BON AIR SANITORIUM

What Has Been Done at This Retreat for Consumptives

McKean County Miner March 9, 1911

At this time a description of the Bon Air sanatorium will be of interest to everybody who has watched the wonderful development of this institution. It is only about 18 months ago the society known as the Northwestern Anti-Tuberculosis league was organized and undertook the enlargement of the work of the Bon Air sanatorium, which at that time had eight beds. In this short space of time the sanatorium has been increased to forty beds, all under shingles, and accommodations complete for 40 patients. A fine pew dining room, three sides of which are glass, has been constructed and in use during the past six months. Bath rooms, toilets and laundry, as well as 13 shacks have been built in the past year. A permanent medical department was organized consisting of Dr. O. E. Kunkel, who was with Dr. Brown at the Cottage sanatorium at Crydeau, N. Y., and Dr. Goodall, Stony Wall, N. Y., in the Adirondack district for two years, and who was recommended by no less authority than Dr. Brown himself. A recent paper read by him before the McKean County Medical association stamps him as a student of tuberculosis of high order. Working with Dr. Kunkel are Miss Nash, a trained nurse, who has been in this work continually for seven years, and Miss Wickwire, who is a graduate of our own Bradford hospital. Besides there are two patients who are assisting in nursing. The buildings are all painted white, kept freshly papered inside and the shacks are all lined, walls and ceiling, with cloth.

Everybody who visits the sanatorium compliments the management on the shacks which were designed by M. F. Melvin, but have been improved upon by suggestions from the patients, and are probably the best buildings for work of this kind that are known today, as in a majority of these shacks only two patients reside, which gives almost as much privacy as can be obtained at a high priced sanatorium. When one stops to think that the patients receive all this for a cost of $5 per week and an additional charge of $3 per month for doctor’s services, it is a source of wonder how the institution has succeeded in making good as their financial report shows it has maintained a deficit of almost $3 per week per patient, besides building up the Institution from eight to forty beds.

In the summer time the Bon Air sanatorium presents a very beautiful appearance, the greenswards in contrast with the white buildings is very pleasing to the eye, the background of beautiful foliage and flowers everywhere, adding to the beauty of the scene. Parker Whittney, a native of Bradford, heart and soul in the work at Bon Air, has charge of this department. Mrs. Angle Griffith, a cure from White Haven sanatorium, who finished her cure at Bon Air, is known as housekeeper and has charge of the kitchen and dining room. Mrs. Griffith is also heart and soul in the work at Bon Air. The clerical work is in charge of Will Christian, a cure of Bon Air sanatorium. Miss Neva Kingsley, a Jamestown girl, assistant postmaster at Bells Camps, the sanatorium’s postoffice, as also a cure of Bon Air. It is well to note that all those actively engaged in the building and managing of this institution, excepting Miss Nash, have suffered this awful disease and surely are proving the fact that it is worth while to cure consumptives. Of their work the report shows the great success that are having in their chosen line.

There are at present thirty-nine patients at Bon Air, about ten of these from McKean County. There are about fifteen patients from Buffalo. It is worth while to note here the great work that this institution has done for Buffalo. Within the past year six patients have been returned to their homes in Buffalo, every one able to go back to work, who were so far advanced. It was impossible for them to make application to Raybrook, the sanatorium supported by the State of New York, which takes only incipient cases and is doing a big work, but here are six lives saved at Bon Air sanatorium, who had no other place to go, in fact all of the forty or more cases that have been received from Buffalo have been patients that could not find admittance elsewhere at a price which they could pay. There are a number of patients from Buffalo at the sanatorium at present who are making recoveries. Many unfortunates have applied for admittance to the Bon Air sanatorium who could not be accepted owing to the limited capacity. A number of these, however, were offered the privilege of going into tents, and four of them accepted. These tents being heated by gas are very comfortable. Only recently, Mrs. Smith, a Buffalo patient who has obtained great results at the Bon Air, being one of the ladies in the tents, was offered a bed in a shack, which she refused, stating that she could not be any more comfortable in a shack that in her tent and asked the management to please let her remain in the tent until discharged.

Many wonderful stories of marvelous cures are told about this sanatorium, which stories would not be possible if it were not for the fact that the Bon Air has built a place for anybody to take cure, who has a reasonable chance of recovery.

Bradford people are proud of the Bon Air sanatorium and the great work it is doing. They prove this by the generals support they are giving it, but they wonder how so much has been done with so little. Mrs. Kate Berry, the mother of Bon Air sanatorium, is at present sojourning in Florida, praying for spring to appear that she may get back to her boys and girls at the sanatorium, al of whom love her, having demonstrated this by a handsome silver loving rap, beautifully engraved.

