Medical Evangelism-Ministry From the Medical Angle

It is the feeling of our group that any patient who comes into the office doesn't "just happen to come" but that he is sent there for spiritual as well as medical help, and special effort is put forth to give the needed help. An attempt has been made to make it possible for every patient to learn of our message through contact with the office. With this thinking in mind, we have taken all secular reading matter out of the office, including Reader's Digest, National Geographic, Arizona Highways, et cetera, feeling that while there is certainly no objection to these magazines, some one might not avail himself of the opportunity of reading our publications if these were present, and thus would fail to utilize what might be his only opportunity of learning of our mes sage. Patients who have been reading our literature will frequently ask questions of the doctor or nurse, or if they do not, seeing them read will help to give opportunity for conversation on the subject of their reading. We began with a lending library of about two hundred carefully chosen clothbound volumes that would appeal to all ages. Character building stories for the children, books for the adolescents and the young married couples, copies of our cookbook, books full of interest, such as That Book in the Attic and Wolf at Our Door, books full of our message, such as Bible Readings and Drama of the Ages, and most important of all, duplicate copies of the Conflict of the Ages Series. Besides these we stocked a liberal supply of the paper-bound books to be placed throughout the office, wherever a patient might be waiting and have an opportunity to spend a few minutes reading. The book supply is arranged in an attractive manner each day, the arrangement and the books chosen for display being varied from time to time. It is carefully watched and replenished as the books disappear, for when ever any of the workers sees a patient who seems interested in one of the books, he is invited to take it with him and pass it on to someone else who might enjoy it. There is a real thrill in watching the books disappear and in observing what books people seem to enjoy most. Reorders on the reading material cost approximately f 1,000 a year.

At first we had only the larger paper-covered books, costing 50 cents, but people seemed to hesitate about taking them, so we added the two smaller sizes, which will easily fit into their pockets or purses. These are the ones that disappear so rapidly. It is not uncommon to see someone take two and even three of these. We keep a supply of all that we feel are the best suited to this type of plan, and are always glad when a new book comes off the press that can be added to and vary our supply. The books Prophecy Speaks, The Marked Bible, Mary Kennedy's Victory, Judy Steps Out, Belief and Work of Seventh-day Adventists, Straightening Out Mrs. Perkins, Repairing of Sam Brown, as well as others, have been very popular.

Readers' Reactions

One woman who took Judy Steps Out stated after finishing it that she liked the way we believe so much better than the way she believed about the dead. Having been brought up a Catholic, she said she had never realized the difference, and mentioned it to the priest. He explained to her that we take the Bible, whereas they take church history. She is still a patient at the office, and who knows what the outcome may be?

Another Catholic patient while waiting had been reading Who Changed the Sabbath? When the doctor stepped into the room she said, "Well, you folk surely blame us for a lot of things, don't you?" He looked at what she was reading and asked, "How is that?" She mentioned about the change of the Sabbath, and his reply was, "Oh, that isn't what we say about it; that is merely quoting from your books." She, too, is still a patient, and again, who knows what the outcome may be?

Just the other day a woman said, "You know, I surely do enjoy the books you have in the office. It seems that no matter what the subject may be, they always answer any questions I may have, and when I have read them there is a feeling that I know what the Bible teaches about that subject."

A man said as he was going out, "You know, I'm going to have to get sick again so I can finish this book, or else take my next day off and come over and finish it!" He was pleased when told that he might take it with him.

From cases such as these a list of names is made up in each section of the city from which to invite people to the Bible study groups. Last year each doctor in the office con ducted a class, and each had the joy of seeing fruit as the result of his labor. To date there have been seventeen baptisms as a result of work done by the various members of the office family, and there are more who will soon be ready for baptism. Most of the classes were conducted in the office on Monday evening. However, some were held in the home of the doctor or of the patient, depending entirely upon where it seemed to work out best. When some had to be absent and expressed much regret at having to miss one of the studies, we thought of taking the study on the tape recorder and then letting them "make it up" before the next week. This plan also appealed to the others, for they could take the tape and let their friends and relatives listen to what they had been getting. Thus the studies be came even more far reaching. Our group em ploys a full-time Bible instructor to study with those who are interested.

