From its beginnings as the District Nurse Association in 1897, and through the tuberculosis era that placed Saranac Lake on the national map, the organization has been a leader in healthcare for the community of Saranac Lake. To this day, Saranac Lake Health Association remains one of the most unique and completely free community-based healthcare programs in New York state.

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Early history

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The organization began as the District Nurse Association founded in 1897 under the chairmanship of the late Hugh M. Kinghorn. The service provided a nurse upon whom physicians could call for special nursing requirements, such as bed baths for individual tuberculosis patients housed in private sanatoria and nursing homes throughout Saranac Lake.

In April of 1907, a group of local physicians organized the Saranac Lake Society for the Control of Tuberculosis, Inc., with the late Dr. Edward Livingston Trudeau as president. To avoid duplication of services, the District Nurse Association was absorbed into the new TB Society.

Later, in 1907, the war against tuberculosis was organized on a national scale with Dr. Trudeau also assuming presidency of the National Tuberculosis Association. The Saranac Lake Society became the first NTA member.

Financially, the TB Society spent its early years living from hand to mouth. Charles Henderson gave the first donation to establish an office and serve as the first executive secretary, without salary. Other donations came from appreciative patients and their families.

In 1910, the first Christmas Seal Sale was launched on a national scale, with participating societies keeping a major portion of the receipts for local operations. The Christmas Seal Sale was the only public appeal made by the Saranac Lake TB Society and, along with other private contributions and memberships, the work for the local tuberculosis patients was kept going.

Busy as it was, the organization continued a highly precarious life financially until the early 1920s, when bequests from former patients began to come in. In 1950, Miss Mary Prescott, in terminating the Prescott House Sanatorium, turned over a substantial sum to the TB Society for the use of ex-patients and patients in Saranac Lake.

Those gifts were carefully invested in a security fund which remains the main financial driver of the organization to this day.

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Original services

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The Saranac Lake TB Society rapidly expanded to answer new demands for varying patient needs. It kept an annual listing of sanatoria, cottages and rooms, their prices and a description of their services — nursing or ambulatory, for the information of local and out-of-town physicians. These facilities were checked and licensed annually by the TB Society.

It also rented cure chairs, fur coats and blankets to patients who came to breathe the healing — but often sub-zero — Adirondack air.

It kept an Information Bureau about local services, prices and medical staff, for out-of-town physicians who considered sending patients to Saranac Lake.

In the early days, all applications for Trudeau Sanatorium and Ray Brook Sanatorium were processed by the Society. At the time, Trudeau was a semi-charitable institution for those suffering with comparatively mild cases of tuberculosis.

The TB Society reached its peak with the influx of World War I veterans from 1916-1918 when the organization staffed a full-time nurse with two part-time assistants. It kept a registry of nurses upon which physicians could draw for private duty nursing for individual patients.

In 1907, the TB Society purchased Saranac Lake’s first ambulance, a used horse-drawn vehicle from Bellevue Hospital. The ambulance was succeeded by numerous other vehicles owned and operated by the Society until 1969 when the service was turned over to the new General Hospital of Saranac Lake. In November 1970, they gave the Hospital a new two-bed fully equipped ambulance, including oxygen and suction.

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Adapting to change

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With the trend toward hospitalization for acute illness following World War II, and the development of antibiotics, demand for the Society’s services dropped off, but its work continued in other ways.

The TB Society adapted its focus to medically oriented interests as well as direct patient services. In 1969, the Society founded two scholarships for local students interested in studying the para-medical field at North Country Community College, which continue to this day.

Several scholarships were given for the summer school at Trudeau Institute. In addition, grants to further research projects in the respiratory field have been given to Will Rogers Hospital and Trudeau Institute. The Society also gave two freezers to house Trudeau’s micro-bacterial culture collection.

When the new General Hospital was built, the TB Society pledged oxygen and suction equipment. After the hospital’s opening, the society gave respiratory and heart equipment and underwrote the expense of nearly 20 staff nurses to attend special cardiac and respiratory workshops.

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National reorganization

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The decline of active tuberculosis brought the closing of many small societies in the mid 1960s, which was punctuated by the National Tuberculosis Association’s decision to combine the remaining societies into large districts. Saranac Lake was asked to join the Seaway District headquartered in Ogdensburg. Since absorption into the Seaway District would mean transfer of the now considerable funds given specifically for work in Saranac Lake into the treasury of the larger district, the local society regretfully declined and separated from the NTA. In doing so, it lost revenue generated by the sale of Christmas Seals.

Once separated from the national association, the Saranac Lake Society worked to revise the local constitution. The new constitution, which made no mention of tuberculosis, but remained dedicated to services to the sick, was approved by the society’s membership in 1970. Early the following year it was submitted to New York state for approval as a charitable organization under the name of Saranac Lake Voluntary Health Association.

In the ensuing decades, in addition to its home nursing program and scholarships, services were expanded to include a school dental hygienist and financial assistance for hearing aids and necessary dental care. In 2022, the organization began operating as the Saranac Lake Health Association and continues to be a life changing resource providing no-cost health-related services in Saranac Lake.

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This commentary was written by the late Alice Wareham and edited and submitted on her behalf by Peggy Wiltberger of Saranac Lake.