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Time Line of TB in Canada
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1953 - San Age Peaks at 19000 beds |
The Age of Sanatoria in Canada peaked in 1953 with the highest number of in-patient beds for the treatment of TB in Canadian history. In-patient treatment was then believed to be the only way to manage the disease in the first half of the 20th Century, and by 1938, Canada had 61 sanatoria and special tuberculosis units in hospitals with close to 9,000 beds.
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This graph shows the peak of the Sanatorium Age, including the number of beds available in sanatoria, the percent occupancy, and the number of days' stay, in Canada between 1938 and 1964. |
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This, however, was not sufficient to treat all patients suffering from tuberculosis. Building new sanatoria and adding ever increasing numbers of beds to accommodate everyone needing treatment was the most important endeavor in tuberculosis control at the time. From 9,000 beds in 1938, the bed complement rose to a peak of 19,000 beds in 1953. In the same period, the number of sanatoria and special tuberculosis units in hospitals grew from 61 to 101. Patients’ average length of stay in hospital was prolonged at the time, reaching a peak of just over a year in the mid-1950s.
-- modified from Wherrett, in The Miracle of the Empty Beds, 1977.
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