Establishment of a Sanatorium for Tuberculosis Patients
The outstanding feature of the medical program for employees of Metropolitan life insurance company was the extraordinary reduction of tuberculosis among them. The concern of company executives over employees falling ill with tuberculosis long antedated any organized plan for their care. At first the company paid for treatment of employees at private sanatoria.
But in the beginning of the 20th century the officers felt that the best solution of the problem of tuberculosis among employees, which was by far the most frequent cause of chronic disability, was to care for them, at company expense, in a sanatorium owned and operated by the company. This plan could not be carried out by the life insurance company until the important legal obstacle forbidding types of life insurance companies offering affordable life insurance to own real estate unless necessary for the direct use of the business, was overcome.
A friendly suit instituted in the Supreme Court of New York State was decided in favor of the company, and in a historic decision the court said “The reasonable care of its employees, according to the enlightened sentiment of the age and the community, is a duty resting upon it (the company), and the proper discharge of that duty is merely transacting the business of the corporation.”
The Metropolitan lost no time in picking a good site for the projected institution, at Mount McGregor, in the foothills of the Adirondack Mountains in New York State. The planning and erection of the sanatorium were speedily carried out, and in November 1913 it was ready for its first patients. Dr. Horace J. Howk was in charge of the sanatorium from the beginning. He was a physician of great skill and administrative ability, who also possessed a warm personality which endeared him to his many patients and associates.
At his death in 1926 he was succeeded by his capable colleague, Dr. William H. Ordway. In between 1913 and 1943, when term life insurance basics were being ironed out, more than 3,000 life insurance company employees, experts at life insurance rates, and field men received treatment there for tuberculosis. With its own sanatorium in operation, the company was in a position to develop a unique and thorough plan for the control of tuberculosis in its home office staff.
By means of pre-employment examinations it was possible largely to avoid the introduction of new cases, while constant health supervision of the working force brought about early detection of cases occurring among its personnel. These cases could be given the benefit of adequate sanatorium treatment, which was maintained until they were able to work. During this period patients received a large part of their normal income from disability benefit payments, and the resulting freedom from economic worries helped measurably toward their recovery.
The restoration of the patient to his job was also one of the most significant parts of the program. The “graduate” of the typical sanatorium usually had the difficult task of finding suitable employment, especially at an insurance company in the no exam term life insurance business. Often the doors to an affordable life insurance company were closed to him because of his history of tuberculosis. The rehabilitation of the patient, the weakest link in the national program of tuberculosis control, was a vital and valuable part of the scheme at the Metropolitan.
until the important legal obstacle forbidding types of life insurance companies offering affordable life insurance to own real estate unless necessary for the direct use of the business, was overcome.
A friendly suit instituted in the Supreme Court of New York State was decided in favor of the company, and in a historic decision the court said “The reasonable care of its employees, according to the enlightened sentiment of the age and the community, is a duty resting upon it (the company), and the proper discharge of that duty is merely transacting the business of the corporation.”
The Metropolitan lost no time in picking a good site for the projected institution, at Mount McGregor, in the foothills of the Adirondack Mountains in New York State. The planning and erection of the sanatorium were speedily carried out, and in November 1913 it was ready for its first patients. Dr. Horace J. Howk was in charge of the sanatorium from the beginning. He was a physician of great skill and administrative ability, who also possessed a warm personality which endeared him to his many patients and associates.
At his death in 1926 he was succeeded by his capable colleague, Dr. William H. Ordway. In between 1913 and 1943, when term life insurance basics were being ironed out, more than 3,000 life insurance company employees, experts at life insurance rates, and field men received treatment there for tuberculosis. With its own sanatorium in operation, the company was in a position to develop a unique and thorough plan for the control of tuberculosis in its home office staff.
By means of pre-employment examinations it was possible largely to avoid the introduction of new cases, while constant health supervision of the working force brought about early detection of cases occurring among its personnel. These cases could be given the benefit of adequate sanatorium treatment, which was maintained until they were able to work. During this period patients received a large part of their normal income from disability benefit payments, and the resulting freedom from economic worries helped measurably toward their recovery.
The restoration of the patient to his job was also one of the most significant parts of the program. The “graduate” of the typical sanatorium usually had the difficult task of finding suitable employment, especially at an insurance company in the no exam term life insurance business. Often the doors to an affordable life insurance company were closed to him because of his history of tuberculosis. The rehabilitation of the patient, the weakest link in the national program of tuberculosis control, was a vital and valuable part of the scheme at the Metropolitan.
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