We have also used a Life and Health subscription list to stimulate interest, following it up the next year with Signs of the Times. Free copies of these magazines, as well as of These Times and Present Truth, have been used in the waiting room at the exit. A number of sets of the first three Voice of Prophecy lessons are kept on hand to give to those patients who are going to be bedfast for some time and who complain that they have nothing to do. When there is one who is genuinely interested, a copy of Bible Readings, containing a personal message from the doctor and auto graphed by him, is given. This has met with very favorable reaction.

When this book was offered at the special price at camp-meeting time 125 copies were purchased by the group.

The little book Life's Detours, with a personal note from the sender, is frequently sent to the surgical or hospitalized patients as soon as they feel that they will enjoy reading. These and a myriad of other ways may be used to hasten the fulfillment of the prophecy, "This gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world . . . ; and then shall the end come." To us that means Bakersfield, California, and it also means wherever you may live. We are told to scatter our literature as the leaves of autumn; surely it will bring results! The impelling motive of this type of program is that people can be reached who will not be reached in any other way.

Do I hear someone ask, "What effect does this type of thing have on the business?" And occasionally someone asks why we do not have other reading material in the office. We tell them very frankly that if there were other things there they might miss reading the good things that are provided for them. Some bring their own reading material with them, but this is not true of the majority. Could you but step into the office, it would be easy for you to answer any question you might have about what effect it has had on the medical practice, for you would have no difficulty seeing that each doctor has more than enough to do. Truly we are having the thrill and joy of "sharing our faith."

Alcoholism-Cause, Cure, and Responsibility

W. A. SCHARFFENBERG Secretary, International Temperance Association

In order to divert the attention of the public from alcohol and its evil effects on society and from the alcoholic beverage industry and its responsibility to society, the alcoholic beverage interests have propagated the idea that the alcoholic is a sick person, that he should be sent to a hospital rather than to a jail, and that drinking should no longer be considered a moral problem but rather a public health problem.

This propaganda can be compared to a lot of dust that has been thrown into the atmosphere to blind man's vision and thus confuse his thinking. It has served as a smoke screen to camouflage the real intentions of the alcoholic beverage interests, namely, to increase the sale and consumption of more and more alcoholic beverages.

Is the Alcoholic a Sick Man?

"The alcoholic is a sick person." So says the psychiatrist who is engaged in rehabilitating the alcoholic. This assertion is another of those statements that are partially true. The real danger is never in a lie, but always in a halftruth. Those of us who have had the privilege of visiting the Norwalk State Hospital, in connection with the field trip sponsored by the Institute of Scientific Studies, and of listening to the case histories presented by Dr. Clemson B. Marsh, and then have seen those cases paraded before us, will admit that these patients were not normal. There was no question in the minds of any one of us on that point they were ab normal men and women and if abnormal men and women are considered to be sick, certainly those patients were sick men and women. So are the men lying around the streets and alleys in our skid-row districts. They certainly are not normal individuals. No man in his right mind would permit himself to be pulled down to the level of a beast. The normal individual who has any love in his heart for humanity will agree that the alcoholic on skid row, in a night club, at home, or in the office is a sick man and needs help. But the propaganda that is passed out these days by the liquor interests is that his sickness is not due to alcohol but rather to the psychological or pathological make-up of the individual. The alcoholic, these men claim, is a maladjusted per son who needs scientific treatment and should therefore be hospitalized and placed under the care of specialists.

Is Alcoholism Due to Alcohol?

