Readers will learn about some of the formidable health challenges of our region, challenges often overcome by advancements in medical science; about the early development of health care as a thriving industry; and about the scientists, doctors, nurses, and other concerned professionals who have led the cause for a better quality of life in the Pikes Peak area. Among the causes of death discussed in the book, readers will learn about combat, disease, injury, murder, and many other forms of demise. Doctors, Disease, and Dying in the Pikes Peak Region includes tales of the pioneers, traders, and military personnel who were both the purveyors and the recipients of needed care. There are chapters about the women and men who practiced medicine in this region, discussions about internationally significant developments for the treatment of tuberculosis and cancer, the impacts of epidemics on the community, mental health issues, and poverty.

Readers will learn about some of the formidable health challenges of our region, challenges often overcome by advancements in medical science; about the early development of health care as a thriving industry; and about the scientists, doctors, nurses, and other concerned professionals who have led the cause for a better quality of life in the Pikes Peak area. Among the causes of death discussed in the book, readers will learn about combat, disease, injury, murder, and many other forms of demise. Doctors, Disease, and Dying in the Pikes Peak Region includes tales of the pioneers, traders, and military personnel who were both the purveyors and the recipients of needed care. There are chapters about the women and men who practiced medicine in this region, discussions about internationally significant developments for the treatment of tuberculosis and cancer, the impacts of epidemics on the community, mental health issues, and poverty. Tuberculosis treatment became a booming business in the region during the late 19th century. Many care facilities welcomed "invalids" from elsewhere, and "lungers" who had the means to be treated to resort living. Though thewords "sanitarium" and "sanatorium" often were used interchangeably in the names of the treatment centers, the editors of this book have chosen to use the word "sanatorium," which according to the October 1910 issue of American Medicine was defined as "an institution for treatment of disease or care of invalids; especially an establishment employing natural therapeutic agents or conditions peculiar to the locality."The climate of the Pikes Peak region, the therapeutic mineral waters of Manitou Springs, and, most of all, the talented medical professionals who practiced here, all combined to form a healthful place to live. A quote wecan attribute?to Jody Jones, regional history specialist in Special Collections?affirms, "Tuberculosis patients came to the Pikes Peak region to get well, not to die."May you enjoy reading this in good health.

Colorado Springs, Colorado, has long profited from Pikes Peak and built an urban infrastructure to sustain that relationship. In Profiting from the Peak, geographer John Harner surveys the events and socioeconomic conditions that formed the city, analyzing the built landscape to offer insight into the origins of its urban forms and spatial layout, focusing particularly on historic downtown architecture and public spaces. He examines the cultural values that have come to define the city, showing how military and other institutions, tourism, political and economic conditions, cultural movements, key individual actors, and administrative policies have created a singular urban personality. Capital accumulation has been a defining theme of Colorado Springs from its very beginning, with enormous profits generated from regional industrialization, railroads, land sales, water appropriation, and extraction of coal and gold. These conditions and its setting in the Rocky Mountain West formed a libertarian-oriented, limited governance philosophy. This persistent prioritization of liberty at the heart of Colorado Springs’s identity, specifically the freedom to conduct business and generate profits in a relatively unconstrained setting, has directed the urban sprawl of the built landscape and molded the region’s political culture. Profiting from the Peak will be of interest to historical and urban geographers, historians of Colorado and the American West, and anyone seeking a deeper understanding of the cultural identity of Colorado Springs.

In the early days on the Colorado frontier, women took care of family and neighbors because accepting that "we're all in this together" was the only realistic survival strategy-on the high plains, along the Front Range, in the mountain towns, and on the Western Slope. As dangerous occupations became fundamental to Colorado's economy, if they were injured or got sick there was no one to care for the young men who worked as miners, steel workers, cowboys, and railroad construction workers in remote parts of Colorado. So physicians, surgeons, nurses, Catholic Sisters, Reform and Orthodox Jews, Protestants, and other humanitarians established hospitals and-when Colorado became a mecca for people with tuberculosis-sanatoriums. Those pioneers and the communities they served created our community-based humanitarian healthcare tradition. These stories about our Wild West heritage honor the legacy of our 19th-century healthcare pioneers and will inspire and entertain 21st-century readers. Because we can be inspired only if we understand the facts-and because facts are more likely to be understood when presented in context-this chronology includes national and international developments that establish an indispensable frame of reference for understanding how our pioneers created the local-community-based healthcare system that we've inherited.

