In 1913, a group of volunteers, spurred by compassion to help those afflicted with tuberculosis, established the Jewish Consumptive Relief Association (JCRA) and raised money to start a free, nonsectarian tuberculosis sanatorium.

In 1914, after several fundraisers, the JCRA put a down payment on 10 acres of sun-soaked land in Duarte, where they established the Los Angeles Sanatorium.