1

f!~e Gf3attfe f3ree~ cEanitarium

/or ffrainin9 cEc~ool :J\(urses

A school for the training of nurses will begin at the Sanitarium November 1, 1883. The course of instruction will include all the branches of practi­cal and theoretical study necessary to qualify competent persons to become first-class professional nurses. A f ew well recommended persons can be given a chance to pay their expenses in labor. The course will con­tinue for six months. A Cooking-school will be held in connection with the training-school. For circulars, giving full particulars, address the under­signed. j. H. Kellogg.

Tlus notice in the October 23, 1883 issue of the Advent Review and Sabbath Herald, and a more comprehensive advertisement in the periodical Good Health for October 1883, were the initial announcements of the founding of the Drst school of nursing by the Seventh-day Adventist Church.

Opening the school of nursing was the culmination of persistent prodding for almost a decade by Dr. Kale Lindsay. Before graduating from the University of Michigan Medical School in 1875, Dr. Lindsay had completed the two-year program at Thrall's School for Nurses in New Jersey. While :~t Bellevue Hospital for advanced medical studies during 1876, she noted the improved nursing care given by the trained nurses. Upon her return to the Battle Creek Sanitarium she proposed estab­lishing a school of nursing.

Although annual reports of the high patronage of the Sanitarium indicated a need for qualified nursing personnel, tl1cre is no evidence in minutes of the board meetings that establishing a School of Nursing was ever discusse_d.

Mission of Love

Il is surprising Lhat Dr. Kellogg did not accept the idea more readily, since he was a sirong believer in education. A student at Bellevue Medical College during the establish ment of the school of nursing at Bellevue J Iospital, he observed how much be tter the nursing care was in the wards under the direction of the School of Nursing Lhan nursing care in oll1er areas of ilie hospital.

Soon after assuming leadership of the Battle Creek Sanitarium in 1877, he established The Sanitarium School of Hygiene. This was the first of a number of cours·es to be offered iliougb the years. l

Three articles presented the value of the professional nurse versus ilie untrained nurse in The Health Ref ormer and its successor Good Health, between 1875 and January 1884. "Ilints About Nursing," the first article written by Dr. Kate Lindsay, appeared in Good Ilealth in April l885.

Mary Staines was one of two applicants for the program. She had been employed as a tray gi rl by the Sanitarium when she was fifteen years old, and worked in similar activi ties from that time until she entered this first nursing course, which lasted on ly three months.

an announcement of the formation of a new class in the Advent Review and Sabbath llemld, and The Medical Missionary and Gospel of Health several times a year. From the begi nning the practice was established of accepting two classes a year, usually in October and April.

Early announcements emphasized the spiritual aspects of a calling to the nurs­ing profession. There were frequent references to the "wonderful opportunity for young men and women .. . who are willing to devote their hves to self-sacrificing work for the Master."2 Other inducements to enter this new field also were pro­moted. "There is no field of usefulness in which intelligent and well-trained young men and women can more easily find e mployment and opportunity for philan­thropic effort accompanied by fair remuneration"3 appeared in one of the earliest bulletins, followed by such statements as "opportunity for self-supporting mission­ary work. Nurses get such liberal pay not only to support themselves but to give much of their time to the help of the sick poor"4 and "The graduates of the Battle Creek Sanitarium Training School are eagerly sought for in all parts of the civilized world.''5

The prospect of entering a profession was another inducement for students. The initial notice included the requirement, "Ability and disposition to study hard and work hard to become thoroughly gualified for the profession of nursing."6 "The dignity of a profession" appealed to those who saw education as a means for improv­ing their life.7

Inducements to enroll in the nursing program fell into several categories. The fi rst appeal was to the religious and Christian missionary opportunities of nursing. Other inducements included the great de mand for nurses which enabled one to have continuous employment, a satisfactory income, improvement in one's social status as a member of a profession, and the opportunity to finance one's education

2

The Battle Creek Sanitarium Training Sclwol for Nurses

by worlong. Educational requirements for admission were broadly stated: "Ability and dis­

position to study hard and work hard:"8 "possessed of superior education"; and "education in the common branches of study to a liberal degree."9

The first announcement of the school of nursing set the precedent of requiring the applicant to verify "good moral character with satisfactory reeommendation."10

Such statements as "you_ng men and women of fiXed characters and purposes, of mature minds and estabilsheu Christian experience"1 l ; "A sound Christian experi­ence based upon faith in God and a knowledge of His Word is also an essential qual­ification for the best nurses,"l2 and "Applicants are required to be of mature age and to furnish satisfactOJy evidence of Christian character and sound religious experi­ence"l3 occurred in each public announcement and catalogue.

