History of the Pokegama Sanatorium
Pine City, Minnesota
| In
1905, the Pokegama Sanatorium was established on the shores of Pokegama
Lake. The 35 acre site had facilites for thirty-six patients.
The fee was thirty to fifty dollars per week. A sanatorium
farm supplied all necessary vegetables, meats and dairy products.
The facility closed in 1943 and the property was sold to the Redemptorist Fathers to be used as a school for priests. It was later named "Pine Manor" and used for chemcial dependencey treatment center. In 1986 it was facing financial difficulties and closed its doors around April 1, of that year. In 1986 the cost of treatment was $84 per day or $2,000 for the 21 day program. Comparable treatment in other privately owned centers was $4,000 to $7,000 for the complete program. The Manor had 53 percent recovery rate for clients, based upon two years of sobriety follow-up studies. |
The following information taken from a Pamphlet Collection
| F O R E W O R D Pokegama is a private
sanatorium for the treatment of Pulmonary and Laryngeal Tuberculosis.
The work does not compete in any way with the various county and
state sanatoria in whose organization and maintenance our staff is
vitally interested. Pokegama is conducted to meet the demand for
institutional treatment with the better food, greater privacy, and
closer medical and nursing attention that is more attainable with a
small patient list. The institution is grateful for the interest
and support of the medical profession, and invites the further
consideration and cooperation of physicians and the public.
|
| HOW TO REACH POKEGAMA At any season come to Grasston on the Great Northern and take the auto or team livery. From May until late October the most popular route is by launch from Pine City on the Northern Pacific where a boat livery is available. Trains are met on notice. |
| SECURING ADMISSION Get the home physician to report your condition or go to Dr. Taylor's office, 814 Lowry Building, St. Paul, for examination. Patients may come direct to the sanatorium if more convenient, but it is preferred that they stop in St. Paul. Hopeless, far-advanced cased are not desired. |
| CLOTHING REQUIREMENTS Plain, comfortable garments to suit the season. There is no occasion for dress affairs--patients are here to get well. A raincoat, rubbers, sweater, outing flannel night clothing and three changes of underwear are advised. During the cold months, a heavy coat, arctics, and a robe or horse blanket to use on the porch chairs during the day should be provided. Hot water bottles, thermometers and other personal drug sundries necessary may be purchased at the office. |
| MAIL. EXPRESS AND MESSAGES Address all mail to Pokegama, Pine Co. Minnesota. This is a regular governement postal and money order office. Send all freight and express to Grasston, Minnesota. Telegraph and Telephone connections are direct through Pine City. |
| RATES PER WEEK Cottage, occupied by one............$ 35.00 Cottage, occupaied by two........... 27.50 Elms and Diamond cottages single room.............................. 30.00 Elms and Diamond cottages double room............................ 27.50 No. 6 cottage, occupied alone....... 40.00 No. 6 cottage, occupied by two..... 30.00 Ward cottages............................... 22.50 Infirmary, private room................... 40.00 Infirmary, double room................... 30.00 New cottage, private room & bath.. 50.00 New cottage, double room & bath...35.00 (New cottage to be completed Oct. 1918) X-ray chest plates........................... 20.00 Special nurse's board, per week...... 10.00 Visitor's board, $2.50 per day, 65 cents per meal. Tray service outside of infirmary, 25 cents per tray or $4.00 per week. Drugs, personal laundry, and operations are extra. A deposit in advance to cover at least one weeks charges must always be maintained by each patient. Any balance is refundable on demand. Statements are rendered each week. Special accomodations are provided for in Main Building separate from all patients. Patients must not be disturbed during rest hours, from 9 to 10 a.m. and 2 to 4 p.m. and after 9:00 at night. It is not advisable to bring small children as they are most susceptible to infection. To adults, the danger of infection is negligible. |
| IMPORTANCE
OF SANATORIUM TREATMENT Eighty-five per cent of the tuberculosis cases diagnosed in their incipiency and treated in a sanatorium become thoroughly arrested, and, if they live as they are taught after discharge, they are eventually cured. This indicates the importance of proper institutional treatment to the individual that he may be returned to useful life. Home treatments very often fails because the home is adapted to the requirements of people in good health, and its activities, as well as the intrusion of solicitous visitors, too frequently interfere with "taking the cure" even when the method is known. Also, few busy practicing physicians can take time for the medical supervision of details necessary to insure obedience. Under sanatorium conditions, with the encouragement of others, the treatment is not so likely to become irksome but is accepted as a matter of course. A second consideration is that the sanatorium teaches the precautions necessary to guard against infecting others, particularly small children, who are most susceptible to tuberculosis. It is also desired to emphasize the advisability of sanatorium treatments as soon as tuberculosis is diagnosed. a sad feature of the weekly office routien is the necessary refusal of hopless cases who are willing to spend any money or time on "the cure." S T A F F H. Longstreet Taylor, M. A., M.D. Director (St. Paul Office, 814 Lowry Building) M. E. Lane M.D. Resident Superintendent Ottis H. Cole, Roentgenologist Dr. Ward L. Beebe, Bacteriologist and Pathologist (St. Paul, Minnesota) J. J. Scully, D.D.S. Dental Surgeon (Pine City, Minnesota) |
Administration Building
Reception Hospital
Pokegama Sanatorium Operating Room
Cottage Floor Plan
Cottages
Pokegama Sanatorium Church about 1900
Pokegama Sanatorium lake view