“To make it easier for patients to complete their prescribed walks – not an inch more, not an inch less – had weatherproof wooden benches fixed into the ground at regular intervals along the forest paths, a bold innovation that was to survive the age of sanatoria and from Yalta to Hampstead Heath and from Kyoto to New York’s Central Park still commemorates his obdurate faith.” 1Ĭommitment to the structured regimen of sanatorium life, while not a cure, did offer a degree of remission to some patients, probably by helping to strengthen their own immune systems. It was a live-in hospital made up of cabins where patients could get plenty of fresh air, a healthy diet, and prescribed rest and exercise. Hermann Brehmer, a German physician, is credited with opening the first sanatorium of the sanatorium movement in 1854 in the village of Göbersdorf in the Baravarian Alps. Sanatorium Approach Becomes Standard of Care Bodington’s contributions to TB treatment were recognized as the sanatorium movement took hold with a posthumous amendment to his obituary notice in the Lancet in 1882, expressing surprise that “a simple village doctor in the 1840s should have arrived at conclusions which anticipated some of our most recent teachings.” 1 He became discouraged about tuberculosis and devoted the remainder of his professional life to the care of the mentally ill. ![]() Response from the medical establishment was quick and harsh, with many noted doctors of the day condemning his approach, and TB referrals to his sanatorium waned. 1īodington rented a house near his home in Maney, England and opened a sanatorium where patients could take advantage of the fresh dry air, exercise and a nutritious diet. ![]() In 1840, he wrote a scathing attack on tuberculosis treatments common at that time, including imprisoning patients in hermetically sealed rooms (which also, unknown at the time, infected their caregivers and family members) and published his essay, On the Treatment and Cure of Pulmonary Consumption. George Bodington, an English physician, who advocated for the “open-air cure”, was clearly ahead of his time. Lettsom’s approach received a lukewarm response and not much attention from the medical community. Built for 36 patients and later expanded to 86, the building was designed so patients could sleep on open but protected balconies and spend most of the day in gentle exercise or resting on the beach. Possibly the first sanatorium for the treatment of TB in recent times was the Royal Sea Bating Infirmary for Scrofula, founded by Quaker physician John Cockley Lettsom in Margate, England in 1791. 200 were some of the first to recognize this characteristic of the disease, and tuberculosis sufferers were often sent on long ocean voyages in hopes that sea breezes and salt air would improve their condition. in Egypt showed what appeared to be sanatoriums for TB patients. Though records of all treatments tried so long ago are limited, we do know that mummified remains from 3,000 B.C. Rest and fresh air were quite possibly the first treatments used for tuberculosis patients in ancient days. One of the most universal and pervasive approaches for people with the most common pulmonary form of the disease was that of rest and fresh air for patients, leading to the creation and proliferation of sanatoriums, or long-term TB treatment hospitals/resorts in Europe and the U.S. Without the scientific understanding needed to develop effective therapeutics to fight tuberculosis in its many forms, doctors, patients, families and charlatans looking to make a profit tried a wide range of treatments to offer any hope of relief and a cure (see the Timeline of TB Treatments). Photo of patients 'resting' at a sanatorium ![]() This is the third installment in our series “The Sanatorium Files.” Rest and Fresh Air: The Sanatorium Movement
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