The professional and well-paid propagandists and fellow travelers of the liquor interests have apparently adopted the same tactics that Hitler adopted namely, repeat a lie often enough and before long the people will believe it. I have reference to the statement so frequently made by the representatives or spokesmen of the liquor interests that alcoholism is not due to alcohol. A bill was.recently introduced in Congress that called for the erection of a clinic in the District of Columbia for the rehabilitation of alcoholics. I was interested in the bill, so I attended the hearings. Everyone seemed to agree that something ought to be done to help the poor alcoholic. We have no argument with a proposal of this nature. All Christians who are largehearted and large-minded will support a program of rehabilitation. I felt, however, that the liquor interests ought to be charged with the responsibility of erecting the clinic and of carrying the financial load in connection with its operation. After all, their product created the problem; why should not the liquor interests therefore carry the responsibility of finding a solution to it? There were several "gentlemen of distinction" who testified that the liquor interests had been taxed to the limit, and that the expense of operating this clinic should come from the public treasury. One of these men made the statement that alcoholism was not due to alcohol. I caught the eye of a Senator who was seated on the opposite side of the table. He moved forward, interrupted the chairman, then faced the witness. "Did I hear you say that alcoholism was not due to alcohol?" The witness inferred that that was correct. "Well, doctor," said the Senator, "isn't it strange that we have not yet found one case of alcoholism where alcohol was not involved?" The doctor, of course, tried to explain that the man became an alcoholic, not because of the alcohol, but because of some inborn psychological or pathological weakness. No, friends, no case of alcoholism has been found that was not due to alcohol. No total abstainer has ever become an alcoholic.

Should the Alcoholic Be Sent to a Hospital?