The following authentic report signed by Dr. Kenkel we believe to be one of the best ever submitted to the public by a tuberculosis sanatorium, the results being nothing short of wonderful considering the class of patients that have been accepted. Only five incipient cases having asked for admittance. Three of these were sent here while awaiting admittance to other sanatoriums, the other two are again at work apparently as well as ever. Eighty-five per cent arrested of moderately advanced cases is a good record, and the fact that a number considered incurable have been restored to full working capacity makes the report all the more interesting.

DEATH OF DR. O. F. KUNKEL

McKean County Democrat December 23, 1920

Dr. Oscar F. Kunkel, resident physician at the Bon Air Sanatorium for the past ten years, succumbed last evening to the dread disease which he had spent the best years of his life in fighting. Dr. Kunkel first went to Bon Air when the sanatorium virtually consisted of one shack. Throughout the growth and development of the institution he was its medical director, and played a prominent part in making Bon Air a potent influence in the fight against the Great White Plague.

Through a tragic coincidence, Dr. Kunkel’s death follows, by only a few months, the death of Milton F. Melvin, founder of Bon Air, who also laid down his life in the struggle to eradicate the scourge of tuberculosis.

Dr. Kunkel’s researches at Bon Air gave him a national reputation as an authority on tuberculosis. He was a frequent contributor to scientific publications, and his opinions carried much weight in medical circles. Dr. Kunkel’s recent experiments with the equipment donated to Bon Air by Mrs. Hamsher, including X-Ray apparatus and the Alpine lamp, have added materially to scientific knowledge of tuberculosis. For the present, Dr. Kneiss will carry on his work.

Dr. Kunkel was only 40 years old. He is survived by his wife and two sons, Alton and Lester Kunkel. Funeral services will take place at the home at Bon Air, tomorrow afternoon at 3 o’clock, with Rev. Dr. John Richelson officiating. A special car will leave Bradford at 2:30 o’clock for the convenience of friends who wish to attend the services.

Dr. Kunkel’s body will be taken on Tuesday to Reading, his former home, for burial.

COUNTY SANATORIUM PROJECT ABSURD-DEFEAT IMPERATIVE

McKean County Democrat October 28, 1926

At next Tuesday’s election the taxpayers of McKean County will vote on the question of the county purchasing the abandoned Bon Air tubercular sanatorium at Bell’s Camp, near Bradford and conducting it in future.

In accordance with the law, promoters of the project have presented petitions to the county commissioners asking for the sanatorium and the matter is now up to the voters.

The Democrat, which has always been active in supporting any movement which will result in public good, has investigated the Bon Air sanatorium project impartially and is convinced that it is not deserving of public support, in fact should be decisively defeated by the voters next Tuesday.

The campaign for the sanatorium was arranged quietly by the promoters, allowing no time for opposition to organize and news of the proposal when it became public, took residents of the county completely by surprise. An organizer from Philadelphia is in the county directing an intensive drive for the project and propaganda is being issued to the effect that there are “250 cases of recognizable tuberculosis in the county” and that the purchase of Bon Air is approved by the McKean County Medical Society.

All the physicians of Smethport have been asked regarding their sentiments on the project and all are opposed to it. Reports from other cities and towns of the county state that leading physicians everywhere are united in their stand against the sanatorium proposal.

The best way for voters to verify this statement is for them to ask their physician what he thinks of the plan.

The McKean County Medical Society’s prestige is being used to boost the project by the promoters without the consent of the great majority of physicians belonging to the organization, who are opposed to the proposal.

It is estimated that Bon Air will cost the county, in the event its purchase is authorized by the voters, not less that $200,000 and the taxpayers will be compelled to furnish over $10,000 annually for its upkeep.

For a number of years the sanatorium was conducted by an expert in the treatment of tuberculosis who devoted his time and labor unstintedly, with slight reward, to the surcease of suffering of his tubercular-afflicted fellowmen. The institution was sponsored and liberally endowed by the Northwestern Tuberculosis Association and under these splendid auspices was given a thorough, efficient trial and had there been a chance in the world for it continued existence would have been treating patients today.

As a matter of fact the promoters of the splendid project became convinced, after several years that results attained did not warrant the continued existence of the sanatorium and ceased their labors. Bon Air passed into other hands and after several unsuccessful changes of management was closed.

Now the voters of McKean County are asked to purchase the ghost and assume the burdensome financial demands its reestablishment and operation will involve. If the voters approve the Bon Air project Tuesday they will purchase a white elephant.

In the first place Bell’s Camp is situated in the dense fog belt of the county. While the oppressive fogs which almost nightly blanket this section may not seriously retard the treatment of tuberculosis, surely they will not help the patients. If McKean County must have a tuberculosis sanatorium for the cases which may develop among its 40,000 population—and few, if any municipalities of similar population would even consider maintaining a tuberculosis hospital—why not choose a proper site either on top of lofty Prospect Hill, near Smethport, or at some point near Mt. Jewett, where the sanatorium would be above the fogs?
Furthermore there’s a serious question whether a county tuberculosis sanatorium is necessary at all.

