After two years of practical application I am firmly convinced of the premise that the divine blueprint is still the best medical guide available to S.D.A. physicians anywhere in the world today. If our medical counsel is to be the last revelation given to man, then it must be as practical today as it was in 1890. It must be as practical in the arctic or in the tropics as it is in the homeland. It must be as practical for a nurse with a treatment room as it is for a hundred-bed sanitarium. It must be as practical for work among paupers as it is for work among the wealthiest of the land.
In Trinidad, British West Indies, we work under conditions far from ideal—in appalling poverty beside a wealthy minority, in the most diseased island in the Caribbean, among a 95 per cent colored population of East Indians, Chinese, Negroes, and Creoles, speaking every language under the sun. In its favor we are grateful for the strength of our highly esteemed organized work, for the guidance and counsel of our union and mission officers, and for the cooperation and loyalty of our staff of national workers.
Briefly, this is how we worked the plan:
1. First we noted this instruction: "The Lord is speaking to His people at this time, saying, Gain an entrance into the cities, and proclaim the truth in simplicity and in faith."—Medical Ministry, p. 299. So we started in a city, Port- of-Spain, with a population of some 100,000 people. Providentially we succeeded in securing a newly built apartment of five rooms centrally located, and after hanging up a sign, "Seventh- day Adventist Clinic," we had a dedication ceremony and opened the doors.
2. Next we considered this counsel: "As physicians unite with ministers in .proclaiming the gospel in the great cities of the land, their combined labors will result in influencing many minds in favor of the truth for this time."—Re view and Herald, April 7, 1910.
So we worked hand in glove with our ministerial brethren in preaching the Word, giving health lectures, temperance demonstrations, and the like in our churches throughout the field and with other groups, such as the W.C.T.U. and the Red Cross. News of our work soon spread, and droves of patients began to come from all corners.
3. "High prices are current in the world; but correct ^principles are to be brought into our work." " ' Let mercy and love of God be written on every dollar received.' "—Medical Ministry, p. 126.
Accordingly we planned our time and fees to accommodate rich and poor alike. In the mornings the clinic opened for the poor, at a fee of 25 cents each. In the afternoon fee-paying patients were seen at $2 each, which is standard here. Attendances soared. Some were waiting in the moonlight as early as 2 A.M. for our doors to open. Keeping them back is one of our major problems.
4. "Let many now ask, 'Lord, what wilt Thou have me to do? It is the Lord's purpose that His method of healing without drugs shall be brought into prominence in a very large city through our medical institutions."—Counsels on Health, p. 394.
Every patient is counseled as to the best suitable diet, and appropriate printed sheets are given. The bulk of our medical supplies consists of vitamins, minerals, concentrated food ex tracts, antibiotics, et cetera, and great stress is laid on the efficacy of physical therapy as a means of treating disease. Our physiotherapy department consists of simply two cubicles, a fomentation tank and cloths, some ice, a jar of massage cream, one infrared lamp, a jar of common salt, and two consecrated workers who believe more in a good hydro treatment than all the medicines one can swallow. Hundreds have greatly benefited by these simple treatments, and many prominent business people come regularly for hydrotherapy. One of those who in previous years was unfriendly to our members when approached for Ingathering donations, this year asked our minister to step into his office. After a word of appreciation for our work he wrote out a check for seventy-five dollars.
5. "Lectures on health topics should be given. These lectures will open the blinded understand ing, and truths never before thought of will be fastened on the mind."—Medical Ministry, p. 260.
These health lectures have been in progress now for two months, and they are proving an enormous success. Starting with the director of medical services of the colony, we have had the best doctors available to lecture on such subjects as hygiene of the home and the person, tuberculosis, venereal diseases, malaria, tropical diseases, dental and oral care. Each lecture is accompanied by demonstrations on hydro- therapy, cooking, or home nursing, with appropriate motion pictures to illustrate the talk. The lectures are immensely popular, and our attendance is greater than we can crowd into the large hall at the clinic. Soon we shall intro duce a regular evangelistic series.
6. "The circulation of this literature is an important matter; for thus precious knowledge can be imparted in regard to the treatment of disease,—knowledge that would be a great blessing to those who cannot afford to pay for a physician's visit."—Testimonies, vol. 7, p. 65.
In the light of this testimony we have provided a literature stand for the use of patients, and a good supply of our health and religious literature is available free of charge, with a special desk containing larger volumes that may be purchased from the receptionist.
7. "When you neglect to offer prayer for the sick, you deprive them of great blessings; for angels of God are waiting to minister to these souls in response to your petitions."—Medical Ministry, p. 195.
It has been a source of real pleasure to see the response of patients to prayer. We have made it a habit to pray with each patient when we make a home call. We have never had a refusal yet. Indeed, many ask us to pray for them before we suggest it. On more than one occasion we have been called to hospital or to private home with the special request that prayer be offered for the sick. The resulting comfort and assurance to the patient is more beneficial than anything found in the pharmacy.
Summarizing the Results
In summarizing the two years' work here, several points are worth mentioning briefly.
As far as popularizing the name of Seventh- day Adventist and drawing the attention of the public to the educational, evangelical, and medical phases of our message, this method is without a peer. There is no village in Trinidad where our work is not known. Many have even come from islands far across the Caribbean "to see for themselves." Prejudice is readily broken down when it is understood that we are serving all races and religions without preference or bias.
Although only nine souls are known to have been baptized as a direct result of our work, it is realized that indirectly, larger spiritual ends have been attained, and eternity alone will reveal just what has been accomplished. Considerable literature has been scattered abroad, and other seeds sown by personal contact will one day bear fruit.
The interest aroused by this work has led many to inquire when a sanitarium, run along familiar Adventist lines, will be available to the public. We feel that such a step is in full harmony with our medical blueprint, for the full impact of our medical work is not realized until patients are treated as lying-in cases under the care of consecrated nurses and staff
One's confidence in the divine inspiration of our medical program rises to higher planes when it is shown to be completely practical and ethically sound. As we consider the warning that the medical work alone will be carried on by us as an organization in the last days, we should move forward with a courage commensurate with that of our early pioneers, who espoused so unpopular a cause, for we enjoy the distinct advantage that, whereas their courage was born of faith, ours is born of a century's trial and experience.
