The Florida Sanitarium by W. A. R.

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Mar 17, 1910

The Florida Sanitarium

By W. A. R.

Few natural features desirable for a sanitarium location are wanting where the Florida Sanitarium has its home.

Florida has long been known to many people as a desirable winter resort. The crowded trains on all the roads leading into that State testify to this. As the conditions that prevail there during the summer and throughout the year are coming to be better known, that State is beginning to vie with California in its attractions for both summer and winter, and in fact all the year, to seekers after health and pleasure.

The climate is especially favorable for health seekers. The extremes of temperature are slight, especially about Orlando, where the Florida Sanitarium is located. Here beautiful lakes are everywhere in abundance, and these tend to modify the temperature in winter, which rarely reaches the freezing-point, and also the heat of summer, which, according to old permanent settlers, never reaches above ninety degree. Gentle breezes from the ocean on either side add to the agreeable climatic conditions. During the warm months, almost daily showers aid in keeping the temperature cool and pleasant.

The Florida Sanitarium is most beautifully located in the midst of a forest of high, long-leaved, mammoth pines. The grounds face one of Florida's beautiful lakes, and this lake communicates with others by connecting streams. These lakes are all surrounded by forests of live oak, pine, bay, magnolia, and palms. The tall trees hang heavy with a drapery of moss, giving to all a most beautiful aspect. Country farms abounding in oranges, grapefruit, lemons, cumquats, and other tropical fruits, exist on all sides.

This sanitarium is about one mile east of the flourishing town of Orlando. The Atlantic Coast Line runs through the grounds, and by special arrangements trains will stop almost at the back door of the institution to let off and take on patients.

The Florida Sanitarium is a new institution, admirably located in the piney woods, on grounds covering about seventy acres. The buildings consist of a main building containing twenty-one rooms, an office building, and five cottages. The climate is admirably adapted to an institution on the cottage plan, and it is the intention of the managers to increase the capacity of the institution by adding cottages from time to time as needed.

Upon my visit there a few weeks ago, I found the institution well filled with patients, and a good corps of workers, consisting of two physicians, a business manager, one graduate nurse, and several undergraduates who are pursuing the nurses' course.

The climate and natural surroundings make the location of this institution one of the most attractive of our large family of sanitariums. The buildings and equipment are not what they ought to be for a State noted as a pleasure and health resort. California, with natural conditions no better than Florida, has four sanitariums conducted by the denomination, accommodating between three hundred and four hundred patients continually, while Florida has but this one small institution, with fifteen or twenty patients. With proper buildings and facilities, there is no reason why a large patronage could not be kept up all the year round.

The great need is for means to construct an appropriate main building, and to put in good condition the cottages and buildings now on the grounds, and to beautify the grounds. Nature has done a great deal for the institution. A charming lake, shady grounds, tangled woodland, and equable climate all unite to make the possibilities of the place very great. W. A. R.