These cases were promptly sent to the State’s model sanatorium at Mt. Alto, PA, where there are ample accommodations to meet all demands and the Institutor, is recognized as being one of the most successful in the treatment of tuberculosis in the country.

A member of the board of county commissioners informs The Democrat editor that there has never been one moment’s delay in securing admission of McKean County patients at Mt. Alto or the two other sanatoriums maintained in the State which is conclusive proof that a sanatorium in McKean County is wholly unnecessary.

Advocates of the sanatorium declare that there are 250 cases of recognizable tuberculosis in McKean County. A well known physician who travels over all of McKean County in an official capacity tells us that there is not even a fraction of that number of cases in the county or in northwestern Pennsylvania.

If there are any sane reasons to be advanced in favor of the project of the county buying Bon Air and conducting it at great expense in the taxpayers, there is an overwhelming weight of sound argument against the plan to render them negligible.

Defeat this Bon Air sanatorium project and defeat it decisively next Tuesday for it possesses no merit and is not needed.

Voters—do not fall to mark a NO opposite this proposition as it appears on the official ballot.

SANATORIUM OPEN SOON AT ROCK CITY

Sarrington Hall Health Resort in Old Bon Air Hotel Site to Open May 1st

W. A. Clark Will Manage It—Magnificent Location 2385 Feet Above Sea—Pure Air and Fine Water

Olean Evening Times April 4, 1913

Rock City, famous all over the eastern part of this country for its fantastic formation of great rocks which for the immense plateau topping the range of the lower Alleghenies, from which is seen a sweeping panorama of hills, forests and smiling valleys, and over which blow the fresh winds that bear upon their wings the health-giving ozone for which that picturesque region is celebrated, is to have established upon its very summit a new institution which will minister to those seeking renewed health and vigor. It would be impossible to find a location more admirably adapted to this purpose or one which combines all the natural elements which make for health and strength with scenic beauties unmatched in this section of the country. The new enterprise is to be known as the Barrington Hall Health Resort. It will occupy the site formerly occupied by the beautiful Bon Air Hotel and for the present will utilize the building of the Bon Air Lodge which replaced the hotel when that hostelry was abandoned some few years ago.

W. A. Clark, proprietor of the Exchange Turkish Bath Parlors in the Metropolitan Building of this city, is to be the new manager. Mr. Clark is, through experience and natural aptitude, particularly well equipped for this work. His long record of successful treatment of difficult chronic ailments brought him to the attention of President Wilson R. Page of the W. N. Y. & P. Traction company, who had long been considering the establishment of a health resort on the line of his road at this point.

The new sanatorium will be splendidly equipped to cope with such cases as come to it for relief. It will have various kinds of baths and electrical treatments, including a hydro-therapeutic outfit, an electric light cabinet of 3,000 candle-power, steam baths, Turkish and Russian baths, the celebrated electrical robe treatment of recruits and rheumatism, high frequency electric machines, an ozone generator, galvanic, faradic and sinusoidal electric treatments, arm and leg baking outfits and hot and cold fomentations.

The new health resort will also have the Berlin hot air hay fever equipment. Careful attention will be given by Manager Clark to the dieting of patients. The water to be used has remarkable medicinal qualities and will be taken from the spring at the top of the rock. Stimulated by the pure, dry air, and fortified by the baths and course of dieting it is believed that here the patients should regain their lost health.

The rooms will be comfortably furnished with iron beds and oak dressers, tables and chairs. The large verandas will be used for various purposes, such as outdoor dining rooms, solarium, lounging and sleeping quarters. In connection with the sanatorium there will be tennis courts, volley ball courts, croquet, an outdoor gymnasium and other outdoor and indoor amusements.

Rock City is 2,385 feet above the sea level. It is 957 feet above the city of Olean and from its summit one gets a beautiful and inspiring view of the city and the picturesque surrounding country.

The new institution is to be opened to the public on or about May 1st, next. The rates, it is promised, will be low enough to be within the reach of everybody. Manager Clark makes it known that arrangements for reservation before the opening date can be made with him at the office of the Turkish Bath Parlors, in the Metropolitan Building.

BON AIR AND GRANDVIEW COMBINED

McKean County Democrat November 14, 1912

At a meeting of the Northwestern Anti-Tuberculosis League held at the office of J. P. Melvin, Esq., yesterday afternoon, much was accomplished. Vice President R. P. Habgood presided and Mrs. Anna Hanley Bird was secretary.

