The Medical Missionary Council, as a department of the General Conference, was organized at the session of that body four years ago. During this period, many obstacles have been met in the way of establishing the Council as an integral part of denominational work. How well they have been overcome can hardly be judged after so short a time; but from evidence given below, we have great reason for thankfulness to God for his prospering hand in this department.
The trying experience of the past few years has been instrumental in causing a much wider dissemination of health principles. It has caused us to turn our attention to building up this branch of the work in many places. It has given opportunity for a hundred competent men, in as many widely separated places, to develop their God-given privilege of building up enterprises to the glory of God and the uplifting of humanity.
The past quadrennial period has taught us many valuable lessons; but we are looking to the present Conference to plan the future of this department so that much greater progress shall be made in medical missionary work.
At the beginning of the General Conference four years ago, the president, in his opening address, said:—
“From an early period in our history, medical missionary work has been a prominent feature of this cause. To the one little institution established in 1867, have been added 51 sanitariums, 29 establishments known as treatment-rooms, and a large number of hygienic restaurants. Hundreds of persons, as physicians, nurses, and health and temperance workers, are now devoting their lives to the promotion of this important phase of the third angel’s message.”
Of the 51 sanitariums then in operation, 31 still exist; and the roll has been swelled until the number of recognized institutions is now 80, scattered almost all over the world.
Distribution of Sanitariums
Ordinarily we speak of our sanitariums as those under denominational supervision, and private sanitariums. Of the former, there are 44, distributed as follows: In Australia, 4; in New Zealand, 1; in India, 2; in Japan, 1; in South Africa, 2; in Palestine, 1; in Norway, 1; in Denmark, 2; in Germany, 1; in Switzerland, 1; in Ireland, 1; in England, 2; and in the United States, 25. Of the private sanitariums, there are 36, of which 2 are in South Africa, 1 in Scotland, 1 in the West Indies, 1 in Japan, and 31 in the United States.
Statistics
A glance at the financial condition of our sanitariums for the past four years will be of interest. The sanitariums reported at the last General Conference by the statistician, had assets to the value of $807,405.05. The present worth at that time was $276,687.11, or about a quarter of a million dollars. A similar report at the end of 1908 shows a valuation of over two and one-half millions; namely, $2,766,346.50. The gain for the year 1908 was $422,062.85. The sanitariums under conference supervision, as stated, number 44, against 40 a year ago. Private institutions now number 36, as compared with 24 a year ago. The valuation is as follows: Gain of Conference institutions in 1908 over 1907, $152,885.49; gain of private institutions during the same period, $269,177.36. This is a gain of 8.19 per cent in denominational, and 56.38 per cent in privately owned institutions. This seeming disproportion of gain between denominational and private institutions comes about principally through readjustment in the naming of a few sanitariums, some of which have been known as denominational in the past, having been placed with those privately owned. It may be a surprise to some to learn that the net gain of twenty of our largest sanitariums the past year, counting the losses of some with the gains of others, was $18,980.37, or an average of about $1,000 apiece. The monetary valuation of our institutional work is but a small part of its worth.
Sanitarium Helpers
There are, in all our sanitariums, 966 nurses in training. It should be remembered that all of these meet the entire expense of their training by labor while learning. The source of their support is almost entirely from outside the denomination, through the patients who attend the sanitariums. Ordinarily, a year of training in our other educational institutions costs about two hundred dollars for each student. Their support comes very largely from our own people. This item alone of educating our own young people in our sanitariums aggregates a quarter of a million dollars annually.
There were in our institutions last year 1,843 helpers. Estimating their weekly wages at $6, an average taken from eight of our institutions, this would amount to $564,016 in wages annually, or more than half a million dollars. A tithe of this, paid by such helpers, is $56,401.60, besides offerings, which result from wages drawn entirely from outside sources. The support of all these Seventh-day Adventist laborers is derived directly from self-supporting missionary work.
Number of Patients
Another item of great importance, although often overlooked, is that of contributions to our denominational work by those outside the denomination, through fees paid to our sanitariums by those receiving treatment. The number of patients in our institutions the past year was 21,731. The average length of residence in these sanitariums, as reported by 25 of our principal institutions, is five and one-seventh weeks. A moderate estimate of the amount paid each week would be $20. This means an annual income from the world of $2,235,190.
The amount of charity work reported by 27 of our sanitariums last year was $58,796, or $2,174 apiece.
I am well aware that we can not estimate the worth of this branch of our work in dollars, or its strength in men; but the enumeration of these is a great stimulus to enthusiasm in any work, and without either, we could do little.
