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    Sanatoriums of New Mexico
    Sanatoriums of New Mexico
    Sanatoriums of New Mexico
    Ebook193 pages1 hour

    Sanatoriums of New Mexico

    By Richard Melzer and Jake W. Spidle Jr.

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    About this ebook

    Tuberculosis, also known as consumption, the White Plague, or simply TB, was the number-one killer in the United States in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Many physicians of the era advised their patients to chase the cure for tuberculosis in the Southwest, where the region s clean, dry, fresh air, high altitude, and sunshine offered relief for most and recovery for some. New Mexico, called the well country, was particularly eager to promote itself as a mecca for lungers with the coming of the railroad to the territory in 1880 and the creation of many new hospitals, known as sanitariums or sanatoriums ( sans ), which specialized in the treatment of TB. This is a brief history of New Mexico s sans, their patients, and the doctors, nurses, and staff who served them during the golden age of the TB industry, from the turn of the 20th century to the eve of World War II.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherArcadia Publishing
    Release dateJun 2, 2014
    ISBN9781439645529
    Sanatoriums of New Mexico
    Author

    Richard Melzer

    Richard Melzer is a regents professor emeritus of history at the University of New Mexico’s Valencia Campus. A former president of the Historical Society of New Mexico, Melzer is the author or coauthor of numerous books, including Ernie Pyle in the American Southwest, Captain Maximiliano Luna: A New Mexico Rough Rider, and A History of New Mexico Since Statehood (UNM Press).

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      Book preview

      Sanatoriums of New Mexico - Richard Melzer

      collection.

      One

      INVENTING THE SANS

      Millions of men and women had died of tuberculosis (TB) by the middle of the 19th century. So many had succumbed to the dreaded disease that it was thought to be incurable. Some people, however, were not willing to give up so easily. Early doctors attempted bloodletting, vomiting, sweating, and other extreme measures that weakened their patients and no doubt exacerbated the disease more often than arresting it.

      Later physicians prescribed heroic treatments, urging patients to engage in such vigorous activities as hiking, mountain climbing, horseback riding, and manual labor. By 1910, Dr. Francis T.B. Fest wrote that roughing it in these ways had killed thousands and that, if the foolish belief continued, it would surely kill thousands more. Other patients were deceived by unscrupulous manufacturers of patented medicines who promised that their bogus concoctions could cure most anything, including TB.

      Fortunately, saner minds prevailed, suggesting that extended periods of rest would be the best possible cure, especially in combination with mountain air, proper diets, and careful medical supervision. Sanatoriums were first established in Europe. In the United States, Dr. Edward L. Trudeau created the first successful sanatorium after realizing the benefits of such conditions in his own recovery from TB. Trudeau’s Adirondack Cottage Sanatorium became the prototype for sanitariums (health resorts), or sanatoriums (hospitals specializing in TB), especially in the American Southwest. Often used interchangeably, both sanitariums and sanatoriums were commonly known as sans.

      Thousands of TB patients (also known as lungers) migrated to New Mexico, especially with the coming of the railroad to the territory in 1880. Affluent health travelers frequented the territory’s famous health spas. Those with limited resources stayed in tents, shacks, and boardinghouses. In most cases, only those who could afford six- to nine-month stays in New Mexico’s new sanatoriums could hope to survive. Sanatoriums, including the 55 facilities in New Mexico, had become the modern, medically endorsed panacea that thousands were eager to accept as their best, last hope for recovery.

      European physicians made the first attempt to treat tuberculosis with institutional care in 1854, when Dr. Hermann Brehmer established his closed institution at Gorbersdorf, Germany. Catering to the affluent, Brehmer’s facility emphasized the value of rich food, restricted physical exercise, and clean mountain air. Dr. Peter Dettweiler took Brehmer’s concepts a step further by stressing the need for direct medical supervision. Emulating this approach, doctors opened sanatoriums in many parts of Europe, especially Switzerland and Germany (pictured above). Thomas Mann’s novel The Magic Mountain (1927) was set in one such exclusive san in the Swiss Alps. Dr. Paul Kretzschmar, a Dettweiler disciple, is given credit for introducing his mentor’s ideas in the United States by the 1880s. The sanatorium movement in America had

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