Waverly Hills Sanitarium

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Aku tertarik ngan kisah hospital nih setelah menonton 'Ghost Hunters' tp aku kurang pasti nak simpan kat ner sbb ada history and ada paranormalnyer...so, aku decide utk simpan kat sini tp if x sesuai, move kat ner pun ok....:bgrin:

The Waverly Hills Sanitarium

Imagine yourself choking. Not being able to get air in to your lungs because your throat is closing up inside from something unseen, congesting and constricting the tissues like invisible hands. Your chest feels like it抯 ready to explode and your lungs feel like they are on fire. Finally, able to cough, clumps of bright red blood spew from your mouth as the inner walls of your lungs have started to disintegrate. The buzzing and dizziness that you feel in your head is from the constant fever you keep and made worse by the lack of oxygen going to your brain. Capillaries explode in your eyes due to the violent coughing spells and leave your eyes spotted with broken capillaries or a violent crimson red. Your skin has now turned a ghastly pasty white color because your body has stopped producing enough red blood cells to keep the pigment in your skin.



These graphic descriptions can only provide the modern reader with a hint of what millions suffered from in the early history of America -- the dreaded and deadly 搘hite death

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Many of the treatments were much harsher -- and much bloodier. Balloons were surgically implanted into the lungs and then filled with air to try and expand them more, often with disastrous results. Hydrotherapy often caused pneumonia. But some experiments were useful and these procedures are still used today. Pneumothorax was a procedure that consisted of deflating the infected area of the lung for a period of time and then letting it heal. Thoracoplasty was a very invasive surgical procedure where the chest of the patient was opened and then cords of muscle and up to seven ribs were removed. The opening was then closed up with the idea that the lungs would then be free to expand further and allow more oxygen into the lungs. This bloody procedure was only attempted as a last resort because fewer than 5% of the patients ever survived it.  



A staged display of the Pneumothorax procedure -- without all of the blood


Patients making the best of life at Waverly Hills
(U of L Archive Photos)

In many cases, entire families came to live at Waverly Hills. Some were cured but many others left the hospital through what was called the 揵ody chute

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The building and land changed hands several times over the next 18 years. The second owner of the property wanted to tear all the buildings down to construct the world抯 largest statue of Jesus Christ. He succeeded in demolishing all of the buildings except for the main hospital and was only stopped by an injunction because the building is on the National Historic Register抯 揺ndangered

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Waverly Hill's Medical Staff

The staff of doctors and nurses at Waverly were a group of very dedicated people.  They had to stay on the premises because TB was such a contagious disease.  So, if you really stop and think about it for a moment...these people actually risked their lives to up to a point in the efforts to save the lives of tuberculosis patients.  It does seem however, in spite of all this.....that the moral was good up there.  I have yet to see anyone in the pictures I do have with a staunch grim look on their face.

There were also buildings on the Waverly Hills property to provide shelter for the nurses and doctors.  The nurses dormitory building was one of the finest looking buildings that sat off by itself back at the far end of the property.  I have a photo below from Kincey Green that shows the Nurses Dorm building in the background.  Primarily, you see the windows and exterior of the sanatorium cafeteria.  But, if you look really good at the background...you'll see a portion of the nurses dorm. building in the upper lefthand corner of the photo.

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Dr. Oscar O. Miller & Staff



In the above photo, Dr. Oscar Miller is the fourth person from the left in the back row, or, directly behind the nurse sitting in the middle of the concrete bench.  This photo was taken on the front portico entrance of the sanatorium.