The Jewish Consumptive Relief Society (JCRS) was founded in Denver, Colorado in 1904 as a non-sectarian sanatorium to treat tuberculosis (TB) patients in all stages of the disease. The society was founded by a group of immigrant Eastern European Jewish men, many of whom were themselves victims of TB. For decades, patients flocked to Denver from all over North America and were admitted free of charge. In the early years, the sanatorium was headed by Dr. Charles Spivak as secretary (1904-1927) and Phillip Hillkowitz as president (1904-1948) and catered primarily to Jewish patients in a distinctly Jewish environment. In 1954, the institution changed its mission to cancer research, becoming the American Medical Center.