Now let us come to the next point, namely, that the alcoholic should be sent to a hospital and not to a jail. The following, taken from the Stanford University News of April 21, 1951, is as clear-cut a statement as you can find giving the reasons that are put forth today why the drunk should be sent to a hospital rather than to a jail: "California should abolish all laws which treat alcoholism as a penal offense and should attack this $50 million problem as a health matter through a state-wide rehabilitation program. "This proposal comes from editors of the Stanford Law Review in an article on 'Legislation for the Treatment of Alcoholics' appearing in the April issue which will be published today. "Cost of the rehabilitation program would be high, the editors admit, but they assert it would hardly approach the 50 million dollars which alcoholics cost California each year and it would make new men out of 40 to 80 per cent of the state's 283,000 alcoholics. "The editors charge that attempts to deal with the problem in California where the chronic alcoholism rate is the highest in the nation are at present completely inadequate. "The failure stems, they feel, from an incorrect approach to the problem, an approach which holds that alcoholism is a criminal offense punish able by fines and jail sentences. "This has led, they point out, to the 'revolving door' treatment that sends the alcoholic in and out of jail so fast it does him absolutely no good and costs taxpayers millions of dollars. "Just how much the state's alcoholics about three per cent of the population do cost in terms of lives as well as dollars and cents is shown by these figures cited by the Law Review editors: "Alcoholism was listed as a primary or secondary cause of an estimated 5,000 deaths in California in 1946. Another 554 persons were killed that year in automobile accidents involving intoxicated drivers. Each year more than 1,000 alcoholics are committed to California mental hospitals. "In addition, alcoholism is recognized as a major cause of sex crimes and other felonies. "San Francisco and Los Angeles ranked first and second among 13 of the largest cities in the nation in the number of arrests for drunkenness per 100,000 population in 1946. "Sixty per cent of the 72,000 arrests made in San Francisco that year were for drunkenness, and the cost of handling these arrests is estimated at $1,690,307, or about $23 per arrest. "And during the same year in Los Angeles there were 92,000 arrests for drunkenness, costing the city more that $2.5 million or about $27 per arrest. "The problem is not confined to the state's two largest cities, the Law Review editors point out. Actually Fresno, Bakersfield, Sacramento and Stockton ranked ahead of San Francisco and Los Angeles during 1946-47 in rate of arrests for drunkenness per 100,000 population. "These heavy arrest rates add up to a bill of be tween $6 and $10 million annually just for the cost of police handling of alcoholics in the state. "And counting costs of accidents, sickness and wage losses, the total bill for alcoholics tops $50 million. This is California's share of the annual national cost of $778 million for 3,750,000 alcoholics. "What do the Law Review editors think should be done about this? "They propose, first of all, that the state repeal the section of the penal code which makes drunkenness a punishable offense. "They recommend that the alcoholic be designated as a health problem instead and that he be subject to compulsory screening and treatment. "And they ask that persons found drunk in public places be delivered, immediately to screening centers by local police authorities. "This screening program would be set up under control of a state commission operating on a state wide basis. "Screening centers established in California communities would use medical psychiatric and psycho logical services in this way: "Patients not 'offenders' brought to the screening center would be given necessary medication by an attending physician and kept overnight. "In the morning they would receive a thorough mental and physical examination, and social drinkers would be separated from the alcoholics. Clinic personnel would prepare case history records and recommend what should be done with patients in need of treatment. "Then proceedings would be started to commit the alcoholics to the state commission's care or to a mental institution if their cases demand it. "The commission's rehabilitation program designed to eliminate the patient's drinking and help him adjust to his environment would include medical care to improve his physical condition and psychological care to treat his underlying psycho logical problems. "Contrast this, the Stanford editors say, with the 'revolving door' treatment now given the state's alcoholics. "Drunks are picked up on the streets, jailed over night and released the next morning only to be arrested and jailed all over again within a few hours or days. "In San Francisco, for example, an average of 119 drunks are arrested each day, and 97 per cent o£ these are released the next morning without further consideration. "One observer interviewed 153 persons in the San Francisco jail and found they had been arrested an average of 50 times per person. In Los Angeles during 1947-48, 279 persons accounted for 6,435 arrests, and one alcoholic was arrested 37 times for drunkenness. Even when there are efforts to handle alcoholics as sick men, most measures are inadequate, the Law Review writers charge. "Some chronic repeaters are sent to county jails or farms for short sentences, but this treatment is of no value in rehabilitating the alcoholic. Twentytwo California counties have established outdoor work project camps where alcoholics may be con fined, but only San Francisco, Alameda and Los Angeles counties have set up rehabilitation centers where a few alcoholics may get treatment. These rehabilitation centers, as successful as they have been, are too few in number. Besides, the Law editors point out, neither they nor the 'revolving door' system take care of 'hidden alcoholics,' the estimated 90 per cent who have never been arrested for drunkenness but who are as much in need of treatment as the 10 per cent who have. "The solution, the editors feel, must lie in a state-wide rehabilitation system, expensive to set up but still cheaper than what it costs now for police handling of alcoholics.

The system they propose, by changing the emphasis from punishment to treatment and by offering attractive physical facilities, would encourage all alcoholics to come to screen ing centers, either voluntarily or through action by family members or friends, before they have a brush with the law." Will sending the drunks to a hospital solve our problem? I would suggest that you dress up some night like an old drunk, a typical skidrow bum, and get next to these men on skid row or the Bowery and listen to their conversa tion to learn what they are thinking and talking about. I overheard one fellow say, "Bob, come on, let's have another drink." "Tom, I've had enough." "Come along, Bob. They aren't going to send you to jail, Bob. Come on, have another drink." "Tom, I don't want another drink, I don't want to go to jail." "They aren't going to send you to jail, Bob, they're going to send you to a hospital. You know, Bob, we're sick; we're sick guys. They don't send sick guys to jail; they send sick guys to a hospital. Bob, you know the beds in a hospital are much better than the beds in jail. Come on, have another drink." Personally, I don't know of anything that would promote drinking more than sending the drunks to a nice clean hospital. I don't think the establishing of alcoholic clinics is an answer to our problem. Judge Joseph T. Zottoli in his lectures before the Institute of Scientific Studies for the Prevention of Alcoholism made this very clear. It has been tried again and again. But it has never succeeded in solving the problem of alcoholism.