The reports of Mrs. Kate J. Berry, treasurer, and M. F. Melvin, manager, were read and approved and ordered placed on file.

Mr. Melvin gave an outline of the plan to consolidate Bon Air Sanatorium with Grandview Sanatorium of Oil City and set forth the advantage of such a combine. Mr. Melvin reported that he had talked with a number of citizens of prominence in Bradford and Oil City and all were inclined to favor the proposition.

Following the remarks of Mr. Melvin a motion prevailed that Bon Air at Bells Camp and Grandview Sanatorium be consolidated in accordance with a resolution adopted at a previous meeting of the board of directors of the two institutions. The board of directors will have full control of the business of the league.

The new board of directors will include the following named well known gentlemen: Messrs. W. W. Bell and E. C. Emery, Bradford; Hon. Harry Hyde and Hon. Harry Alvan Hall, Ridgway; W. H. Davis, Kane; Hon. W. E. Rice and E. D. Wetmore, Warren; Hon. N. P. Wheeler, Endeavor; S. Y. Ramage and W. T. Borelead, Oil City; O. D. Blakely and Hon. J. C. Sibley, Franklin; John H. Sckeide, Titusville; M. F. Melvin, Bradford.

There was a general discussion on the excellent work being done at the Bon Air Sanatorium. Among the guests present at the meeting were Mrs. W. G. Kiepe and Mrs. C. H. Huntley, of Buffalo. The former told of the very satisfactory work being done at Bells Camp and referred to the great help that many Buffalo patients had received at Bon Air. She said that she could see great improvement at the health resort at Bells Camp on each visit.

The meeting was one of the most successful held in years. There was interest and enthusiasm over the increased facilities for fighting that dread disease, tuberculosis.

The consolidation of Grandview and Bon Air will increase the present capacity of about 50 beds, the capacity of Bon Air, to nearly 100 beds.

Mr. Melvin, manager of Bon Air Sanatorium, has caused to be published in pamphlet form the second annual report of that institution. The document contains much interesting information relating to the work of the sanatorium, its receipts, disbursements, ect.

BON AIR NEEDS $15,000

M. F. Melvin, Founder and General Manager, Makes Plea for Funds

McKean County Miner February 29, 1912

“The Bon Air Sanatorium, a tuberculosis camp, located 1800 feet above the sea, in the hills of Pennsylvania, near Bradford, has demonstrated that the fight against the white plague can be successfully waged, not only with incipient and moderately developed cases, but also with patients where the disease is far advanced,” said Milton F. Melvin, the founder of the camp and the general manager of its board of control, in the Buffalo Evening News. Today Mr. Melvin is a tall, stalwart man, and from appearance in the full enjoyment of perfect health. Eight years ago he was stricken with the dreaded white plague and confined to his bed for 20 months. He says that he was cared through open air treatment at White Haven, PA.

“Because of the way I recovered my health. I decided to open a way for others to do the same,” continued Mr. Melvin. “The Bon Air Sanatorium was organized under the Northwestern American Tuberculosis League and it has on its board of control, from Buffalo, Charles R. Huntley and Dr. Edward J. Kiepe. Dr. Delancey of Rochester is the evening physician of Bon Air for Buffalo.

“The institution is a philanthropy one, and as 54 of the patients cared for and treated at Bon Air came from Buffalo, it is nothing more than fair to the people of Buffalo to contribute a part of the small amount needed to carry on the work of this institution.

“Bon Air in six months grew from eight to 43 beds. In the last two years we have treated 54 patients from Buffalo. Unlike Raybrook and many other tubercular camps, we do not bar those who are afflicted beyond the incipient stage of the disease. The only incipient case we had came from Buffalo. Twenty-five were moderately advanced and 28 far advanced. The records show that 42 of those who left before the first of January, the disease was arrested; its progress stopped in 10 cases; 20 improved; three were apparently cured; three unimproved; two failed; three died; and one was non-tubercular. They were given 9195 hospital days’ treatment.

“The cost to the patients at Bon Air is $7 a week, but to take care of them it costs us $10. To make up this difference we are asking for $15,000. This amount will put the institution on its feet and balance its books. Subscriptions are being asked for amounts of $100. Philanthropic people of Bradford, Olean, Jamestown, etc., have already subscribed $7500 of this amount.

“Everybody connected with Bon Air is a cured tubercular patient, forming a strong bond between those who are doing the work and the ones being treated. The league in charge of the camp is organized on a membership basis of $5 per year. There are now about 300 members and we plan to increase this number to 1000.”

TUBERCULOSIS SANATORIUM

McKean County Society and Its Sanatorium Doing Good Work

McKean County Democrat January 27, 1910

The Bradford Star-Record says: The Northwestern Anti-Tuberculosis society, the headquarters of which are in Bradford, but which is made up of members living in cities and towns between Buffalo and Pittsburg inclusive, has a well equipped and well managed sanatorium, tried and not found wanting. But what it wants and needs is more members, which means more money to carry on the good work which the society set out to do upon its organization.

