| Constructed from 1946 to 1948 on June 14, 1950, the Paris Tuberculosis Hospital was dedicated on the outskirts of the Bourbon County, Kentucky seat.(1) An estimated 1,500 attended the opening ceremonies. The third such facility in the state constructed with others in Ashland, London, Madisonville and Glasgow, the 100-bed facility was designed to "solving the tuberculosis problem" although a solution to that was still unknown.
The 100-bed hospital would be wholly inadequate to care for more than a small portion of the tubercular cases needing treatment in the 20-county area the facility was designed to serve upon opening.(1) By law, the beds in the hospital must be allotted to the counties on a population basis, and some counties that have high tuberculosis rates would only receive two or three beds in the hospital.
By July 1, process work began on patient applications.(biennial budget provided $2.7 million for administrative and operational costs of the hospitals. On July 20, it was disclosed that the sanatorium would receive its first patients on Monday, July 24. Paris Tuberculosis Hospital serviced the region for about 15 years before the threat of the disease finally diminished.
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