Medical Council by F. M. W.

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Tacoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Jun 22, 1916

Medical Council

By F. M. W.

No class of workers connected with this movement have greater or more perplexing questions to deal with than do those engaged in our medical work. It seemed most fitting, therefore, that the medical superintendents, business managers, and head nurses of our sanitariums in the North American Division Conference should come together for a few days of prayer and study and counsel over questions of common interest.

About forty representatives of our medical work met at the sanitarium in Madison, Wis., last week. Dr. H. W. Miller and Brother L. A. Hansen, as secretaries of the Medical Department, had charge of the council. Every denominational sanitarium in the Division was represented. Many questions relating to medical procedure, ethics, finance, etc., were considered. Decisions were reached which, we believe, will have a wide-reaching influence on the future of our medical work.

A spirit of freedom and harmony prevailed. Time was devoted in the early morning meeting to seeking the Lord, and in the evening instruction in practical godliness was presented by Elder Evans and others. A fuller report of this interesting meeting will be given later by the secretaries of the Medical Department.

We believe that much good will result from a closer cooperation of our medical workers. Our sanitariums are not independent units, but each is a link in a chain, a member of a sisterhood. Our medical work constitutes an important department of this movement. The providence of God has brought our sanitariums into existence as auxiliaries for the giving of the gospel message to the world. Their success will be found in their recognition of this relationship. It is for them to maintain the ideals of true Christian temperance. If they fail to do this, and cater to purely worldly professional ideals, they will lose their distinctive character, and in consequence their power.

Our medical institutions have been passing through a severe crisis during the last decade. Encumbered with indebtedness, with a transitory patronage, the outlook has been dark; but better days are dawning. Our sanitariums are emerging into light and liberty. Some are freed from debt, and others are making fast progress in gaining their liberty. Soon all, we believe, will be able to sing the song of jubilee and deliverance.

And we see a quickening of their spiritual life. Their workers are reaching out for greater spiritual blessings, and God is responding to their appeal. In the near future our sanitariums will come to be centers of great spiritual power and physical blessing to the sick and afflicted. Of this we feel confident. Heaven will make them mighty factors in connection with this closing work. Let us hold their workers up before God in prayer. Let us seek for them blessings of wisdom, skill, and efficiency. In this spirit of cooperation and oneness their success will be assured.

F. M. W.