Pneumothorax was a treatment used in what state of the art medical facility in Niagara County?

Answer Tuberculosis Sanitarium/Mt. View. Until the 1900s, no treatment for tuberculosis existed and was at one time the leading cause of death in the United States. Families and their doctors could only watch a patient’s downward path to death, helplessly, and other family members and friends frequently became infected themselves and followed the same path to the grave. In the 1800s patients were instructed to stay in an airtight room, wrapped in a feather blanket, near a hot stove. Throughout the 1880s and 1890s the medical profession stressed the infectious nature of tuberculosis. The war against tuberculosis really had its beginning late in the nineteenth century were patients were sent to sanatoria for rest, fresh air, sun, good nutrition and isolation to prevent the spread of infection food.

By 1910 several community organizations petitioned the Board of Supervisors of Niagara County for a Tuberculosis Sanitarium. By June 1916, $100, 00 was appropriated to build a hospital and a site was selected on Upper Mountain Road in the Town of Lockport. On December 11, 1917, plans were approved for the hospital and for renovation of the old Almshouse building for use as a temporary hospital. At this time the name changed from Niagara County Tuberculosis Hospital to Niagara Sanatorium. The following year Dr. W.E. Deuel was appointed the first Superintendent. In 1920 the hospital started using X-rays and the Red Cross furnished and equipped the basement of the pavilion with recreation rooms for ex-soldiers and other patients. Some of this included card tables, books, magazines, and a wireless outfit including a wireless telephone. Two years later a nurse’s residence opened and an Occupational Therapy department was started in 1923. Dr. Arthur N. Aitkens introduced the use of Pneumothorax as an addition treatment of TB. Pneumothorax is a treatment where the lung is collapsed, giving the lung a chance to heal. Later it may be allowed to inflate again and breathe as before.

In the following years the Niagara Sanatorium added a Children’s Building and additions to the nurses’ residence. A Skilled Nursing Facility, Guillemont Building was dedicated in 1939 and expanded in 1947. After 1943, when Albert Schatz discovered Streptomycin, the first true cure for tuberculosis, sanatoriums began to close. As a result, in 1957 the Niagara Sanatorium re-invented itself and was renamed the Mount View Hospital with its mission expanded from the care of tuberculosis patients to a multi-care facility.