Modern spas are wellness resorts that offer beauty treatments, massages and complementary therapies. Victorian spas were sanitariums, providing "water cure" treatments supplemented by massage, vibration, electricity and radioactivity. Rooted in the palliative health reforms of the early 19th century, spas of the Victorian Age grew out of the hydrotherapy institutions of the 1840s--an alternative to the horrors of bleeding and purging. The regimen focused on diet, rest, cessation of alcohol and foods that upset the stomach, stress reduction and plenty of water. The treatments, though sometimes of a dubious nature, formed the transition from the primitive methods of "heroic medicine" to the era of scientifically based practices.

Almost from its founding in 1871, Colorado Springs has been a city filled with health-seeking citizens. Community-minded progressive people built a thriving town at the foot of Pikes Peak. With the leadership of two prominent Methodist women, devout and progressive women of the city and the Pikes Peak region established Deaconess Hospital with a staff of Deaconess Nurses and student nurses in training, primarily caring for citizens with medical, surgical, and child bearing health concerns. Interrelated in this history is the impact of the social, community, environment technology, economy, evolving nursing education standards and health care realities in the story of Deaconess Training School, which became Beth-El School of Nursing at Beth-El Hospital. The city of Colorado Springs bought the hospital in 1943 and renamed it Memorial Hospital. In 1997, Beth-El College of Nursing and Health Sciences merged with the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs. The dedicated community of women and alumni tells their stories through their recorded memories, newsletters, and documents. The school of nursing has struggled, and ultimately thrived, through the ever-present support and appreciation of the people of the Pikes Peak region. We are Beth-El Nurses: A Heritage of Caring at the Foot of Pikes Peak is our passionate community endeavor.

Everyone in Colorado Springs knows General William Jackson Palmer?ask any child and they?ll tell you "he?s the man on the horse!" Ask an adult and they may add that city streets, a park and a school are named after him. But who was he? Perhaps more knowledgeable citizens would tell you, "General Palmer was the founder of Colorado Springs," or "He was the president of the Denver and Rio Grande Railroad," and others would declare, "He was a decorated Union soldier.""Who was he?," or "who was she," is frequently answered by recounting the individual?s accomplishments in life. Some people have long r?sum?s listing their incredible successes. Others are well known for their failures. There are some residents of the Pikes Peak Region who know William Jackson Palmer as a husband to Queen Mellen Palmer; a father to Elsie, Dorothy and Marjory; and a friend to everyone in the community. Still others would tell you that he was an environmentalist, a pacifist, and an entrepreneur. The second annual Pikes Peak Regional History Symposium, William Jackson Palmer, 1836-1909: Legends, Labors & Loves, endeavored to answer the question, "Who was William Jackson Palmer?" The day-long symposium on June 4, 2005, compared the man of myth with his life?s undertakings, as well as with what is known about his personal relationships. More complex questions come about when reconciling Palmer as a Union army soldier and spy with his Quaker upbringing; reconciling the massive manpower required to build Palmer?s western railroad and mining empires with his reputation as man of benevolence; and reconciling Palmer?s love for Colorado Springs with his intercontinental romance with his wife Mary Lincoln Mellen "Queen" Palmer. This "Palmer Paradox" intrigued Chris Nicholl, historian in Special Collections at Pikes Peak Library District, who cochairs the Symposium Planning Committee with Calvin P. Otto. Chris and Cal assembled many research talents of the region to attempt to reveal this man of Glen Eyrie. This book, Legends, Labors & Loves: William Jackson Palmer, 1836-1909, contains the keys to the many doors in Palmer?s own castle?his personal life. However, there still are rooms, private and concealed, which no one can ever enter. This "unauthorized biography" of a truly remarkable and modest man will open every reader?s eyes to a new view of William Jackson Palmer. There is no scandal, nor is there deception. However, in these pages you will not only find integrity, leadership, and compassion, but you will also witness Palmer?s tenacious conviction, strength, and shrewdness?just how one imagines a true "founding father."