Class of People Attending Sanitariums
We have been reminded many times that the instruction to go out into the highways and compel them to come in, is a command to make a special effort for the more favored class of society. In no branch of our work is there a better opportunity to reach this class than through the medical work. We can not reach these people by our camp-meetings. They will not attend our services in tent, hall, or local church. We can not get to them with the printed page, neither can our Bible readers approach them. It is a well recognized fact that the patronage of our sanitariums is largely made up of people from the higher walks of life. There is rarely a time when an institution of any size has not as patients, governors, senators, lawyers, and ministers, as well as people who stand high in the financial world. In response to a question sent to our various sanitariums, it appears that there have been 243 of such influential people in 33 of our various institutions the past year. It will be granted by all that this class is a difficult one from which to gather converts to the message; but those who attend our sanitariums certainly receive a knowledge of the truth, and we have the assurance that many who have been taught the truth of the third angel’s message will later accept it. Fifteen of our sanitariums report 141 who have received the message through the influence of the sanitariums.
Periodicals and Literature
We recognize that we have not been as prolific in the production of medical literature as we ought. Nevertheless, we have at present seven health journals, with a combined circulation of 135,000 copies a month. The growth of Life and Health has been steady. In 1905 the circulation was 16,000 copies a month. In May, 1909, 50,000 copies were printed, and the edition was soon exhausted, so that no more could be had. This list is growing rapidly. The English Good Health has a circulation of 45,000 copies a month; German Good Health, 17,000; French Good Health, 6,000; Dutch Good Health, 5,000; Danish Good Health, 5,000; and the Australasian Good Health, 7,000 copies.
Our medical books consist of the following:—
“Home and Health,” by E. R. Palmer; 600 pages; prices, $3.50 to $5; sales, 10,000.
“The Practical Guide to Health,” by Dr. F. M. Rossiter; 668 pages; price, $3 to $5; sales, 5,000.
“School of Health,” by Dr. A. B. Olsen; 400 pages; price, $1.25; sales, 15,000.
“Health for the Millions,” by Dr. A. B. Olsen; 256 pages; price, 65 cents; sales, 6,000.
“Colds,” by Dr. G. H. Heald; price 25 cents; sales, 10,000.9
“Health; How to Find It When It’s Lost; How to Keep It When It’s Found,” by B. Franklin Richards; 240 pages; price, $1.
“Ministry of Healing,” by Mrs. E. G. White; 544 pages; price, $1.50; sales, about 22,000.
“Vegetarian Cook Book,” by E. G. Fulton; 266 pages; price, 75 cents.
“A Friend in the Kitchen,” by Mrs. Anna L. Colcord; price, 25 cents and 50 cents; sales, 160,000.
For years we have felt the need of tracts and leaflets on health topics. At the last General Conference, a committee was appointed to prepare such leaflets or have them prepared. Accordingly, three series have been started. The first is the Life and Health Series of booklets, four and three fourths by seven inches in size, varying in price from three fourths of a cent to five cents. These are as follows:—
“Tobacco Using” .......... Heald
“Tobacco Habit” .......... Kress
“Diet and Endurance” .......... Leadsworth
“Chronic Constipation” .......... Kress
“Medical Use of Alcohol” .......... Heald
A second series, called Life and Health Leaflets, comprises a series of small, envelope-size tracts selling for one-fourth to one-half cent. These are:—
“Alcohol and Disease” ...... Kress
“Liquor, Poverty, and Crime” ...... Ruble
“Counting the Cost of Alcohol” ................ Ruble
“Is Alcohol a Food?” ................ Kress
“The Cure for National Intemperance” ................ Kress
“Patent Medicines” ................ George
“Simple Treatment of a Cold” ................ Heald
“Some Effects of Tobacco Using” ................ Cummings
“Pointed Facts About Tobacco” ................ Heald
“Pure Air in the Home” ................ Merritt
A third series is published by the Pacific Press, as follows:—
“Patent Medicines” .......... Rand
“Physical Effects of Tobacco” .......... M. L. Edwards
“Simple Treatment for Common Ailments” .......... M. L. Edwards
“Food Chart—Home Use” .......... M. L. Edwards
“Revised Dressing for Health” .......... M. L. Edwards
“Healthful Dress” .......... Dr. Wood-Starr
“Choice Thoughts on Dress” .......... E. G. White
“Signing the Pledge” .......... E. G. White
In Australia are published a number of health pamphlets, as follows: “Food and Health,” “Dietetic Errors,” “Tobacco Habit,” “Diabetes,” “Consumption, Its Cause and Cure.”
The German book, “Christian Temperance,” having 192 pages, and selling for 40 cents, has met with a sale of 50,000 copies. In the Russian, 5,000 copies of the same book have been sold, and in other European languages, 12,000.
“Secret of Health,” a pamphlet of 16 pages and selling for 2½ cents, has met with a sale, in the German, of 5,000 copies; in French, 6,000; in Dutch, 5,000; and in Danish, 5,000.
