I made a quick mention of the old TB hospitals in a blog post about BCG almost two years ago. As far as I know there were lots of them. Peamount, which we drove past many times, opened in 1912 and there was also Cappagh and others.
I just got a lovely email from someone who was in such a hospital in the 1950s wondering if I’d got any feedback. Unfortunately I hadn’t. So I thought I’d just pop this up with the aim to allow anyone to give their thoughts, reminiscences etc of these places. Good and bad. Feel free to pass on to anyone you know who had TB back then. Of course commenters can remain anonymous/pseudonymous.
January 17, 2009 at 11:50 am
I have a very vague recollection of visiting a grand Aunt who had TB,I think it was Sarsfield Court
January 17, 2009 at 12:09 pm
I always remember our Irish teacher, Peadar Barrett, telling us about the poet Seán Ó Ríordáin living in a shed in the garden of his parents house in Ballyvourney because he had TB.
January 17, 2009 at 4:07 pm
My father-in-law (now deceased) was sent to TB hospital in Limerick in 50s when he was 8 or 9 on suspicion of having symptoms – climbed out the back window and went home that evening. Smart boy, he felt he was more likely to catch TB than have it already.
The fever hospital steps up out of Leitrim St in Cork were I always presumed to do with pneumonia or TB.
January 19, 2009 at 10:47 am
Great email from regular reader Brid:
As far as I can remember, and depending totally on memory, TB hospitals were built initially, from the early 20th century onwards. There was no cure then, prior to penicillin becoming widely available. The idea behind TB sanitoria then was to contend with the various strands , some of which did actaully respond the the strict regime imposed therein. No physical activity, total bed rest, two pints of guinness daily, healthy, organic food,(even though the term had not been invented), During the daytime, their beds were wheeled out to sunny verandas regardless of season. Penicillin was available on the continent before WW11, but mainly in Germany. French and English medicos rejected this development. It was not generally accepted that TB could be cured by antibiotics until after the war. After the war, in Ireland, TB spread disastrously through the population, at a frightening rate, caused mainly by ill health, desperately sub standard housing, diet, poverty, etc. …..also, of course, by person to person contact, coughing, spitting, etc. Dr. Noel Browne then came on the scene, especially as Min of Health1948. He undertook a major building programme of TB sanitoria, all more or less following the same template, at least one in every county. Peamount, Newcastle, Brownswood, Kilcreene, and loads more, largely funded by use of Hospital Sweepstake money. The use of antibiotics gradually led to these buildings becoming redundant, but they saved thousand upon thousands of lives.I lived through the fifties and sixties, when TB was becoming a memory, but we were regularly lined up for the mass xray public health programme for the elimination of TB. It still freaks me out when I see adults spitting on the street, or coughing without using a tissue. The schools were part of a mass education health programme, also. I can remember the films being shown when I was in primary school, explaining about hygiene practises, home nursing, diet, etc. …all done, as I learned later, at Noel Browne’s instigation.TB was regarded as a huge family shame, and not always acknowledged openly, believe it or not. Wealthy people, of course, went abroad to the Alps, from the 1900′s.I hope this information is of some benefit to your enquiry.
January 31, 2009 at 1:23 am
in the late 1930s, if you lived in monaghan where would you go for tb treatment?
May 22, 2009 at 11:38 am
I remember going into a TB hospital when I was only 2 years old. I remember it as it was very difficult to see my mother walking out the door and leaving me there. This hospital was in Dublin and was full of children. My mother told me later she was only allowed to visit me every 6 to 8 weeks and it broke her heart as I was her first child. I went from being a chatty two year old to a very silent child. I am not sure where this hospital was – perhaps goatstown but I am not sure. My father was in peamount at the time and we paid him a visit on my way to the hospital. I was lifted up to a window so that he could give me a hug. I was 3 years in this dublin hospital. I was five years old when I left and could only speak irish – my family in Co. Louth spoke english. It was a very difficult time and I must try to find out where I was and try to lay some ghost memories to rest.
May 22, 2009 at 1:40 pm
Thanks for sharing that with us Marian, it sounds horrific. I shudder to think of my youngest daughter being in that situation.
Let’s hope nothing like that ever happens again. These flu pandemics worry me from that perspective just as much as the diseases themselves.
With this week’s terrible report, we perhaps forget that horrible consequences occurred even when the authorities were trying to “do the right thing”.
August 23, 2009 at 1:03 pm
I have a recollection of a childrens’ hospital in dublin during the 1950s – called Ballyrowan – does this sound correct or familiar to anyone.
Thank you.
September 5, 2010 at 11:10 pm
I believe I spend a year in Ballyroan, in 1954. I was around one year of age at the time. My father was in Ardkeen Sanitorium in Waterford at the same time. I believe there as also osme mention of my being at Peamount but not too sure about that.
The following information is taken form the Home Page of the Sancta Maria College, Ballyroan.
School History
In 1932 there was an isolated house in Ballyroan owned by the Mc Cabe sisters. They wanted to sell their house but failing to get a proper price, they decided to give it as a gift to the sisters of mercy as another sister was a member of order.
The community in Carysfort, Blackrock were very excited about this and they decided to turn it into a business home for business girls who came for Easter and summer holidays. St Mary’s Convent, as it was then known, was opened and blessed on 26th July 1932. Sister Mercy (Mc Cabe) was lighter of the sanctuary lamp at the opening mass.
When, in 1942, the Red Cross was looking for a suitable place to treat children in the early stages of tuberculosis, or children whose mothers were suffering from the disease, the archbishop Mc Quaid approached the Superior of Carysfort, and St. Mary’s became a previntoriom.
