TUBERCULOSIS: history in Manitoba

Victims of tuberculosis were remembered Sunday at a ceremony in the RM of Strathcona.
Representatives of the Lung Association of Manitoba and the RM gathered in a cemetery in Belmont to remember people who died from the disease in a nearby sanatorium in the early 1900s.
The RM of Strathcona raised funds for a memorial cairn, including a donation from the Lung Association of Manitoba.
The memorial cairn at Hillside Cemetery commemorates the people who died at Ninette Sanitarium, which was built more than 100 years ago in response to an epidemic that killed thousands of Manitobans and hit aboriginal communities especially hard.
At that time, tuberculosis patients were prescribed isolation in sanatoriums, fresh air, healthy food, and rest for extended periods of time that could last from 3 to 5 years, officials with the Lung Association said.
Many patients who died were buried anonymously in community cemeteries in the vicinity of the sanatoriums.
The Lung Association is now working to help families find out more information about their loved ones who died from tuberculosis at that time, officials said.