Medical Missionaries Sent Out
It is coming more and more to be realized that every one who goes to a foreign country should have a knowledge of medical work sufficient to enable him to relieve the more common ailments of humanity. During the past four years, we have sent out 53 medical missionaries, physicians and nurses, as follows. To India, 18; China, 6; Japan, 7; Korea, 2; South Africa, 3; South America, 7; West Indies, 4; Mexico, 1; other countries, 5.
Education Necessary
We recognize the need there is for educating three separate classes of workers in our institutions:—
First, well-qualified nurses. It is coming to be recognized more and more that our force of well-prepared nurses is entirely inadequate to meet the demands made upon us. We have not in the past appreciated the necessity there is for well-educated young people in every branch of our work. Every parent should recognize the obligation resting upon him to give his child the very best education obtainable in our schools. In selecting young people for our nurses’ training-schools, we experience great difficulty in finding those who have the preliminary qualifications required for entering such courses. These requirements should be made higher than they are at present. Then our nurses should be given a very thorough course in nursing, which will prepare them not only to meet the highest requirements of an institution, but to go out and do evangelistic work, to take charge of treatment-rooms, or to accept responsibility in some foreign country. Every one of the nurses’ courses connected with our various institutions should be strengthened. In addition to this, we are in need to-day of at least three post-graduate schools connected with our various larger sanitariums, where our nurses may receive advanced training beyond what has heretofore been offered in our regular courses, which will fit them for greater responsibilities. We should have one such school in the western part of the United States, one in the eastern, and one in Australia. This would be but a beginning. It ought to be one of the matters accomplished by this Conference to provide for such schools.
Second, the requirements for those contemplating a medical course are being made higher and higher from year to year by the leading medical institutions of this and other countries. This makes it obligatory upon us to provide a preliminary education far beyond what has been necessary heretofore. We are instructed in the Testimonies that our different union conference schools should give this preparatory work. We should be able to select from the best of the young people in our schools those who have had a college course leading to a degree, and recommend them to take medical studies that will prepare them for our sanitariums and for recognized medical practise in other countries. This line of work should be systematized. We have need now for more well-qualified physicians than we can supply. Since we have no educational institution in the denomination where a medical training can be secured, there is a crying need for a home where our medical students may be cared for under proper influence in close proximity to a medical school of high standing in which our young people may secure the necessary medical education. On account of there being greater demands made upon those who take the medical course than upon any other class of our people, owing to the fact that they must have four or five years of education in addition to the ordinary college course, there should be a fund provided from which worthy young men and women who are well recommended by proper persons in responsible positions, may draw for their support while taking their medical course. The amount drawn should be returned to the fund, either by the persons enjoying its privileges or by the conference in which such persons labor after their graduation. Unless we can do this, there is no way in which we can bring about this important part of the education of our young people under proper influence. During the past quadrennial period, 7 of our physicians have secured credentials for practise in other countries through examinations,—2 in South America, 1 in Japan, and 4 in England. It may not be understood by all that several very difficult examinations must be passed by our medical workers in securing the privilege of practising medicine in almost any foreign country.
Third, there is great need of a course in our institutions looking toward qualifying efficient matrons, business managers, and cooks for our institutions. Few realize the difficulty experienced in securing such workers. Our larger institutions should give special attention to this matter. Just here I might mention the necessity of concerted action among our institutions in the matter of securing helpers to man them. Each manager of an institution, and sometimes the individual members of the board, seem to imagine that their institution is the most important in the denomination. When a vacancy occurs, either of superintendent or other helper, they too often overlook the rights of others, and begin to negotiate with the physician in charge or helper in another institution. This should not be. Such negotiations should be made with the board, or at least, it should be ascertained whether such negotiations would be agreeable to the institution with which the worker is connected. We naturally think the work with which we are connected is the most important of any, and desire the very best workers in the denomination to connect with it. Each institution, however, is but a part of the whole work, and we must think not upon the things of our own alone, but upon those of others also.
It would be a pleasure to recount the many thrilling experiences of our medical missionaries in the widely distributed fields over which they are scattered,—Dr. Riley Russell in Korea, Dr. W. C. Dunscombe and others in Japan, Drs. Salmon and Miller in China, Dr. H. C. Menkel and his companions in India, Dr. R. H. Habenicht and his associates in South America, Dr. A. A. John and others in Mexico, and still others in various places—but the limited time at our disposal will not permit.
