Portal:Featured Article Of The Week
Featured Article Of The Week
North Dakota Tuberculosis Sanitarium
North Dakota law created the North Dakota Tuberculosis Sanitarium in 1909 to care for persons afflicted with tuberculosis. Originally known as the North Dakota Tuberculosis Sanitarium (later Sanatorium), the hospital was governed by a Board consisting of the Governor, the Superintendent of the State Board of Health, a member of the Public Health Laboratory, and two members appointed by the Governor. In 1911, the governing Board chose Dunseith in Rolette County as the home for this facility. The choice of Dunseith on the south slope of the Turtle Mountains was selected because of the higher altitude, less snowfall, drier atmosphere, and favorable conditions for patients with tuberculosis. The facility opened to patients in November of 1912. In 1915, financial support of the Sanatorium came from the legislature, private paying patients, or from the patient’s local county funds.
Patients from Grafton and other institutions were transferred to the San Haven facility in the late 1950s, and in 1957 a building was remodeled to include the developmentally disabled and the elderly. Also in 1957 the State Legislature directed the State Department of Health and the State Health Planning Council to seek out federal funding for the construction of a tuberculosis sanitarium in Grand Forks with the cooperation of North Dakota State Medical Center at University of North Dakota. Later legislation directed the State Medical Center to continue to work with the existing Sanatorium at San Haven.
A Mental Health Authority within the State Health Department was established. The section of San Haven that housed the School for the Feeble Minded was under the authority of the Grafton State School. The 1961 legislature authorized the Board of Administration to transfer patients from Grafton State School to San Haven. In the 1960s the Grafton State School like other U.S. facilities of developmentally disabled reached a peak population of 1,300 who were served daily at the facilities of Grafton and the School at San Haven. Click here for more...
