National Asthma Center (U.S.) (1973-1977)
Biography
The National Asthma Center (NAC) (1973-1978) had a series of names: the Denver Sheltering Home for Jewish Children (1907-1927), National Home for Jewish Children in Denver (1928-1952), Jewish National Home for Asthmatic Children in Denver (JNHAC) (1953-1956), and the Children's Asthma Research Institute and Hospital (CARIH) (1957-1972). NAC was an independent institution from 1907 until 1978, when it merged with National Jewish Hospital to form the National Jewish Hospital and Research Center/National Asthma Center. The NAC campus in west Denver at 19th and Julian Streets sold in 1981. During the last part of the nineteenth century, Denver, Colorado, became a haven for those suffering from tuberculosis, "the white plague." However, no formal medical treatment facilities existed until the opening of the National Jewish Hospital (NJH) in 1899. Five years later, the Jewish Consumptives' Relief Society (JCRS) began treating patients with advanced cases of tuberculosis. A Denver housewife, Fannie Lorber, became concerned about the plight of Jewish children left homeless by a parent's hospitalization or orphaned by a parent's death at NJH or JCRS. In 1907, she and her friends Bessie Willens and Sadie Francis organized other local East European immigrant women and founded the Denver Sheltering Home. For the next 51 years, Fannie Lorber presided over the volunteer board of the Home and was the driving force behind fundraising efforts. At first, funded entirely by the Denver Jewish Community, the Home's expansion eventually led to a system of fundraising Ladies' Auxiliaries throughout the United States. The Home initially sheltered only orphaned or neglected children of tuberculosis victims, but it soon expanded its mission to help combat delinquency among Denver's Jewish children. An arrangement was made with Judge Ben B. Lindsey to send first offenders to the Home rather than to a detention center. (Judge Lindsey created the Colorado Juvenile Court system.) The Home also began taking in orphaned and needy children from other cities, and by 1920, approximately 100 children were living on the expanded campus. The Home's founders aimed to provide a cultured, stimulating, and Jewish environment for the children that was as close to family life as possible, unlike most orphanages of the period. In 1939 the Home instituted the long-term residential treatment of children with intractable asthma. In the 1950s, medical, psychiatric, and research personnel were added to treat children with asthma and allergies. In 1951, Dr. Allan Hurst became the first full-time medical director, and Jack Gershtenson became the administrator, a position he held for nearly thirty years. The Home officially became a non-sectarian in 1953. Dr. Murray Pershkin, chief consultant to the home from 1940 until 1959, advocated '"parentectomy,"' the removal of the child from his or her home for up to two years. In 1957, the Children's Asthma Research Institute and Hospital was created. At the time, it was the only research facility in the country dedicated to asthma and allergic diseases. In 1966, Drs. Kimishige and Taruko Ishizaka, a husband and wife research team at CARIH, discovered immunoglobin E, the physiological basis for asthma. In 1972, CARIH became the National Asthma Center. By the 1970s, National Jewish Hospital had gone from treating tuberculosis to treating a broader range of respiratory diseases, including asthma. It was decided in 1978 that a merger of the two institutions would be beneficial. Patients remained at the NAC campus until 1981, when it was closed. Fannie Lorber was president from 1907 to 1958, Arthur Lorber was president from 1958 to 1975, and Charles M. Schayer was president from 1975 to 1978.
Found in 334 Collections and/or Records:
National Home for Jewish Children, circa 1923
Several children playing outside in front of the Fannie E. Lorber Building at the National Home for Jewish Children. The Willens Building can be seen to the right.
National Home for Jewish Children Anniversary News Clippings, 1930
Photograph of newspaper clippings from the Denver Post about the National Home for Jewish Children anniversary event. Pictured left to right in one clipping are Selena Royle, Joseph Darrast, Rita Arent, Arline Marilyn Zigler, Donn Cook, and Danny Justman.
National Home for Jewish Children Reunion, 1979-2000, 1979-1988
This series contains letters from the Rocky Mountain Jewish Historical Society organizing a reunion in 1988 of former residents of the National Home for Jewish Children and 1 self-published manuscript, The Home Chronicles, by Morris Grodsky, a former resident who was at the reunion.
National Home for Jewish Children Sewing Class, circa 1928
Sewing class at the National Home for Jewish Children. Identified girls are Bertha Pinsky, Eva Silverman, Sally Moskowitz, Mary Shuster, and Annie Silverman.
Nurse and Child at the National Asthma Center, between 1965-1988
Oral History Interview with Charles Milton Schayer, 1978 July 13
Topics covered: About half of the interview is family history, biographical information; second half of interview covers experience on the NAC board.
Oral History Interview with Jennie Pells, 1978 August 1
Topics covered: About half of the interview is family history, biographical information; second half of interview covers the children’s home, people involved with it, her mother (Sadie Francis) on board of home from 1908-1946 when she died, then Jennie was on the board; conventions.
Oral History Interview with Sam Robinson, 1979 August 13
Topics covered: Brief family history, from Robinson farming family; grew up around the home, both parents and grandfather helped the home; came on board in 1934; name changes- Denver Sheltering Home, National Home for Jewish Children, National Asthma Center; functions, activities and anecdotes related to home.
Oral History Interview with Will and Faye Cohen, circa 1978
Patient Register for CARIH and NAC, 1958 July 10 - 1981 May 28
Register with patient names, city, birthdate, admit date, discharge date, and months at hospital.