The purpose of the society, as its name indicates, is the cure and the prevention of tuberculosis. It is not in any sense a money making institution. Its members are assessed a certain fee per year, the money going to carry out the society’s work. The more members it can enlist under its banner the more money it will have and the more work it can do. As we understand it, there is no limit to the number of members the society would take in, as it is manifest the more money the treasury has, the more good work may be performed.

A reporter for the Star-Record paid a visit to the Bon Air sanatorium at Bells Camp, about seven miles out of Bradford on the line of the Western New York & Pennsylvania Traction railway. The sanatorium is in charge of an experienced physician, Dr. O. F. Kunkle of Reading, PA, for two years connected as assistant to Dr. Brown, of Cottage sanatorium at Trudeau, NY, and Dr. Goodsall of Stoy Wood sanatorium at Lake Kushequa, both in the Adirondacks. He is a tuberculosis expert. He is assisted by Miss Mary Nash of this city, who gained her first experience in nursing tuberculosis patients in the famous White Haven sanatorium this state and who has been connected with Bon Air sanatorium since its beginning. She is an experienced graduate trained nurse. The business management is in the hands of Milton F. Melvin of this city, who is heart and soul in the work of the society and devotes all his time to it. The sanatorium is located in a pleasant spot up in the hills. The mountain background gives relief from cutting winds in winter and the spot is an admirable one for an institution of this kind. There is a main building, a pleasant old farm house, where the business is transacted, meals are prepared and which contains living apartments for those in charge. There are ten patients at the sanatorium. They live in several tents or what are technically known as “shacks,” but which in reality are substantially built wooden structures.

In each of these “shacks” is a living room, and connected with a fresh air bedroom, open on three sides with canvas curtains, which may be let down in stormy weather. All the patients seen by the reporter are well satisfied with the care received and think very well of Bon Air and its management, which is a good indication. Bon Air has turned out some remarkable cures. It has been proven that most tubercular cases can be cured if the treatment, which is simplicity itself, is taken in time. Fresh eggs, fresh milk, quiet and fresh air is practically all there is to it, and all that in abundance is afforded at Bon Air.

BON AIR TO CLOSE

McKean County Democrat May 3, 1923

The many people interested in the welfare of the Bon Air Sanatorium at Bells Camp will regret to learn that the institution is about to close owing to a shortage of funds. The decision for such action was made at a meeting of the board of directors. The Bon Air was founded many years ago by the late Milton F. Melvin of this city and used since for the treatment of tubercular sufferers. There are at present several ex-service men at the Bon Air who will be removed to other sanatoriums as soon as arrangements can be made by the posts of the American Legion, Veterans of Foreign wars and United States Veterans’ Bureau.

The Bon Air has taken care of a number of patients from this and other states and is a well-known institution. Many prominent physicians have been in charge. The founder was himself a tubercular sufferer, and he started the institution that others could be cared for.

Not long ago the resident physician resigned, and since, Dr. DeCaria of Bradford has been visiting the institution daily and looking after the patients.

For some time the Bon Air was managed under the auspices of the Northwestern Anti-Tuberculosis society in conjunction with the Grand View at Oil City.

EMERY IS PRESIDENT

Bradford Man Chosen Head of the Consolidated Sanatorium

McKean County Miner November 21, 1912

The directors of the recently consolidated Bon Air sanatorium at Bells Camp, and the Grandview sanatorium of Oil City, held a meeting at Oil City yesterday and organized by electing the following officers:
President, Hon. L. Emery, Jr., of Bradford; vice presidents, W. A. Boyland of Oil City and Hon. E. P. Habgood of Bradford; treasurer, E. D. Wetmore, of Warren, PA; secretary and General Manager, M. F. Melvin, of Bradford.

Dr. O. E. Kunkle who has been medical director at Bon Air sanatorium, was elected medical director of both institutions and will spend his time about equally between Bon Air and Grandview sanatoriums.

General Manager Melvin was authorized to appoint Mary R. Carroll of Buffalo as his assistant.

The directors decided that the membership fee will be $5 a year and it is desired that the number of members be increased until at least 2,000 are obtained.

An advantage obtained already from the consolidation of the two tuberculosis sanatoriums, is the fact that a number of patients in this vicinity who have been on the waiting list, are to be provided for at once at the Grandview sanatorium. The Oil City sanatorium has but few patients at the present time and is in splendid shape to provide for the patients who have been waiting for a place at Bon Air.

Henry Neil has been appointed temporary manager of the Grandview institution and has already entered upon his duties.

