Former Towanda resident documents experience with airing on WVIA (PBS)

Chuck Felton, a 1955 Towanda High School (THS) graduate who now resides in Lakehills, Texas, embarked on a journey in 2009 to document and recount his memories of life in a sanatorium designed to quarantine and treat patients stricken with forms of Tuberculosis. But this journey soon became much more than he expected, with a site developed by Felton (www.feltondesignanddata.com\cressontbsanatoriumremembered) gaining interest that led to an eventual reunion of patients that were treated at the old Cresson Sanatorium, which now serves as part of the Pennsylvania Corrections system, and the filming of the event by PBS.
“When I started the website,” Felton said, “I wasn’t sure what I would hear.
“The website meant we would leave something behind,” he added. “It’s neat to leave something behind.”
But soon connections were made on the website amongst former patients and a subsequent reunion planned for August of 2011. And following an inquiry to PBS Station WQED in Pittsburgh by Felton in February of 2011, WQED Producer David Solomon replied that he would be interested in putting together a 30-minute segment of the reunion. The documentary will air on WVIA (PBS) in Towanda on Monday, April 2 at 7 p.m.
In a recent interview with Felton, he talked about the record that the website he launched provided of his experience at Cresson Sanatorium, and the August reunion that gathered former patients together for a time of healing and remembrance.
“People in the sanatorium were like World War II veterans; they were dying,” Felton said of his recollection of this experience.

The Sanatorium

In a Lifestyle feature published on Jan. 31, 2010, Felton discussed in detail his diagnosis of tuberculosis, and his eventual transfer to Cresson Sanatorium for treatment — a facility where he would undergo a 16-month recovery process.
In his 2010 interview, the 1955 THS graduate, who is the son of Philip Felton and Ester (Anderson) Felton, described himself at the age of 17 as being at the “top of his game.”
At that time, according to Felton, he was serving as class president for THS with plans of enrolling at Penn State. He was at the prime of his life when the illness struck.
After battling symptoms similar to pneumonia, and several visits to Robert Packer for testing, Felton was diagnosed with Pulmonary Tuberculosis, and soon found himself traveling to the Cresson Hospital in Cresson, Pa. for treatment.
Felton described that drive to the hospital, at that time, as lonely. “It was much the same feeling as joining the service,” Felton said in his earlier interview. “You suddenly get sent some place where you don’t know anyone. Then you go to war and you don’t know who is going to die.”
And this experience haunted him, many years later. Felton described how patients would either die from hemorrhaging, they would succumb from illness associated with surgery, or they would have a combination of tuberculosis and silicosis, or black lung from working in the Pennsylvania coal mines.
Each night, he described, the lights would go out at 9 p.m. But then, he described, the lights would come on at 3 a.m., and someone would be wheeled out of there.
“I saw guys struggle for months for every single breath,” Felton said during that interview. “It was like slow strangulation ... they couldn’t get enough air to survive.”

The survivors and the reunion

Felton noted how strange it was, at the age of 17, to see so many people die. Felton was one of the fortunate ones that didn’t succumb to the terrifying fate that some of his colleagues at the sanatorium were delivered.
Following his creation of the website to record his experiences, Felton was soon introduced to former patients who began to share their experiences as well.
Soon, with the assistance of volunteers and networking made possible through his website, a reunion plan was set in place.
Felton described the emails received from former patients and staff, and how interest in the reunion grew quickly. The date of the reunion was set for Aug. 6 and 7, 2011, and was hosted by the American Legion in Cresson, Pa.
Felton was able to clear, with officials from the correctional facility, a special visit to two of the original buildings that remain intact at the Cresson Hospital, which closed in 1982 and now serves as a medium security correctional facility.
According to Felton, over 150 people attended the weekend activities, including former patients, nurses and their family members. Nurse Helen Jones traveled from her home in Rialto, Calif., to attend, according to Felton.
“The weekend events were pure fun for me,” Felton said. “I had several volunteers in Cresson who did all the organizing, which made the weekend a success. I was able to spend my time meeting the attendees. These were people I had only met through emails, but it felt as if we were old friends because of our common connection to the sanatorium.”
And although Felton did not reunite with any of the patients that were housed with him during his stay in the sanatorium, there were three nurses who attended the reunion that had all worked there during that period. In fact, he added, two of them had worked in the ward where he was recovering, which meant they had undoubtedly given him many of the streptomycin he received twice a week.
“The former Tuberculosis patients all hold the sanatorium staff in the highest regard for their efforts in nursing us back to health,” Felton said. “It was wonderful to give them a hug and thank them in person after 55 years for their loving care.”
When asked if the nurses remembered him, he talked of one encounter at the reunion.
“Someone said to me, you were the tall, dark, big guy in the corner.”
The others, he noted, simply shared their experiences.

The documentary

As stated earlier, an email to PBS Station WQED out of Pittsburgh led to the production of a 30-minute segment of the reunion, and Felton’s experience.
By working with staff at the current Cresson facility, Felton, along with Program Director David Solomon and Cameraman Paul Ruggerri, were given access to two of the hospital’s original buildings — Grace Chapel, which was built in 1917, and the old building that housed the children’s unit.
According to Felton, while he was recovering from his treatment, he would go to the chapel often for church services.
“It was very strange,” Felton said of his visit to the chapel. “I hadn’t been there in over 50 years.”
He described how they preserved the chapel, and that the prisoners now clean it.
At the chapel, the program director for the documentary interviewed Felton for six hours.
The children’s unit, he added, was preserved as well.
The documentary will air at 7 p.m. on Monday, April 2 in Towanda on WVIA (PBS). The documentary can also be viewed online at www.wqed.org/tv/experience/?id=291.