Perhaps no enterprise so revealed the faith and courage of the early pioneers as the establishment and development of our first sanitarium. This the brethren entered into with zeal. At the General Conference session of 1866, Ellen G. White had not only urged the delegates to accept the teaching of the health reform principles, but had also given instruction that there should be established with this people an institution for the care of the sick where these principles should be applied in practice. Within four months from the time of this instruction, plans were matured and sums of money pledged for the purpose. Thus it was that soon after the close of our Civil War, while the country was gathering itself together after the shock of conflict, what was known as the Health Reform Institute was opened in the autumn of 1866. Institutional work was begun in a very modest fashion. We quote from an early issue of the Medical Missionary magazine, which sums up the resources of that small beginning:
"A modest frame house was purchased, a private residence in a pleasant and healthful location on the higher grounds of Battle Creek, one of the growing cities of Michigan. Two doctors, two bath attendants, one nurse [untrained], three or four helpers, one patient, any amount of inconveniences, and a great deal of faith in the future of the institution and the principles on which it was founded."
Seven acres of ground were included in this purchase, and by the year 1871 the property consisted of fifteen acres of ground, with eight buildings, which included the residences of physicians, and provided accommodations for one hundred patients. During these early years there were many struggles. Although the institution was filled with the sick during the greater share of the time, it was soon realized that the income from patients was not sufficient to maintain the institution on a high plane of service, pay dividends to the stockholders as promised, and develop a plant to meet the needs of the increased patronage. The payment of shares pledged had come in very slowly. According to the record, only seventy shares (at $25), amounting to $1,750, had been paid on May 17, 1867. During that second year, under the crowded conditions, it was felt that every effort should be made to secure more contributions, in order to enlarge the facilities.
Doctor Lay, the superintendent, and his associates, had been able to operate the institution during the first year and pay a dividend of 10 percent to the few stockholders to whom it was due. We find that the income in excess of expenditures up until 1875 varied each year from a deficit to a gain of five or six thousand dollars. Some felt there was need for further enlarging of the facilities in order for the institution to succeed, and they set about in earnest to accomplish their purpose. Circulars were sent to churches and individuals throughout the entire country. In these circulars were appeals for financial help for the struggling Health Reform Institute. Subscriptions of stock were solicited at enthusiastic rally meetings of our churches throughout the country. During this early history every Seventh-day Adventist minister was not only requested, but expected, to act as an agent of the Health Reform Institute.
Unfortunately, in this appeal for funds definite assurance was given the contributors that this would be a safe investment, and under the management of careful and well-qualified brethren there should be given in a short time fair returns to the stockholders. But the relatively small charges paid by the patients and the large number of nonpaying Adventist patients admitted, together with the cost of operating such a medical institution, hardly warranted these assurances of personal gain. Elder James White was ill during the time this plan to further enlarge the facilities and plant was in progress, and the early directors did not have the benefit of his stable counsel. No doubt Elder J. N. Andrews and others who promoted with earnestness the development of the new undertaking did not realize the perplexity they would add to an already struggling enterprise by continuing to promise a fair return to the shareholders, each of whom would have votes equivalent to the number of shares held.
Upon the return of James White to his work, the pioneers began to realize that in their struggle to meet the financial situation which seemed to engulf them, it would be necessary to make different arrangements regarding the financing of the project. It was accordingly voted at the second annual meeting of the stockholders of the institution "to adopt the plan of disposing of our dividends for all coming time, as far as practical, to the directors of the institute for its charitable interests and purposes."
The matter of the transfer and rearrangement was left to the directors. To such an arrangement Elder White, who was again at the helm, gave his hearty support, and the messenger of the Lord gave them the assurance that this modified plan was more in harmony with the program of benevolence which should characterize the remnant people. That there were loyal believers in that day as today was evident, for letters soon appeared in the Review and Herald in which brethren renounced any claims to profits accruing from the stock which they held in the institute. Still other brethren who did not believe in investing money in a profit-bearing plan now came to the rescue and desired to take nondividend-bearing stock. In that way the managers were able to relieve those whose circumstances made it necessary for them to be reimbursed.
The unfortunate promises of profit, and the evident failure of the management to accomplish the purposes for which the funds were intended, brought great disappointment to the people in general, and much criticism on the early leaders. This was evidently a crisis in the life of the institution, for a statement which appeared the following year reads as follows:
"By bad management, during the period of Brother White's sickness, -it [the Health Reform Institute] was nearly brought to ruin, and its design almost lost sight of. In consequence it has had to struggle with difficulties and embarrassments that have been almost fatal to its existence."
A reorganization of the board of directors during the early part of 1870 brought new courage and hope to the discouraged constituency. By the year 1872, the stockholders were rejoiced to hear that there was an excess of receipts over cost, to the amount of $4,932.47. With this statement, which was published in the Review and Herald of September to, 1872, appeared the following:
"We recognize in this unexampled prosperity, results which have been attained, under the providence of God, by the untiring efforts of Brother and Sister White and others while laboring in harmony with the light which God has given respecting the manner in which the institution should be managed."
Elder James White evidently recognized the importance of a well-qualified medical staff in the successful operation of the new institution. Doctor Lay had remained with the institution less than three years, and prior to 1876 the instability of the medical leadership of the institution was keenly felt. In the Review of October 19, 1876, Elder White wrote: "For more than five years we have been laying our plans that our Health Institute should have the benefits of the highest, most thoroughly educated and cultivated medical talent in the nation." , He then announced that Dr. J. H. Kellogg, a graduate from the Bellevue Medical College of New York City and editor of the Health Reformer, would now take his place as physician in chief, and that Miss Kate Lindsay, M.D., a graduate from the medical school of the Michigan State University, would join him as a staff physician. We can feel something of Elder White's satisfaction and elation when he wrote in the Review of May 24, 1877:
"The Health Institute, under the charge of J. H. Kellogg, M.D., and his congenial associates, is prospering gloriously. When we have been urged to build during the past three or four years, we have objected on the ground that our buildings and facilities were equal to our doctors. Now that we have men of ability, refinement, and sterling sense, educated at the best medical schools on the continent, we are ready to build. Not less than $25,000 will be laid out in building the present summer."