The idea that the alcoholic should be treated as a sick person has also been blasted by Mr. Edward J. McGoldrick, the director of the Bridge House, at 912 Bronx Park, South, in New York City. I visited the Bridge House and found that Mr. McGoldrick was formerly a lawyer. After he had stopped drinking alcoholic beverages, about nine years ago, he took over the Bureau of Alcoholic Therapy, for which Bridge House is the clinic, and on December 16, 1944, opened Bridge House, symbolizing the crossing over from "wet land to dry land." He employs no physicians on the project. The theory that alcoholics are persons suffering from a disease is widely held in the medical profession and among many lay groups. Mr. McGoldrick's thesis is diametrically opposite. As a former alcoholic, Mr. McGoldrick feels that despite the sincerity of those who advocate the "disease" doctrine, it opens up a Pandora's box for his fellow alcoholics and gives them a supposedly valid excuse for drinking. They seize it as a crutch and say, "Don't blame me, Mom, I'm a sick guy." It makes the alcoholic's problem more confused. It intensifies an already existing problem, because it encourages a person to avoid making an honest appraisal of himself. Thus he can always excuse his past errors by saying, "I'm a sick guy." And those incapable of facing up to a situation will continue to drink. Mr. McGoldrick is seeking to double the facilities of Bridge House, where sixteen rooms of an old frame house provide quarters for twenty "residents." He made it plain that he was not trying to criticize approaches to the problem, either by the medical profession or by Alcoholics Anonymous. "We don't waste time trying to learn the causes," he said. "There's no tapering-off process; it's cold turkey. Many persons drink for the same or similar reasons, but the difference of the degree of release a man experiences is what makes him continue to drink or to revert to his regular habits." Mr. McGoldrick takes the position that the hope of the alcoholic is in his ability to think clearly, and to recognize that he brought on the deluge himself. He stressed the interplay be tween the conscious and the subconscious functions. Frequently, in round-table discussions of this problem, I am asked the question: "How does he seem to be getting along?" Apparently very well. Dr. George Schwartz, chairman of the public relations committee of the Bronx County Medical Society, endorses the work of Bridge House. Dr. Schwartz's report indicates approximately 66 per cent effectiveness of non-alcoholism in an individual for at least one year. A resident's stay they are never called patients is three to four weeks. Dr. Schwartz indicates in his report that in his opinion a mental approach is the keynote to success. All instructors, administrative heads, and permanent lay help are former alcoholics. The estimated cost for each resident is $86.46. The present institution's physical assets, how ever, severely limit the scope of this successful endeavor. Dr. Schwartz requested that the society join with civic organizations that are sponsoring expansion of Bridge House facilities. The Bronx Board of Trade sent a letter to the Board of Estimate and five councilmen recommending favorable consideration.

There is usually a waiting list of at least twenty-five men, according to Mr. McGoldrick, who wish to be admitted to Bridge House. They are taken in regardless of their ability to pay. They come from hospitals, the courts, welfare agencies, and upon the recommendation of friends. In the last five years only five men have been "asked to leave" because they violated the honor system; that is, they drank at the nearest bar, two blocks away. In addition to a program of occupational therapy bedmaking, kitchen and household chores, building maintenance they receive daily lectures and consultations. Men ranging in age from twenty to seventyfour are indoctrinated with a "mental diet" of seventeen "thought capsules," which they are required, not to memorize, but to absorb.

Among these are:

1. I know I must abstain from alcohol, not merely for the sake of others, but first and foremost for my own self-esteem.

2. I must refuse to amuse others with my drinking escapades of the past. My drinking was pathetic, not funny.

3. An alcoholic is made, not born. Heredity, therefore, is not the cause of my drinking. Such an excuse is an age-old dodge to avoid the reality of seeing myself as I really am.

