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Maggie Smith
On 18th March 1908 the very first patient to be admitted to Stannington Sanatorium was 17 year old Maggie Smith. She had been living at 73 Leopold Street, Gateshead, but had actually been admitted to the sanatorium from Gateshead Workhouse. A stay of 3 months was initially paid for by the Gateshead Guardians but the sanatorium staff saw fit to apply for repeated extensions which the Guardians agreed to meaning that it was well over a year before she was eventually discharged.
Her background in the workhouse emphasises the strong relationship between poverty and tuberculosis and the detrimental effect poor living conditions can have on a child's health. Smith was admitted suffering from pulmonary TB, as most of the early patients were, and a month after her admission it was noted that of the 6 patients currently in the sanatorium she was the only one with any marked degree of fever. By May 1908 regular bacteriological tests on her sputum still showed evidence of the presence of tubercle bacilli indicating that the disease was still active and explaining why the sanatorium staff chose to keep her in longer.
Despite presenting with strong symptoms of TB to begin with sanatorium treatment saw her gain 5 ¼ lb in the first month, which was a sure sign of progress. By the time she was discharged her symptoms had subsided and her general health had greatly improved and she was seen as one of the sanatorium's first success stories. Unfortunately we do not know what happened to Maggie Smith after she was discharged although hopes were expressed by the staff at Stannington that after overcoming such a dangerous illness she would then be able to go on to live a fruitful and fulfilling life.
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