Unit 1
Unit 1 was built in 1938 at a cost of 1.2 million dollars. The building is 7 stories tall and its walls are eighteen inches thick. [1] As Kathryn Yelinek describes, “when it first opened, the building boasted operating suites, medical and administrative offices, a kitchen, a dining room, a research lab, a morgue and autopsy room, two movie theaters, an auditorium with stage, recreational facilities, and headsets beside each bed that played two radio stations. With its eastern-facing solariums and numerous windows, Unit 1 provided 100 percent fresh air return.” [2]
During the 1950’s Unit 1 held the most critical patients, with the men located in the north wing and the women in the south. Patients were classified based on the severity of their illness with the most severe being on the higher floors.[3] It was during this era that the treatment of tuberculosis took a whole new turn with the use of drugs and it would not be long before the South Mountain facility would no longer be needed to house these patients.
Unit 1, which is still an active hospital providing long term care for geriatric patients, is an imposing structure with its grand entryway, Pennsylvania state seal on its front, and bright cupola. Many patients lived out their lives there and how must it have felt for them to move from the cottage style of living to this new large institutional setting? Change and progress are two essential aspects of the Restoration Center's story
and advances in the care and treatment of tuberculosis and other afflictions must be evaluated from both the patient and medical provider viewpoints.
[1] Asylum Projects, http://www.asylumprojects.org/index.php?title=Main_Page (accessed September 30, 2010 ).
[2] Yelinek, 14.
[3] Asylum Projects, http://www.asylumprojects.org/index.php?title=Main_Page (accessed September 30, 2010).