|
WWII
From its beginnings in 1907 as a single building through its rapid expansion, improvement in facilities, and increase in capacity Stannington faced new challenges in 1939 with the outbreak of WWII, summed up by Matron Campbell in the annual report for the year:
"...So rapid has been the growth of the Sanatorium that almost every year there has been some change in the structure or equipment to report, but all the changes have been for the securing of that first high ideal - the stamping out of tuberculosis in children.
Now war has come and much has changed. At any moment a great strain may be put upon our hospitals, and we have had to open wide our doors and be ready to receive 218 adult patients in addition to our own 311 children. We already have over 100 adult patients in residence, and among them are a number of men of the forces who either from accident or sickness require medical attention."
By 1941 the children had been evacuated to the Hexham Hydro and sanatorium treatment continued there whilst Stannington was used as a military emergency orthopaedic hospital. The admission register for this hospital covering the period January 1940-June 1941 is held within the Stannington Sanatorium Collection and we see that soldiers from various different regiments form all over the country were being brought to Stannington for treatment. In addition, the admission register details a number of civilian casualties of all ages who were the victims of air raid attacks, and the addresses given give us a good indication of the areas in the North East that were affected by the bombings.
|