We must not gather from this courageous report that the institute was a failure up to this time, for in late August, 1873 (several years earlier), James White gives the following statement of progress in the Review:
"Brother — reports seventy patients at the Institute, and that there are daily arrivals from all parts of the country. And not one fifth of these are Seventh-day Adventists. The increasing confidence in the Health Reformer, the Health Institute, and the, ability and integrity of our people in the management of such matters, is encouraging. And it is wonderful that the knowledge and influence of these should be so extensive, when we have advertised only in our own publications."
In the spring of 1877, additional buildings were added, which included a hospital unit, and the name was changed to the Medical and Surgical Sanitarium. In the Health Reformer for June of that year, this statement was made: "The present plan of conducting the institute makes the name Medical and Surgical Sanitarium more significant of its real character than the old name by which it has been known so long." Prior to this time surgical patients had been cared for, however. As early as 1867, there appeared in the Health Reformer and in our church papers, articles which placed emphasis on the fact that the institution was not wholly a water-cure institution. One of these articles stated:
"On the contrary, in an institution like ours, water is only one of the agencies used to aid nature in restoring the sick. Those who depend upon water alone in this great work, will often fail in their undertakings. . . . It is our aim, in conducting the Health Institute, to bring to our aid, in the treatment of disease, all the means which are calculated to ensure the safest and speediest possible cure."
With enlarged facilities and improvements in the service, the institution soon began to attract patients from every walk of life. The rates were raised to make them more commensurate with the service that was rendered the patient, and the burden of caring for nonpaying Seventh-day Adventists was met by the endowment of beds for the use of the needy poor. Physicians were given assistance in qualifying for the particular work of the institution. "It is a disgrace to Seventh-day Adventists," wrote Elder James White in the Review, "to do a second-class job in anything."
An attempt was made about this time to institute a school of hygiene as a part of the activities of the institution, but it was not until 1884 that Dr. Kate Lindsay had persuaded the faculty to offer a course of instruction to the young men and women of the cause who desired a nurse's training. The school of nursing became the more successful enterprise, and hundreds of youth caught a new vision of service. From this time on, while there were still many perplexities, we find a steady improvement in the development of this pioneer institution. For the year 1887 it was able to report a net gain of $41,347.69. No doubt a part of this could be attributed to the fact that student help had replaced many full-paid workers. Record of the educational program of that day indicates that up to the year 1895, students were carefully rotated through departments, and as long as Doctor Lindsay was a member of the staff, the vision of the need of well-prepared nurses was never subordinated. By the year 1896, there had been established in various parts of the United States and other countries eleven institutions similar to the parent institution in Battle Creek. The Battle Creek Sanitarium was by now incorporated under the name of the Seventh-day Adventist Medical Missionary and Benevolent Association.
This association was reorganized by General Conference action, on March 19, 1893, to include all of the medical missionary and benevolent work of the denomination. In the charter setting forth the work of the Seventh-day Adventist Medical Missionary and Benevolent Association, it was stated that the object of this association was to manage hospitals and sanitariums for the sick poor and others, homes for orphan children and for the friendless and aged. And after enumerating a variety of medical missionary activities to be carried forward, including Christian help work, the charter adds these significant words, "independent of denominational or sectarian interests." The association was to consist of two bodies, the electoral body and an auxiliary body. The electoral body consisted of the then few members of the General Conference Committee, the presidents of conferences in the United States and foreign countries, and all persons contributing $1,000 or more to the funds of the association. The auxiliary body was composed of subscribers and contributors of from $5 to $io or more. These two bodies were to elect a board of nine trustees, who were to take charge of the several branches of the work which might be organized under its general supervision.
In 1896 the Seventh-day Adventist Medical Missionary and Benevolent Association entirely lost its identity, when the name was changed to the International Medical Missionary and Benevolent Association. This provision for separation of the work paved the way for the great misunderstandings and struggles which followed in the operation of our worldwide medical work. In this setting, therefore, we more fully understand the reasons for and the wisdom of such counsels as:
"Again and again I have been instructed that the medical missionary work is to bear the same relation to the work of the third angel's message that the arm and hand bear to the body. Under the direction of the divine Head, they are to work unitedly in preparing the way for the coming of the Lord."
"The medical missionary work should be a part of the work of every church in our land. Disconnected from the church, it would soon become a strange medley of disorganized atoms. It would consume but not produce. Instead of acting as God's helping hand to forward His truth, it would sap the life and force from the church, and weaken the message. Conducted independently, it would not only consume talent and means needed in other lines, but in the very work of helping the helpless apart from the ministry of the Word, it would place men where they would scoff at Bible truth.
"The gospel ministry is needed to give permanence and stability to the medical missionary work and the ministry needs the medical missionary work to demonstrate the practical working of the gospel."
Such counsel and admonition are pertinent also for the work and workers today.
K. L. J. & H. M. W.
References
Review and Herald, 1866-1896.
Health Reformer, 1866-1896.
The Medical Missionary, 1866-1896.
Year Book of the International Medical Missionary and Benevolent Association, pp. 3, 4, 16-26, 56-59.
White, Mrs. E. G., "Testimonies," Vol. VI, pp. 288, 289.