Medical Missionary Councils
During the past four years, five of these meetings have been held, where subjects of special importance to this branch of the work have been considered. The first was held at College View in 1905; a second was here in Washington two years ago; a third was conducted at Portland, Ore., during the summer of 1907, followed by one at Loma Linda in the fall of the same year. Last summer10the North Pacific Union Conference held a meeting at St. Helena. These councils have all been well attended by both physicians and nurses in our organized work, as well as by those in private practise; an excellent spirit has prevailed in each, and great benefit has been derived from them. We shall hold a three days’ council at the close of this General Conference, from June 6-8, at which time medical subjects of especial interest to our physicians will be considered. We shall give the time entirely to considering such methods of dealing with disease as are used in our various institutions.
Work of the Secretary
One of the greatest difficulties in this department is to secure men who will give up medical practise in order to attend to the routine duties connected with the secretaryship of the department. For more than a year after the preceding General Conference, we were searching for some one to do this work. Finally Dr. J. E. Froom was secured. He did very effectual work for a number of months, but finally connected with an institution in the West, and it was necessary to secure another man for this work. It has been my privilege to be connected with this department in the capacity of secretary since October, 1906. During about one half of this period, I have given my time almost entirely to the work of the department. I have visited a large number of our institutions in the United States during the past two years and a half, having made two trips to the Western Coast, three into the New England States, and two into Canada. The past sixteen months, I have been in charge of the Washington Branch Sanitarium in the city. It has been decided that the secretary shall hereafter give his entire time to the work of the department, paying especial attention to the providing of help for our sanitariums in the way of physicians, nurses, and other workers. For the past few months, a field secretary has been provided, whose duty shall be to visit our various camp-meetings and churches, and as opportunity offers, hold health lectures in connection with Chautauqua and other public gatherings. An office secretary has also been provided, who has attended to a considerable part of the correspondence. If it be agreeable to this General Conference, this arrangement will be continued, with possibly the addition of another secretary for field work. As stated below, however, there is need of several men who shall give their attention to general medical missionary work in this country and abroad, and we trust that provision will be made in this Conference to meet this need.
Some Needs of the Medical Missionary Work
First, we recognize the need there is of a greater consecration to the work of carrying the gospel to the world in this generation, and a more concentrated effort in making this department a powerful factor in that work. In no other department is there such a tendency to separate from a united effort in this direction. Has not the time come when we should put all our energies into a united effort to finish this great work?
Second, we need the prayers and support of all our people in making this department the efficient right arm of the message. Distracting influences have come in, tending to shake confidence in this work; but with the help of our people and the blessing of the Lord, this branch of the work may still triumph, and be a most powerful factor in carrying the message.
Third, our sanitariums might be far more efficient in reaching the people, and at the same time be aided financially, if our members would take a more lively interest in arousing among their neighbors an interest in health subjects, and in recommending their friends and relatives to spend some time in one of our institutions when in need of medical attention and treatment.
Fourth, some plan should be inaugurated whereby the indebtedness of our sanitariums may be obliterated. “Ministry of Healing” has been donated for this purpose; but so much enthusiasm has been expended upon disposing of the thousands of copies of “Christ’s Object Lessons” for the relief of the schools, that it seems well-nigh impossible to organize another such campaign on “Ministry of Healing.” Between twenty and twenty-five thousand copies have been sold, which has been of some benefit to these institutions, but a more vigorous effort must be made in order to roll the reproach of debt from our sanitariums.
Fifth, the department should be strengthened by providing a number of public lecturers who will attend camp-meetings and other public gatherings, as well as Chautauqua, giving lectures on popular subjects pertaining to healthful living. These should be accompanied by one or two nurses who can demonstrate healthful cookery, hold schools of health, and help the people generally. Support for such a work must be provided in some way. More complete organization of the department is imperative. Men who can give time to the interests of the department at large should be secured or released for this work. We need at least three general men who can give their entire time to this work, and one such man in each union conference.
Last, but not least, is the need experienced by those who are endeavoring to provide sanitarium facilities for the colored people of the South. Three centers are in course of preparation to meet this requirement,—a sanitarium has been purchased at Nashville, another is being built at Huntsville, and a dispensary furnished at Atlanta. Those having the burden of this work have been struggling under the load too long already. The Medical Department has undertaken to awaken an interest in these institutions among our people, in order to secure sufficient means to place them in a position to do efficient work for the colored people. Mention of this matter has been made in the columns of the Review and Herald, with the following result: The Washington Memorial Church has raised $112 for this work; the Takoma Park church, $120; the Takoma Park young people’s society, $50; South Carolina, $75; the young people of Portland, Ore., $100; and the medical section of the Conference, $85. The Eighth Street church (Washington, D. C.) has furnished a room, as have also the St. Helena Sanitarium, and the young people of Maine.
We are grateful to God for his protecting and prospering hand that has been over this branch of the work during the past, and would here dedicate ourselves more fully to strengthening the right hand of the message, and making it a power in helping to carry the closing message to every kindred, nation, tongue, and people in this generation.