Western Sanitariums by Daniel H. Kress

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Washington, D. C. · Jun 8, 1911

Western Sanitariums

By Daniel H. Kress

On account of the important meetings in connection with the Loma Linda Medical College and the Paradise Valley Sanitarium, I was detained in California longer than I had planned. In order to meet some previous appointments, I found it necessary to limit my stay at the sanitariums on my homeward trip.

The same prosperity which has attended the sanitariums in California has been with the institutions all through the West. At Portland, Ore., Dr. W. B. Holden and his co-workers had a successful year during 1910, and the prospects for the year 1911 are encouraging. I was pleased to note that the same harmony prevailed among the workers here as elsewhere. When there is unity and harmony among the members of the faculty and board, harmony usually exists throughout the entire family.

At Walla Walla the sanitarium has had the best year of its existence. The workers are all of good courage. The splendid supply of good artesian water is a great help to this institution. At Boulder the outlook is very promising. Improvements and repairs, which will add greatly to the appearance of the institution, are now being made. It pays to keep everything orderly and neat, even if to do so entails some expense. The impressions made upon the sick by well-kept, clean dining-rooms, kitchens, treatment-rooms, halls, and bedrooms, go a long way toward satisfying them, and also aid in their restoration. A badly kept place has a depressing effect upon workers and patients. The surroundings at Boulder are certainly all that could be desired. So far Boulder has been known chiefly as a summer resort; in the future it will gain a reputation as a winter resort as well. The winters are invigorating yet pleasant. There are probably as many sunshiny days to be enjoyed here during the year as in any part of the United States.

I also called upon the Drs. Shively, who are located in Denver. They are doing a good work. Recently they found it necessary to move into larger and better quarters. Dr. Richards is also located here. He has been greatly blessed in his work as a private practitioner.

During the past six years Dr. J. E. Froom and wife, of Boise, Idaho, have built up an excellent practise. Their treatment-rooms and offices are located in one of the best blocks in the city. Everything is neatly kept. We are glad that in so many places representative centers of this great message are building up.

I neglected to make mention of the excellent work done by the sanitarium at Long Beach, Cal., conducted by Dr. Winegar-Simpson and her husband. They have a desirable location and building, and have met with success.

Dr. L. J. Belknap, of San Jose; the Drs. W. H. Maxson, of Oakland; and Dr. A. J. Sanderson, of Berkeley, are all doing well, and have a good patronage.

Thus it will be seen that in the West, where most of our sanitariums are, we have none too many. There is plenty of room for more. When conducted in harmony with the third angel's message, each helps to build up the other. The more sanitariums we have, the more prominence will be given to the reforms they advocate, and to the truths for which they stand. The more prominence is given to the principles which brought them into existence, the more numerous will be the converts. The greater the constituency, the greater will be the demand for more sanitariums. On the other hand, “There is that withholdeth more than is meet, but it tendeth to poverty.”

The vegetarian cafeterias conducted by Brother Fulton in Los Angeles are a credit to the cause, and are accomplishing much good. Brother M. A. Hollister is conducting a neat vegetarian cafeteria at San Diego, and is meeting with success. It has been demonstrated that these places can be conducted in such a way that favorable impressions may be made upon those who come to them as patrons, and that thus prejudice may be removed, and the way paved for helpful spiritual truths. The St. Helena Sanitarium has also opened up a splendid cafeteria at San Francisco. The place is hardly able to accommodate its numerous patrons. We ought to have these restaurants and cafeterias in every city of the West and East. Never, in the history of our medical work in the West, have there been so many omens of good. D. H. K.