The Northwestern Anti-Tuberculosis League is now better established to do excellent work in stamping out tuberculosis than ever before.

A BON AIR BENEFIT

The Travelers’ Club is Arranging for a Meeting of This Kind

McKean County Miner March 7, 1912

A Bon Air benefit day is being arranged by a committee of the Travelers’ Club. There will be an open meeting at the club house Saturday, March 16 at 3 p.m. Dr. James Johnston, of Bradford, will discuss the question, “What is Pennsylvania doing for the Stay of Diseases?”

There will be a description of the Bon Air sanatorium and its work, also a paper on “Modern Philanthropy and Its Work,” by Mrs. Guy McCoy.

All citizens are asked to give what they will, in the line of jellies, bedding, books, and magazines, games, cash for purchasing milk and eggs, or any gift calculated to nourish or entertain the patients of Bon Air sanatorium.

Gifts may be left at the club house on or before Saturday noon, March 16, or by notifying Mrs. E. L. Keenan same will be called for.

F. L. BARTLETT OFFERS $500 TO BON AIR

Olean Banker Will Aid in Reconstruction—Patients Will Get Christmas Dinner

The Olean Evening Herald December 20,1917

Notwithstanding the fact that fire destroyed the administration building of the Bon Air tuberculosis sanatorium at Bells Camp, near here, the thirty-four patients which are receiving treatment at this institution will have the merriest Christmas ever celebrated there. Before the fire, arrangements had been already completed by those in charge, for a bountiful Christmas turkey dinner for the patients, which is to be the gift of Dr. and Mrs. W. E. Morgan of Chicago, and the dinner will be served at 5 o'clock on Christmas afternoon, regardless of the loss of the main building. In fact, the repast will far surpass any holiday dinner served heretofore at the sanatorium.

In order that these plans can be accomplished, however, there are a large number of articles necessary in any culinary department, which must be donated at once, namely good-sized aluminum cooking utensils which can be used permanently. These must be on hand right away in order that the Christmas dinner promised can be cooked. Other articles needed greatly are table linen, dining room chairs and tables, dishes, silverware and glass tumblers. So far the donations consist only of one-half dozen silver knives, forks and spoons.

Yesterday workmen, who greatly interested in the welfare of the institution, hastened to Bells Camp and worked industriously on a building belonging to the sanatorium group which will be utilized temporarily as an administration building. This structure is one called the lean-to, formerly used by patients. It is a good sized building and will provide a dining room 24x35 feet and a kitchen 14x16 feet. An addition will be built onto the building to be 12x36 feet, which will be used as offices. The lean-to, now the temporary administration building, will serve very comfortably until a permanent building will be constructed with the idea in mind, that it will take care of the future wants of the growing institution. Already Architect A. W. E. Schoenberg of Olean has been on the site to look over the ground so that he can present plans to the board of directors and it is expected that others of his profession will follow his example.

At the present time the cooking for the sanatorium is being done in the laundry, while neighbors living in the immediate vicinity are baking today for the institution and in this way relieving a difficult condition. Church organizations in Bradford will each take a day this eek on which to provide baked foods. There are many ways in which the generous people of Bradford and vicinity may assist the Bon Air at this time, materially, and it is very important that articles mentioned previously in this article be donated at once, as the cooking must be done and there must be dishes and chairs and tables, so that the edibles can be served and the patients may be seated while it is served.

One man who has the sanatorium's losses in mind is F. L. Bartlett, president of the Exchange National bank, of Olean. Upon learning of the fire he called a league director on the phone yesterday and asked him about the loss of the building, and then stated that the official board could draw on him for $500 at any time. In addition to the loss of the building itself, there were several personal losses which cannot be replaced. Mrs. Mary Ehrstein, the housekeeper, who lived in the administration building, lost all of her belongings, her loss being estimated at $1,000. Not only did losses which cannot be replaced, Mrs. Ehrstein had several diamond rings which were heirlooms and which in her eyes were priceless. These were lost. She valued her rings at $600.

Dr. O. F. Kunkel, the medical director, also lost heavily, all of his records, office furniture and medical instruments, the latter valued at $500, going up in smoke.

BON AIR MUST HAVE INFIRMARY

The Need of Such a Building Has Often Been Felt—Preliminary Plans for the Improvement

McKean County Miner June 8, 1911

A party of Bradford men and women visited Bon Air sanatorium at Bells Camp yesterday afternoon. They were conducted by Harry E. Schonblom, chairman of the finance committee, and Miss Mikkie Jackson, associate secretary and treasurer. Some of them had been there before. These were impressed by the growth of the group of buildings, which make up the sanatorium. Others of the party made their first visit, therefore were doubly impressed and at once interested in the institution and the splendid work. It is doing, says Friday's Star-Record.

