National Library of Medicine, via Wikimedia Commons. In 1921, the State ordered that all tuberculosis facilities receiving State funds were to be operated by the county commissioners of the county. In addition, the State authorized counties to establish hospitals for the care and treatment of poor persons suffering from tuberculosis. In 1915, Pennsylvania law permitted commissioners of any county to appropriate as much as $10 a week to pay for the maintenance of an indigent person in any tuberculosis hospital established in the county.
In later years, she continued to be an advocate for free chest X-rays for all adults and children in her aggressive fight against TB (Chafee, 211).īy the turn of the 20th century, fighting communicable diseases had become a focus of the State government in partnership with their counties. In 1920, due to her dedication and medical acumen, she was elected President of the Erie County Medical Society. Law was intensely active in the Spanish Flu pandemic of that year, and at the same time, assumed directorship of the state TB clinic at 21st and Peach Streets. Katherine Law returned to Erie, Pennsylvania, where she immediately became involved in public health. Her decision to pursue a medical degree exhibits an unusual strength of character and highlights her determination and courage as a woman, where attending medical school was quite unusual. Katherine chose to attend the Women's Medical College of Philadelphia and graduated with an M.D. Katherine would have been in Lowell during the time of the Lowell woolen mills strike and thus familiar with the conditions under which the mill girls worked. Katherine received her early education in Lowell and graduated from the Lowell Training School for Teachers in 1898. Katherine's mother died when she was two years old, and she was sent to Lowell, Massachusetts, where she was cared for by relatives. Her Great-great-grandfather was Samuel Hays, the Burgess of Erie during the building of Oliver Hazard Perry's fleet of Ships in 1813. One of the concerned residents of the city of Erie was Katherine Law.
By 1912, they had constructed a tented, fresh air camp at the Municipal Hospital, and by 1913, a 24-bed sanatorium had been established on East Gore Road. The organization adopted as their symbol the Red Cross's double-barred Cross of Lorraine, which had become the symbol for the fight against tuberculosis around the world. In 1909, these energized citizens met weekly at the Reed House on Perry Square, and on May 13, 1910, they incorporated and chartered the Erie County Society for the Prevention and Treatment of Tuberculosis. In Erie, tuberculosis became the chief concern of the local American Red Cross whose Erie members took up the fight against the spread of tuberculosis. This was more than the mortality of diphtheria, smallpox, typhoid, and scarlet fever combined (Erie County Hospitals, 4/13/80).
In 1904, tuberculosis in the U.S., claimed 100,000 lives annually. Tuberculosis, however, continued to be a scourge in the U.S. In 1895, German scientist Wilhelm Röntgen authored the first paper written about the use of X-rays to detect tuberculosis, and shortly thereafter, the use of X-rays became routine in the determination of TB. Robert Koch discovered the deadly tubercle bacillus, which causes tuberculosis. In 1884, the first tuberculosis sanatorium in central Pennsylvania was established. Many of those pertained to communicable diseases such as tuberculosis. The latter part of the 19th century was the golden age of medical advances. While each county would operate its facility, the state committed to paying for most of the care of indigent patients. īecause of the epidemic proportions of tuberculosis in the latter part of the 19th century, the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania gave its counties the authority to establish institutions for the care of tubercular patients. This publication, and others, along with video presentations, are available at. Editor's Note: "Erie's Battle With Tuberculosis: How It Was Won" was originally published by the Jefferson Educational Society.