disease was not expected. Two, at least, died from some cause other than tuberculosis, and others returned against advice to unhygienic surroundings, and relapsed.

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The present list (1908) of Directors and Officers of the Sanatorium is as follows: --

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Board of Directors: Prof. William T. Sedgwick, President, N. H. Stone, Treasurer, 614 Sears Building, Boston, Mrs. Charles A. Porter, Secretary, Augustus Hemenway, Rev. Edmund F. Merriam, Arthur Dehon Hill, Mrs. Henry P. King, Mrs. Wm. T. Sedgwick, Vincent Y. Bowditch, M.D., Robert W. Lovett, M.D., L. Vernon Briggs, M.D. Medical Director, Vincent Y. Bowditch, M.D. Consulting Physician, Frederick I. Knight, M.D. Resident Physician, Walter A. Griffin, M.D. Superintendent and Matron, Miss Alice R. Hodges.

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THE STATE SANATORIUM AT RUTLAND.

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On June 5, 1895, pursuant to the provisions of chapter 503 of the statutes of 1895 of the Massachusetts Legislature, a bill was approved for the establishment of a so-called "Massachusetts Hospital for Consumptives and Tubercular Patients," and a Board of five Trustees was appointed by the Governor and Council. This is the first instance in America of the foundation of a state institution for the treatment of tuberculosis.

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The sum of $150,000 was appropriated for the purpose of purchasing suitable land and for the erection of buildings thereupon.

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The Board of Trustees, composed of Fred B. Percy, M.D., of Brookline, Alfred Worcester, M.D., of Waltham, and Messrs. John C. Hammond of Northampton, A. W. Esleeck of Holyoke and W. E. Parkhurst of Clinton, held their first meeting for organization on August 15, 1895.

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After much individual study of the question, and after obtaining the opinion of many physicians throughout the State as to the best location for such a hospital, a farm of about two hundred acres in Rutland, in Worcester County, fifty miles from Boston, at an elevation of about eleven hundred feet, was purchased, as having many of the essentials for the location of such a hospital, and buildings, planned by the architect, W. Chester Chase of Boston, were erected.

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In December, 1897, the first report of the Trustees was issued. It speaks of the unforeseen difficulties of drainage and of laying out a long road to reach the Sanatorium, both requiring a larger outlay than was at first supposed. The drainage was carried through a rocky cut to the west of the hospital to a point about one mile distant onto lands six acres in extent acquired for the purpose of filtration beds. At the time of opening, therefore, no administration building had been put up, owing to lack of sufficient funds, and in consequence, the Superintendent was obliged to occupy a portion of the hospital intended for other purposes. This left a capacity of about one hundred and seventy-five beds for men and women, instead of two hundred as originally intended. The price of board and treatment was fixed at 50 cents a day ($3.50 a week) . This price was not long afterwards raised to $4 a week, this being the present charge to all patients. At first no distinction was made as to race, creed or age, although there was a somewhat tacit agreement that no child under twelve should be admitted.

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At this time the question was mooted of changing the name of the institution and of converting its purpose from that of a hospital for advanced cases to that of a sanatorium for the treatment of incipient and moderately advanced cases. In the Trustees' report for 1898, the success obtained at the Sharon Sanatorium was cited as an instance of what could be done for the successful treatment of incipient tuberculosis in Massachusetts, and the decision was made to so change the original purpose of the bill as to make the institution a sanatorium for hopeful cases, rather than a hospital for advanced cases. The wisdom of the Trustees in making this decision can only be fully estimated when one realizes the intense interest which was soon shown by other communities throughout the United States, who have since followed the example of Massachusetts in erecting state sanatoria.

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Two specialists on pulmonary diseases were chosen to act as attending physicians, who should represent respectively the regular and the homoeopathic schools of medicine, in accordance with the terms of the original bill. Drs. Vincent Y. Bowditch and Herbert C. Clapp of Boston were selected to fill the positions. Their duties consisted in making weekly visits to Rutland; in taking full charge of the medical departments, with the privilege of having assistants who should reside in the hospital; and in making weekly examinations of applicants at the Boston office of the hospital.

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On September 23, 1898, the hospital was formally opened by Governor Roger Wolcott. The first patient was received October 3, and Drs. Bowditch and Clapp began their service.

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Dr. Walter J. Marcley had been previously chosen as Superintendent, and Miss Mary E. Thrasher as Matron. In 1900, by an act of Legislature (statutes 1900, chapter 192), the name of the hospital was changed to that of the "Massachusetts State Sanatorium" in accordance with the decision of the Trustees to exclude all far-advanced and hopeless cases from the institution.

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