Announcements appearing in Good llealth described in some detail the content and practical work offered in the program. The health beliefs of the Seventh-day Adventist Church were emphasized . A djstinction was made between nursing care provided at the Battle Creek Sanitarium and nursing care provided in hospitals.

Development of the Program in Nursing

Nursing programs had been in existence for ten years in the United States when Battle Creek Sarutarium offered its irutialthree-month course in 1883. The original three schools, Bellevue Hospital, Massachusetts Gene ral Hospital, and the Connecticut Training School, opened with two-year programs, and were similar to the Nightingale plan for nursing education. No doubt Battle Creek Sanitarium soon found the three months unsatisfactory, as a program of six months' length followed a few months later. The course consisted of one hundred lectures and three to five hours of practical work daily. The "partial hst" of topics to be included was extensive, even when the limited amount of scientific knowledge available at the lime is con­sidered. After a year's experience developing the program, the first class of students to enroll in the two-year course was admitted in November 1884. The school was sta rted to meet the needs of the Sanitarium for intelligent nurses who had been taught and trained to work scientifically with the sick.l4

The School of Nursing at the Battle Creek Sanitarium established the pattern that was to be followed by othe r Seventh-day Adventist Schools of Nursing estab­hshed later. Therefore, it seems appropriate to discuss in detail the operations of the ~~- .

The initial faculty was composed of Drs. Kate Lindsay, F. F. Smith, Anna H. Stewart, W. H . Maxon, and J. 11. Kellogg. As the program grew the faculty was enlarged to include other physicians who taught the biological and physical sciences, sanitation, hygiene, rational therapeutics, diseases and their t reatrnent, laboratory procedures, and some nursing courses. A minister wa~ responsible for teaching Health Missiona1y Work and Bible Study. By 1892, the supervisor of the men's hydrotherapy taught Hydrotl1erapy and Swerush Massage to male student nurses,

3

Mission of Love

and the matron of the women's hydrotherapy taught these courses to female student nurses. Miss Jean Whitney, responsible for the exercise program, taught Swedish Gymnastics, CaHsthenics, and Delsarte.

Before entering upon the regular course work, studen ts spent three months in domestic work learning to maintain a sanita1y environment for their patients. This part of the program could be completed before beginning the first school term. Students worked sixty-five hours a week learning to make beds, cleaning the halls, setting an attractive tray, serving in the dining room, ironing, sewing and doing other household work. The men also cleaned carpels and moved furniture. Evening class­es were held lo prepare the student nurse to function when assigned to work in hydrotherapy upon beginning the two-year course.15

Illustrative of content and progression of course work is a description of cours­es Dr. Lindsay taugh t. During the first six months she taught General Principles of Nursing and First Principles of Anatomy, Physiology, and Hygiene. The topics were "the bones, muscles, netvous and circulatory systems, the respiratory organs; the eye, ear, etc." In a General Nursing course during the next six months students learned "qualifications of the nurse, natural and acquired; people who need nu rsing; ventilation; food and water; fevers in their varied forms, and fever nursing; nurses involved in the various diseases which may involve the structures studied during the first six months; diseases of the skin and digestive organs; and care of the insane and aged." Students also had lessons and practical experience in massage and cookery.

During the first six months of the second year courses included diseases of cbiJ­dren, surgical nursing, electricity and electrical treatments, chemistry, hygiene, and other subjects taught by several physicians including Dr. Kellogg. The course on dis­eases of children included "qualifications of a child's nurse; heredity and other con­ditions; the care of children during various diseases which they may pass through, and the general management of feeble-minded children." Surgical nursing, taught by Mrs. S. M. Baker (class of 1888), consisted of "preparation of patients for opera­tions, care of instruments, disinfectants, wounds, hemorrhages and abscesses, acci­dents and emergencies, how to Lift and carry the injured, etc .... preparation of the patient's room, the care to be taken after the operation and during convalescence." Meanwhile, students worked in the surgical ward and gave electrical treatments and general massage. During the final six months women students were taught obstet­rics while the men were instructed in other subjects.