This work lasted from 1943 to 1959. The place was self sufficient with gardens full of fruit and vegetables. A gardener lived in the lodge at the entrance to the convent and a steward was housed in the farm to look after cows. Milk was an important part of the children’s diet.
In 1960 a number of housing estates were built in Ballyroan and the need for a school arose. Once again Dr. Mc Quaid contacted the Mercy Order and on the 8th of September 1960 Sancta Maria College was opened. It was boarding, senior day and junior private school.
May 29, 2011 at 4:39 pm
I was a patient in Ballyroan in the mid fifties.I am sixty now but
I will never forget my time there. I was treated very badly.Did anyone else have the same experience.
October 7, 2011 at 9:46 am
I spent over a year in ballyroan what a poor treatment I got
November 15, 2009 at 12:02 pm
I had a grandfather who enlisted in the Dublin Fusiliers in 1916. He ended up with TB and I am led to believe was in a Hospital called Marina in Dublin. Did such a hospital exist ?
Thanks
April 14, 2010 at 12:10 am
Hello both sides of my family had TB in the 40′s and 50′s. I have their memories here in an article I wrote
http://hubpages.com/author/viking305/best/?rss
April 15, 2010 at 4:06 pm
In 1950 when I was two years old my late mother developed TB, spot on the lung? shadow? but she stayed at home as the doctor was afraid that she would develop pneumonia if he sent her to a sanatorium. She recovered, gave birth to three more children but never recovered the weight she lost while she was ill.
To this day and our mother has been dead for 30 years there is still denial in the family. The doctor explained that all of us ‘go through a form of TB when we are children’ but my mother’s lingered for some reason? developed when she reached adulthood?
My dear mother always referred to it as ‘the time I was in bed for the six weeks’. During those weeks she had to lie flat all the time and when she was allowed out of bed it was for short intervals only.
The effect on me is another story for another day.
About 10 years later a cousin of my mother’s was in Dublin. He had just completed his Leaving Cert. and was with a school friend. The MassXRay van was in O’Connell Street and on the friend’s suggestion they both had an Xray.
The friend was clear but my cousin was soon informed that he needed medical treatment and he spent some time in Merlin Park Sanatorium in Galway.
For some reason the same cloak of silence did not surround this young man who recovered, made a successful life for himself and is still alive.
In the early 70′s the sister of a college friend of mine was hospitalised in a sanatorium for TB.
My friend told me that their parents were horrified and I quote her ‘there’s no TB in the family.’ Even to that day the generation of her parents were still convinced that it was a hereditary disease. That it was a notifiable disease was also a source of shame but Scarlet Fever did not have the same connotation of opprobium.
My four grandchildren were born in Manchester and all of them have had the BCG vaccination.
July 11, 2010 at 10:29 pm
do you have any information on a sanitarium at Shelly Banks on the South Wall, near Ringsend, Dublin
July 25, 2010 at 1:01 pm
From family history research that I have been doing I believe St. Patrick’s Hospital in Cork was a TB hospital. By the time my grandfather was about 20 years old all his immediate family had died from TB. His sister died in 1904 aged 15. His father died in 1906 he was in his ealy 50′s. In the 3rd quarter of1907 his mother aged 50, another sister aged 17 and his bother aged 19 all died from TB. The story we were told was that the two siblings who died in 1907 were both in St. Patricks Hospital. They were on separate wards but visited each other every day. One day the brother dd not come to visit his sister and when she asked why she was told he had died. She refused to eat after that and died herself shortly after. My grandfather went on to get married and have 5 daughters and over 50 grandchildren.
June 2, 2011 at 5:24 pm
Does any person in their late 50s remember the goggle clinic at city hall cork, u wore big thick goggles in a very bright room, entrance from old eglinton st door. very secretive, they also operated sugar lump and injection immunisation at anglesea st side of city hall no secrecy ?–if you had TB and attended this clinic or were hospitalised at sarsfield court–st stephens hosp cork. please contact me regarding same, very important. thank you. 0857835148- or contact Anne Dowling Medical Detective on .0867835713. thurs june 2nd 2011
June 2, 2011 at 5:33 pm
THIS ISSUE POSTED REGARDING -TB CLINICS, SARSFIELD COURT HOSP CORK AND GOGGLE CLINIC AT CITY HALL CORK REFERS TO 1960/1964. IS A VERY IMPORTANT ISSUE. IF YOU ATTENDED OR HOSPITALISED AT SARS IN THAT PERIOD PLEASE CONTACT THE PERSONS LISTED (URGENT)
June 3, 2011 at 2:04 pm
also if you worked in sarsfield court hosp between 1960/65 we would welcome your contribution, or worked or know of the goggle clinic at Eglinton st City Hall Cork on behalf of SHB/ Pharmecutical company relating to this Clinic or were a ckleaner at said clinic. during above mentioned years. this is avery Important and sensitive issue regarding treatments held there. contact A. Dowling 0862785720–W.Wyse 0857835148. where we will meet and discuss the issues to you. thank you
July 30, 2011 at 9:42 pm
im looking for a Tuberculois Hospital or Home that treated people with Pulmonary Tuberculosis Hosapital around 1900-1906 when the person died
August 7, 2011 at 2:19 pm
Hi, Keith you dont specify in what county you are seeking information on this hosp? if its Cork may well have been St Patricks Hosp Wellington Rd Cork City. for that period, and later became a hospice.