The Sanitarium Work at Caterham by A. B. Olsen

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Apr 4, 1907

The Sanitarium Work at Caterham

By A. B. Olsen

SEVERAL years, and much time and money, were spent in searching for a location for our sanitarium before we decided upon Caterham. Here we found a hydropathic establishment which had suffered failure, and was being run as a boarding-house. The place was said to have cost about six thousand pounds, but we obtained it for about half that amount. The grounds consist of an acre and a half of freehold property, and a hillside of twenty-two acres,—leasehold,—with a fairly large commodious building containing about forty rooms, large and small. We purchased an attached villa containing nine rooms. When we took over the villa, there were in all twenty bedrooms for guests and workers. The work has grown steadily from the opening in June of 1903, and it has become necessary to rent two adjoining villas, each containing ten rooms. At the present time we have thirty-six guest-chambers, and twelve rooms for our workers. We can thus accommodate from thirty-five to forty patients, although we have had as many as from forty-five to fifty when we have been crowded.

Caterham is a village of about nine thousand inhabitants, and has a good railway service from London with frequent trains. Although only seventeen miles from the heart of London, our sanitarium lies distinctly in the country, and is surrounded by charming hills and valleys. The inhabitants have taken a friendly interest in the enterprise from the start, which is very gratifying.

At the present time the institution is manned by a physician, matron, lady and gentleman head nurses, and fourteen probationers who are receiving training in the nurses' school. Brother W. T. Bartlett, editor of Present Truth, is our Bible teacher. He also conducts a Sunday evening service in our gymnasium each week. Brother W. C. Sisley is chairman of the board of managers. From the first he has taken a deep interest in the institution, giving us much time and valuable counsel.

List of workers at the Caterham Sanitarium: A. B. Olsen, M. D., Mrs. A. B. Olsen, M. D., L. Brooking, A. P. Guyton, Wm. M. Scott, Ruby Eastcott, Mary Jacques, Mabel Pringle, Lillian Hamilton, Louisa Cooper, Hannah Howarth, Helen Brain, May Grenville, Winnie Mainwaring. A. B. OLSEN, M. D.