The medical number of the Far Eastern Division Outlook (April, 1939) is filled with inspirational material, from the opening articles of W. P. Bradley and C. L. Torrey to the news notes on the last page, containing information of interest and value concerning the advance of the medical phase of the work in the Far Eastern Division.
In this division, a list of 13 medical units is given, 6 of which are listed as sanitariums and hospitals, 4 as clinics, and 3 as dispensaries, with a total of 31 buildings and a patient capacity of 327. These institutions are operated by a group of 16 physicians, 118 graduate and student nurses, and 240 other employees, caring for 39,775 patients during 1938.
Nursing schools are conducted at the Seoul, Tokyo, and Manila Sanitariums. The Manila Sanitarium training school was established in 1929, and has graduated 42 nurses. At the present time it has an enrollment of 34 student nurses from six different sections or missions of the Philippines, as reported by the superintendent of nurses, Bertha F. Parker, R.N. Concerning the Seoul Sanitarium, Dr. G. H. Rue stated that the first graduating class of nurses would finish their work and have their closing exercises in April. Dr. Paul V. Starr expressed the happiness of the Tokyo Sanitarium staff in being able to announce that a new dormitory large enough to house all the nurses under one roof has just been completed at their institution.
Dr. E. H. Olson has begun his medical work at Kobe, and Dr. G. G. Innocent is now located at Soonan Hospital, in Korea. Dr. H. G. Hebard is carrying a full load at the Penang Sanitarium. Dr. Ralph Waddell is getting a good start at Bangkok, where Avanelle Renshaw-Ritz, R.N., reports that hydrotherapy is becoming increasingly popular as a means of treating the sick. Dr. C. Chay Vizcarra is doing field work in medical lines in the Philippines with very pleasing results.
The health-literature work is carried forward in a strong way in the Far Eastern Division. Books and periodicals are being circulated in about twenty languages and dialects.
Bessie Irvine, R.N., writes of the rare privilege of the sanitarium in Manila in serving His Excellency, President Manuel Quezon and his family. Later a call came to prepare a vegetable dinner for the president and send it to the palace, since his physician had prescribed it.
Ernestine Gill, R.N., gives an account of the medical missionary work performed by the nurses at the Seoul Sanitarium, and the splendid Christian spirit manifested in teaching patients and praying with them. The patients sometimes hand tithes and offerings to the nurses to turn over to the church treasurer. These features have an added emphasis when she tells us that these same girls never saw a European bed until they entered our institution, and did not know how to open or close a door, turn off a water. faucet, or switch on an electric light. But now they are becoming fine, dependable nurses.
M. A. H.
