The old hospital at Tacoma

Washington · USA · Hospital

This building at Tacoma, Washington was a hospital, and a great many of the people who died in it died of tuberculosis.

There is an incinerator in the basement, and local account holds it was used for the dead.

Footsteps are heard throughout the building. On the top floor a woman cries for her child, or her husband. The lifts move between floors with nobody in them.

The history here is specific and it matters. This was Cushman Hospital, run by the federal Indian Service, and the patients were Native people from across the northwest. Tuberculosis moved through Native communities at rates several times the national figure, and patients were sent here from a very long way off and frequently did not go home.

The building now houses the administration of the Puyallup Tribe, on whose land it stands.

It is tribal government property and closed to visitors.

FAQ

Hvor ligger The old hospital at Tacoma?

The old hospital at Tacoma ligger i Washington, USA.

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