Early X-Rays for Tuberculosis in NL

Tuberculosis was quite prevalent in NL back in the 1950s, in fact, so much so that a sanatorium was established in St. John’s to house and treat patients from all over the island. I remember working as a summer student at the institution in 1952. The majority of patients came from northern Labrador, where the disease was introduced into a population with little or no resistance. In order to monitor the disease X-rays were an important component of a control program. Mobile X-ray units travelled over the island monitoring for the disease. My sister-in Law (Ernestine Jones) was an X-Ray technician at the time and an uncle (Fred Cornick) worked with Heap & Partners installing and servicing X-ray units. Great strides were made in controlling the disease during those years, and with the introduction of antibiotics it was virtually eliminated.

The picture shows a patient being X-rayed at the unit in St. John’s.


John Cornick
Halifax, Nova Scotia


  Submitted By: John Cornick