National Jewish Health

The clean air and sunshine cure

By the late 19th century, Colorado and the American Southwest had become famous for the health benefits of a dry, sunny climate. At that time, the only known treatment for tuberculosis (TB) was clean air and sunshine and hundreds of people with tuberculosis descended upon Denver in hopes of finding a miracle cure for what was then the nation’s leading cause of death. Consequently, many TB sufferers spent their last dollars coming to Colorado. By the 1890s, it was estimated that one out of every three residents of the state was there for respiratory reasons. However, no facilities existed to provide treatment or shelter to these victims. In Denver, victims of TB were literally dying in the streets as boarding houses often banned "lungers," as they were called.

Treatment of tuberculosis

It was obvious that the Denver community at large was not sympathetic to the plight of needy TB sufferers, and many argued that "we can’t blacken the name of the city" by making it a TB refuge. Frances Wisebart Jacobs, known as "Mother of Charities", recognized the need for a TB hospital. After joining forces with a young rabbi, William Sterne Friedman, the two raised enough money to buy some land and erect a building, and the laying of the hospital’s cornerstone on October 9, 1892 drew huge crowds. The original hospital was completed in 1893 and was to be named the Francis Wisebart Jacobs Hospital after its founder. Unfortunately, due to the combination of the "Silver Crisis of 1893" and a national depression, the hospital did not open and it sat vacant for six years until William Sterne Friedman approached B'nai B'rith, a national Jewish organization, and persuaded them to raise the required operating funds on an annual basis. When the hospital opened on December 10, 1899, it had a new name; National Jewish Hospital for Treatment of Consumptives (consumption is an old name for TB that describes how the highly contagious illness wastes away or consumes its victims). B'nai B'rith continued to support the hospital until the early 1950s.

From its inception, National Jewish has been a non-sectarian institution. As emphasized at the ground-breaking for the hospital on October 9, 1892, it was noted that "….As pain knows no creed, so is this building the prototype of the grand idea of Judaism, which casts aside no stranger no matter of what race or blood. We consecrate this structure to humanity, to our suffering fellowman, regardless of creed." In fact, the first patient to enter the hospital, on December 11, 1899, was a Protestant Swedish woman from Minnesota. To reflect its openness to the impoverished of every background, National Jewish adopted the motto:

"None may enter who can pay -- none can pay who enter"

The hospital opened with a capacity of 60 patients with the goal of treating 150 patients a year. In the beginning, a 6-month limit on patient stays was imposed and only patients in the early stages of TB were to be accepted. In reality, however, many chronic sufferers were admitted and, after a few months, the 6-month limit was lifted. Treatment of TB at National Jewish was in line with other turn-of-the-20th-century TB sanatoria: plenty of fresh air, lots of food, moderate exercise, and close scrutiny of every aspect of patients' lives. The inhabitants of National Jewish could expect to sleep outside, or with their heads outside, every night, and were all but gorged with food. For example, in 1911, the annual report records that $3,631 was spent on eggs (roughly $70,000 today) for just 120 patients.

Present mission

Today, National Jewish Health has no formal ties to any religious or quasi-religious institution and receives no annual funding from B'nai B'rith or any similar organizations. Until 1968, the institution only accepted patients without Health insurance and all care was free. In keeping with this philosophy, free or heavily subsidized care is provided to ensure that patients who are in need can receive the care they need. At the opening of National Jewish Health back in 1899, the president of the institution, speaking of TB in the heightened rhetoric of that day, declared that it was his dream for the hospital "that its doors may never close again until the terrible scourge is driven from the earth." Now, at a time when the World Health Organization estimates that one out of every three people in the world is infected with Mycobacterium tuberculosis, (the bacteria causes 5-10% of carriers to develop active TB in their lifetime) those doors are still open.

American Health magazine termed National Jewish Health one of the finest U. S. hospitals in allergy, immunology and pulmonology for both adult and pediatric patients The Institute for Science and Medicine rated National Jewish Health among the top 10 independent biomedical research institutions-of any kind-in the world, and the only one that also provides patient care. For the 19th year, National Jewish Health has been named a top respiratory hospital by U.S. News & World Report in its 2015-16 ranking of leading hospitals in the nation. National Jewish Health has ranked as one of the top two hospitals in pulmonary care every year that the magazine has evaluated this category, including 15 years in the top spot.

As National Jewish Health is a leader in the fight against drug-resistant tuberculosis, Andrew Speaker, an individual suspected to have XDR-TB under federal quarantine, was moved to the hospital for treatment on May 31, 2007. The Mycobacteriology Laboratory at National Jewish Health determined that Speaker did not have the Extensive Drug resistant form of TB (XDR-TB), but rather the Multi-Drug Resistant form of TB (MDR-TB).

In August 2007, National Jewish doctors treated XDR-TB patient Robert Daniels, following his nearly year-long quarantine in a Maricopa County hospital jail ward. After an extensive legal battle, Daniels was sent to National Jewish Hospital where the Mycobacteriology Laboratory diagnosed Daniels with MDR-TB (rather than XDR-TB). In addition to treating his TB, doctors at National Jewish also removed Daniels' entire left lung.

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