Work at the Sanitariums by H. W. M.

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D.C. · Feb 12, 1914

Work at the Sanitariums

By H. W. M.

The first sanitarium it was my privilege to visit in my itinerary of our medical institutions was the Wabash Valley Sanitarium, situated on the picturesque bank of the Wabash River, three miles distant from the city of La Fayette. An interurban railway makes regular stops in front of the sanitarium grounds. This institution has a splendid location. From its front rooms and veranda one has a beautiful view of the fertile plains of the Wabash Valley.

I arrived there the day before Christmas, and most of the patients from the immediate vicinity had returned home for the holiday festivities. This afforded me an opportunity to have a visit with the doctors and nurses, who otherwise would have been exceedingly busy with their routine work.

The institution has made a great many improvements in its grounds and building. These will give to the sanitarium’s guests a better impression of our work. A complete X-ray equipment has been added to the treatment facilities of the institution, and already this has proved a profitable investment. It not only adds to the fees of the institution, but is a valuable aid to the doctors in arriving at correct diagnoses of otherwise obscure cases. This is a great essential before proper treatment can be administered in many cases.

If there has been any weakness shown in our institutional work in the past, it has probably been on the question of diagnosis. Everywhere I find that our physicians have recognized this weakness in the past, and are availing themselves of every facility to enable them to diagnose more correctly. They are taking advantage of every possible opportunity for advanced work at the large clinics in medical centers. As a result, our institutional work is becoming very strong in this most important feature. There are many who are qualified to treat the

sick successfully provided they are guided by one who understands the nature of the disease and is qualified to make a diagnosis. As it is important for a mechanic to be able to determine the defect in a certain machine before he can successfully repair it, so it is important for the physician to be able to make a reliable diagnosis of the disease before attempting to treat it.

There are many classes of people in this country who claim they have in the treatment they administer certain cures. Some claim to cure by remedies; some cure by manipulations. These practitioners give all manner of assurances to their patients, and yet these individuals have never qualified themselves to diagnose disease. They cannot be sure that what they recommend as a cure is at all suited to the condition of the individual. One of the first qualifications which the sick ought to demand of those to whom they trust themselves is that they be competent to make a complete diagnosis of their cases. By means of the facilities connected with our institutions, by the use of the X ray and other diagnostic instruments, our institutions are splendidly equipped for determining the nature of the illness of those who come to them for help. The physicians in charge of these institutions have devoted three fourths of their time to the study of diseases, their manifestations, and the methods of differentiating the same. Our physicians are worthy of the confidence of the sick.

The Wabash Valley Sanitarium Board has provided suitable treatment rooms in the heart of the city of La Fayette, and in connection with these well-equipped treatment rooms Dr. Loop, the medical superintendent, has regular office hours, and prescribes for the sick that come there for treatment. It is hoped that these treatment rooms will not only prove a source of income to the institution, but that they will be a means of sending many patients out to the main institution for the needed rest and treatment.

The sanitarium has been conducting a nurses’ training course. It was my privilege, while there, to meet with this earnest family of workers who desire to further the interests of this cause among the institution’s guests, and also to prepare for work in the needy fields beyond.

The next institution which I visited was the Kansas Sanitarium, which is located near the city of Wichita, one of the most prosperous and wide-awake cities of the Central West. The sanitarium has had quite a good patronage during the last year, and I found many sick being cared for by the doctor and nurses. The institution gave evidence that it was being carried forward in a very economical manner, and in order to accommodate a large number of the needy poor and those of ordinary means, the institution has provided a very low weekly rate for this class of patients. Much has been done to beautify the grounds around the institution, and a nice grove surrounds the main building.

I was glad to find that a number of the nurses in training were looking forward, at the completion of their preparation, to taking up active field work either in the homeland or in the fields beyond. Some desire to take further preparation in the study of the Bible.

The training of young men and women are to become missionary nurses is one of the important phases of sanitarium work. I know of no class of laborers that is needed more in the fields of our mission operations than missionary nurses. There is always an open door awaiting them, and from the day they land in the field there is always something they can do in helping the needy natives.

The Lord has given us the medical branch of this work for no other purpose than to be of service to humanity and to bring the people to look with favor upon the great world-wide third angel’s message. Instead of seeing the nurses graduated from our sanitariums seeking secular employment, we must see them, in the future, passing from these institutions into active field work. They cannot afford to miss the opportunity, nor can this cause well afford to be without their service. Our training school faculties in the various institutions, I find, are greatly burdened in providing the right kind of training to fit these nurses for usefulness in connection with the proclamation of the third angel’s message, and surely much has been accomplished in adapting the training to this need. If all who have been graduated from our sanitariums were in the field upholding faithfully the principles of this truth and of the health reform movement, they would arouse an intense interest in these principles, and our institutions would find in them a most valuable asset, for they would turn patients and funds to their Alma Mater.

The Wichita institution has certainly a bright future before it, since it is accessible to a most splendid territory. It is doing an important work for the community and in behalf of our church in the surrounding section. The nurses in training are all of mature years, and are very earnest and show considerable proficiency in their work. The institution had just purchased a new sterilizer for the operating room, which was to be installed within a few days of the time of my visit. This will give them one of the most modern equipped operating rooms in the vicinity of Wichita. I left Wichita feeling that we should see the work there taking on added efficiency and power.

H. W. M.