Information sought on TB sanatorium
March 01, 2010 03:55 PM  

A Texas man who was treated for tuberculosis 55 years ago has started a Web site with memories and photos of the time he and others spent being treated at a Pennsylvania sanatorium.

Chuck Felton, a 1962 graduate of Penn State University, was 17 years when he got diagnosed with pulmonary tuberculosis in 1955, and was sent to the state TB  sanatorium in Cresson in Cambria County. He spent 16 months recovering.

The Web site has turned into a memorial to loved ones, and how their lives and their families' lives were impacted. Since he started the Web site, Felton has  added photos and personal stories from others who were there as patients or staff, or had family members who were there.

The sanatorium records show that 42 people from Fayette, Greene and Somerset counties were admitted, but that 52 patients from those same three counties were discharged in 1954.

The sanatorium, which was opened in 1913, was closed as a tuberculosis treatment facility in the mid-1960s when it was no longer needed because drugs were effective in treating the disease.

For more information, visit online at www.feltondesignanddata.com/cressontbsanatoriumremembered