Bon Air is growing in size and usefulness. It is now taking care of forty patients in various stages of tuberculosis. Some of them have so far progressed toward a cure that they make themselves useful in numerous ways, for the double purpose of showing their gratitude and occuping their time. Others are making satisfactory progress, while there are those who are very ill-who have not been at the sanatorium a sufficient length of time to have arrived at the point where they can see renewed health ahead of them.

The very sick form a serious condition that confronts the officials of the institution. How to take care of them and at the same time keep them away from those who are progressing toward recovery must be met, and Manager Melvin and Dr. Kunkel, the camp physician, have made a tentative plan of an infirmary, apart from the other buildings where very sick people may be placed when they arrive and kept as long as their condition warrants it.

It has been found detrimental to the patients who could get well under favorable circumstances to have the very sick, and perhaps mortally ill, among them. A tubercular patients must fight. He must help his own cure by a determination not to give up. Courage is much of the battle. To be in sight of a patient whose case was hopeless from the first and to watch him growing worse-and maybe passing out, is anything but helpful. The plan to keep the hopelessly sick, or very sick, apart from the incipiently ill, or the patients who are progressing satisfactorily will appeal to the good sense of anyone.

So, Bon Air must have an infirmary, instead of more shacks. The present plan, which is subject to any sort of change, calls for a building in which there would be a sitting room, dining room and other non-sleeping rooms. In front: from these a long hall, on either side of which would be single rooms and rooms for two, and at the end of the hall, a ward. Nothing expensive or architecturally impressive is contemplated. The building could be built of exactly the materials of which the shacks are made: plain, substantial wood with walls of plaster board covered with the sanitary washable material, which is found in all the shacks.

With such an infirmary the institution could take the very sick patients which it has frequently to reject on account of their advanced condition. They would be cared for by the infirmary's own nurse under Dr. Kunkel's direction. The same effort to cure them would be made in the infirmary that would be made in the infirmary that would be made were they among the less sick patients, and their isolation would remove from the other patients the distressing, hurtful influence a closer proximity exercises.

So far, every one to whom the plan has been broached has thought well of it. It will be a step upward for the institution, and that it will be built is a certainty. The Northwestern Anti-Tuberculosis league has from the first succeeded in doing what it set out to do. It now sets out to build an infirmary and it will build it. Where the money will come from cannot now be siad, but it will come, and when the infirmary is built Bon Air will be equipped for its battle against the White Plague as few institutions of its kind are equipped.

A BRIEF HISTORY OF BON AIR

McKean County Miner April 1, 1920

Bon Air Sanatorium like most institutions of its kind was the inspiration of one who suffered tuberculosis. It was built for the purpose of assisting unfortunate consumptives of Northwestern Pennsylvania and Western New York to make their fight against the disease.

The institution was opened on the first day of May 1908, with two tents and one patient and has since grown to a substantial Sanatorium of about thirty-five beds. However, the limit has not been reached as a movement is now on foot and ground has already been broken for a complete infirmary building of thirty-bed capacity.

An X-Ray machine and an Alpine Lamp have been installed recently and are now in use. A new administration building has also been completed and is now occupied. Bon Air will rank as one of the best sanatorium in the country, and it has all came about in eleven short years.

Bon Air sanatorium is situated in the foothills of the Allegheny mountains, six miles east of Bradford, PA, on the Rock City trolley line at an elevation of nearly 1,800 feet. The buildings are built on a clearing, surrounded by woods of second growth timber, which makes an ideal location for the treatment of tuberculosis. In addition to the beauty of the spot there is an abundance of pure mountain water, piped from a reservoir built 200 feet higher.

The management of the institution is not alone in the belief that the location is ideal, for the opinion is born out by the fact that the birds have picked it as a summer rendezvous. During the months from May to October, at least one hundred different species add to the natural loveliness with their beautiful songs and plumage, thereby bringing joy to the heart of him who loves nature. The grounds have been improved from time to time until the lawn extends about all the buildings, and in summer flowers and shrubbery are noticeable everywhere.

The Northwestern Anti-Tuberculosis League is the parent organization which supports Bon Air sanatorium. The League, however, does not limit itself to the actual maintenance of the institution, but cooperates with the Pennsylvania Society for the Study and Prevention of Tuberculosis and the National Tuberculosis Association. Recently an educational department has been organized by the League with Miss Cora A. Robinson as secretary, for the purpose of carrying on a campaign in the six counties—Warren, McKean, Potter, Forest, Cameron and Elk-in order to determine as nearly as possible the extent of tuberculosis in this community, the existing measures for control, and the best methods of meeting the situation.

