ShreyaThe X-Ray Room
The X-ray room, was where the patients were brought in to diagnose the extent of the spread of their disease. Now that room is nothing but a rubble of tiles clothed by the snow that comes in every year. The room has been damaged by water as can be seen by the walls on the upper side. It is surprising that the room has managed to stand at all. The question is, which people were brought on this island which is not easily accessible and why is the place in ruins now?
An Abandoned Auditorium
This picture captures the extent of mass decay that has occurred in the buildings of the island. This is the auditorium of the North Brother “School” which was used as the Services Building. Even the chairs seemed to have been ashened and melted with the ground. Sick children used to come here for whatever days they had left. These walls hide the secret of deaths of hundreds of children.
One For The Books
Floors of a lot of rooms had hundreds of books as carpets. Some dusted, some burnt, most eaten by insects and rotten over the years. This image is from the library of the school. The patients of tuberculosis and smallpox were sent on this island to be curbed and some of them took months, even years to be completely disease free. It might have been tough to spend all these years on the island for the children and so the authorities decked the library with books for them for their entertainment. But now it is important to know what all happened at this place.
Holy, Mossy Remains
Can you guess what this is? This construction was once island’s second chapel which has now almost entirely disappeared save for a wall. The island seems to be swallowing these human constructions. People suffering from diseases were afraid could not be cured easily, naturally needed some hope and faith to get them going and the chapel was their escape. The history of the place? Here it is.
Origin Of North Brother
The North Brother Island was the place where the victims of smallpox and tuberculosis were brought for treatment, that is clear until now. They were also buried here, the ones who did not survive. The ones who recovered completely were allowed to go home.
The victims of the disease were taken from the city to the island where they were put in the sanitarium and were taken care of by the medical staff there who had already been a victim and survivor of the disease.
Typhoid And The Island
Typhoid produced a much less number of casualties than smallpox but if left untreated it was fatal too. The cause of typhoid is this bacteria called the Salmonella typhi. When people are infected by this bacteria they immediately develop a fever and then a rash along with other unpleasant symptoms. If the body endured the disease for three weeks it usually meant that it would eventually fight it off.
There was this one very rare case of typhoid on the island though.