4. I do not need alcohol. Others can do without it, so can I. Any person of average intelligence who is sincere and honestly exerts an effort over a reason able length of time can lead a life without alcohol. 5. I realize that it is necessary to abstain from alcohol, but my ultimate goal is to attain peace of mind in an active, industrious, and constructive life. There is much more that could and should be written about the alcoholic's being a sick per son, but space will not permit me to discuss this subject further in this article. Alcoholism is a self-inflicted sickness. Men may not be able to cure themselves of typhoid, smallpox, or yellow fever without the aid of a physician; but they can cure themselves of alcoholism with the aid of the Great Physician. All they have to do is to stop taking in the germs that cause the illness. If Mr. McGoldrick's thought capsules are thoroughly instilled in the mind, and the patient has sufficient will power and backbone, he can cure himself.

Drinking No Longer a Moral Issue

Those who are interested in promoting alcoholic beverages are telling us that drinking is no longer a moral issue or a moral problem. Since beer, wine, and whisky have been legalized by the Government, everyone has a right to drink. We are therefore never to insinuate or to convey the impression to the students in our public schools that it is wrong to drink or that it is a moral issue. Such teaching is basically unsound, un-Scriptural, and contrary to sound religious teachings, they claim. Perhaps that is why parents have lost control of their children. Morality has been cast to the winds, and children are following the example of their parents. If representatives of the liquor traffic could see their product paraded before them as we saw their product paraded before us at the Norwalk State Hospital, I'm sure that many of those now connected with the liquor industry would disassociate themselves from such a business. As Dr. William G. McConn, president of Marion College, said, in his Religion and Life lecture, "I can't understand how any man connected with that kind of business can have a clear con science."

A Public Health Problem

Another assertion of the professional liquor propagandist is that alcoholism is a public health problem. In other words, it is up to the public to take care of the alcoholic. This, of course, calls for the erection of clinics and the employment of trained personnel who will devote their time and effort to the rehabilitation of the alcoholic. Thus the industry is absolved of all blame. The responsibility is placed on the Department of Public Health. We have no argument with the statement that alcoholism is a public health problem. But to take the position that our major responsibility, in connection with this problem, is to erect clinics for the rehabilitation of the alcoholic and at the same time ignore a program of prevention, is, to say the least, "missing the bus." Furthermore, the responsibility of financing the erection and operation of these clinics should be placed on those members of our society who are responsible to a great degree for creating the problem. I hope that the pattern set for the District of Columbia by Congress with reference to the erection and operation of clinics for the rehabilitation of the alcoholic will be followed by every State in the Union. I have reference to the bill as finally passed, that placed an additional tax on the liquor interests in Washington to supply the funds for such clinics. We may expect vigorous opposition from representatives of the liquor interest when similar bills are introduced in State Legislatures.

The Drinker's Responsibility

"Let not the man who indulges in drink think that he will be able to cover his defilement by casting the blame upon the liquor dealer; for he will have to answer for his sin and for the degradation of his wife and children. 'They that forsake the Lord shall be consumed." " Temperance, p. 33.

The Liquor Dealer's Responsibility

"Those who sell intoxicating liquor to their fellow men . . . receive the earnings of the drunkard, and give him no equivalent for his money. Instead of this, they give him that which maddens him, which makes him act the fool, and turns him into a demon of evil and cruelty.

"But angels of God have witnessed every step in the downward path, and have traced every consequence that resulted from a man's placing the bottle to his neighbor's lips. The liquor dealer is written in the records among those whose hands are full of blood. He is condemned for keeping on hand the poisonous draft by which his neighbor is tempted to ruin, and by which homes are filled with wretchedness and degradation. The Lord holds the liquor dealer responsible for every penny that comes to his till out of the earnings of the poor drunkard, who has lost all moral power, who has sunk his manhood in drink." Ibid., pp. 39, 40.