RED CROSS CHRISTMAS SEALS

McKean County Miner December 22, 1910

Every Red Cross Christmas seal sold in the six counties in Northwestern Pennsylvania adds a penny to the treasury of the Northwestern Anti-Tuberculosis League in Bradford. This Society maintains the Bon Air sanatorium and is taking care of 38 patients at the present writing at a loss of between $5 and $10 per week per patient.

It is a well known fact in this county that the Bon Air sanatorium is doing a wonderful work and that many lives have been saved there in the last year and a half, that were declared hopelessly sick by well known physicians. This work has only been possible through the charity of the people in this district, but as the institution has grown faster than they have been able to obtain money to pay for the growth, it is hoped that enough money will be realized in the sale of Red Cross Christmas seals to materially reduce their debt.

Bradford, Ridgway, Kane and Warren are making great sales and it is sincerely hoped that Smethport will do its share in the purchase of these little seals. There are quite a number of Smethport people members of the Northwestern Anti-Tuberculosis League showing that there is a great deal of interest in the town in charity. This sale offers to the man who feels he cannot afford to be a member of the Northwestern Anti-Tuberculosis League an opportunity of contributing his mite.

Buy a few Red Cross Christmas seals.

SANATORIUM SEEKS LOCAL SUPPORT

Bon Air is Helping Olean Patients—A Growing Institution

Olean Evening Times September 30, 1911

As one rides from Rock City to Bradford, a little group of tents and shacks in full view of the car tracks is almost certain to attract one’s attention and inquiry will develop the fact that this is the Bon Air Sanatorium for the treatment of tuberculosis, which is a preventable disease and, in its early stages, curable.

Few of the Olean people are aware what excellent work is being done for local patients at the little, but constantly growing institution just over the hill, located at what was formerly known as Bells Camp, PA, but within the past few years the old name has been almost superseded by Bon Air, because the sanatorium is the most important thing there.

The type of shack used is an original one and has won the praises of the most advanced students of the treatment of the disease. Case after case has been discharged as cured and the physicians of the vicinity the nurses and the social workers all commend the institution and its methods.

The sanatorium charges but little for patients treatment and maintenance and it has no reserve fund to draw upon. It depends upon the mobile assistance to make up the deflate entailed by a restricted income. The institution is in debt and this is a matter which must be kept in sight by the management in addition to current demands upon the meager exchange of the sanatorium. In order to wipe out its indebtedness, Manager Melvin has resolved to undertake a new campaign for funds, which should be made a success. He has opened a subscription list, to which several names have already been signed, pledging the subscribers to donate to the institution the sum of $100 each. It is Mr. Melvin’s intention to secure 150 names of men and women living in six counties comprising the district from which patients are received at the sanatorium: each subscriber agreeing to give the sum named and raise, thereby, the total sum of $15,000—$100 from each of 150 persons.

Some Olean people are already numbered among the supporters of the institution, but there are others who could well aboard to subscribe to it liberally, who have not yet done so. Charity can take no more practical form than healing the sick stopping the spread of the disease and raising from the position of dependents, those who are deprived of their support by the ravages of tuberculosis.

MANAGER SOLICITS FUNDS FOR BON AIR

Excellent Institution Saddled By a Debt of $15,000—New Self Supporting

Olean Evening Times December 18, 1911

M. F. Melvin, founder and present manager of the Bon Air sanatorium, is in the city today. Mr. Melvin is in Olean trying to raise additional and much needed funds for the elimination of the $15,000 debt which still hangs over that excellent institution. To that end he will visit a number of Olean’s most progressive and benevolent citizens today or within the next few days.

The Sanatorium is now self-supporting, but the indebtedness incurred during the first few years of its existence still remains, and it is the earnest wish of the managers of that institution to eliminate this debt as soon as possible in order that more efficient work can be carried on there, and that the number of deaths from this dread disease in this community may be materially lessened.

There are at present six patients from Olean at Bon Air. These are receiving the most approved and up to date treatment and their condition is most satisfactory.

Bradford has raised approximately $5,000 for the purpose of removing the debt upon Bon Air, and it is expected that an additional $2,500 will be gathered from that city for this purpose, bringing Bradford’s total up to $7,500. Olean and other outside points are looked to for the purpose of contributing $7,500 and thus eliminating the debt.

There is not a well to do man or woman in Olean who would not give $100 or more for a place in which to put a friend or a faithful employee in case he was stricken with tuberculosis.

The Bon Air Sanatorium offers that place and a large number of the people of Cattaraugus county have availed themselves of the opportunity. This institution is the most economically built and maintained of any in the country. Its methods have received the approval of some of the most noted experts in the care of tuberculosis patients and the high standard of effectiveness, which it has set has been an incentive to emulation on the part of many larger and older institutions for the treatment of the disease. As a practical charity the care and cure of incipient tuberculosis offers to the philanthropically inclined an unusual opportunity of large returns for the money expended.