Lake Geneva Sanitarium Notes by P. A. De Forest

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Tacoma Park Station, Washington, D.C. · Jun 18, 1914

Lake Geneva Sanitarium Notes

By P. A. De Forest

No doubt the readers of the REVIEW will be pleased to receive a word from Switzerland telling how the health message is prospering in the mountain republic.

Last year was quite a prosperous one in spite of the fact that the summer was wet and cold. We had only one day which could be called warm, and that would have been considered cool in the Southern States of the home country. We had nearly four hundred patients who took treatment in the institution, of whom three hundred and twenty-five were house patients.

We are pleased to know that almost all the patients coming to the institution are sent here by former patients. This is an encouraging sign of appreciation, as is also the fact that the number of doctors sending us patients increases year by year. There is every reason to believe that the institution has found a place in the hearts of the Swiss people, and by faithful service it will hold that place. Our health institutions everywhere are no doubt doing a silent but powerful work in lifting up the fallen and pointing them to “the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world.” This work is silently battering down walls of prejudice and preparing the people of God to meet the events brought to view by the onward march of the third angel’s message.

Our patients are very much impressed with the spirit of good cheer and harmony which reigns among the helpers, and often say they feel that they have been helped spiritually as well as physically by their stay. Our hearts are frequently cheered by letters from patients not of our faith, expressing confidence that this work is certainly of God. How true are the Saviour’s words, “By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another.” When the workers in an institution are imbued with the missionary spirit, the spirit of sacrifice for the good of others, even their natural imperfections of character are hidden from those to whom they minister.

We are also cheered by the prosperous state of the finances of the sanitarium. The health food factory, the book work, the school, and the farm, have been equally blessed in this respect. By careful management, by learning to go without some things that we think we need, and by all pulling together, it is possible to make sanitarium work pay from every standpoint, and that in spite of adverse circumstances. For the past two years the vineyards have been a failure, and the year before that the watchmakers were passing through a financial crisis; yet our different departments have seemed to be crowded with work, especially the sanitarium and the health food factory.

In order to have more room for our patients without too great expense, it is thought best to add a small surgical department on the flat roof of the main building, and to add eight to ten other rooms to the next building to it by raising the roof one story. This will give fifteen to seventeen more rooms. The work will doubtless be begun in the fall, so that the rooms will be ready for next season.

We are also glad of the prospect of more medical help. Dr. L. E. Conradi is working hard, and hopes soon to pass the final examination for his federal diploma.

We hope that the way will soon open for the health work to take firmer root in France and also in other countries of the Latin Union. We need the prayers of our brethren and sisters that a still greater measure of success may attend the work in all its branches.

P. A. DE FOREST, M. D.