Practical instruction consisted of demonstration of the procedure by the instructor. Between class periods students practiced the procedure, gave return demonstrations at the next class period, and were graded on their technkal profi­ciency. While students were learning the procedures of hydrotherapy they gave treatments in the department. Ilowever, when they became proficient in all the treatments, they were given "ilsts" which were assignments for giving treatments in the patient's room. It was not uncommon for a list to include twenty patients.

Swedish massage was an advanced course given to selected students. Three

4

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The Battle Creek Sanitarium Training School f or Nurses

months' drill was required before they were alJowed to practice on patients. Some advanced students had the opportunity to work in the physicians' offices.

As president and superintendent of the school, Dr. Kellogg was actively involved in the education of the students. From lime to time he presented lectures "on sanjtary science, physiology, and hygiene, illustrated by experiments, charts, and specimens; ... the nurse as a missionary; the nurse's opportunities; a nurse's duties, and other practical themes connected with the profession in general and the mis­sionary tTaining school in particular." Moreover, he closely supervised the various departments and altered content of courses "to keep pace with the progress of sci­ence."l6

By the tum of the century the calls for missionary nurses were greater than the supply, notwithstanding that onJy appHcants were accepted who had "a settled pur­pose to devote the llfe to missionary work under the direction of the Medical Missionary Board."l7 The Board discovered that many nurses who were sent to serve as superintendents in city missions or the mission fields were ill-prepared and the work suffered. I n these locations nurses usually worked without the presence of a physician. Consequently, in 1900, the School organized a postgraduate course which forty-five successful nurses returned to take. The course focused on the diag­nosis and treatment of disease and new developme nts in the principles of hydrother­apy and its application to disease.l8 At the same time the standards for admission were raised to incl ude "an elementary lmowledge of the sciences, and a thorough knowledge of hygiene, both practical and theoreticaJ."l9 From the beginmng there had been a problem obtaining students who were adequately prepared to take the missionary nurse's course. A one-year Preparatory Course was organized in 1896, to prepare applicants witl1 limited education to overcome this deficit. It included the ordinary English branches of study, and the science of cooking. Young men were given manual t raining as well. By 1903, the course had been reduced to six months that included anatomy, physiology, hygiene, elementary chemistry, botany, natural philosophy, astronomy, and cooking.20

The missionary focus of both the Battle Creek Sanitarium and the nursing pro­gram was t.he source for numerous reHgious activities. "The students rwere] taught to regard their entire work as a religious service."21 Bible study was designed not only to deepen the student's understanding but also to teach them how to give Bible studies. These classes could be very large at limes, since the Sanitarium family was invited to attend. The study of missions included their history, historically prominent missionaries, methods of reaching others, and mission fields. It was common for for­eign missionaries slaying at the Sanitarium to talk about their mission-field experi­ences.22

Daily, except Sabbath, a one-half-hour meeting was held at noon that was used in a variety of ways: a worship service, semi-weekly departmental meetings includ­ing a brief .Rihle study and prayer, a ruscussion of the principles of departmental work, testimonials, or students' reports of their "labor for the relief of diseased

5

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Mission of Love

bodies and sick souls." General meetings held on other days of the week might consist of letters from

workers in the mission fields, and talks by visitors to the Sanitarium or Dr. Kellogg. Both church services and Sabbath School were held at the Sanitarium for those unable to attend services at the Tabemacle.23

The majority of students were unable to finance Lhcir education, therefore pro­vision was made for them to work six hours daily for board and instruction . They were assigned to work anywhere the organization needed them: domestic and other work about the Sanitarium, the farm, the dairy, the canning factory, or Lhe health­food factory.

During their five-year course few students took advantage of the opportunity to enroll in the advanced courses which chiefly prepared for enrollment in a medical school. J nvestigation revealed that the reason for unsatisfactory performance by graduates was their inadequate basic education . They were not prepared to master these courses.

The Battle Creek Sanitarium School of Nursing emphasized that its self-sup­porting nature allowed students to work for their education . While the initial announcement of the program slated that the charge for board and tuition would be $150, students in financial straits could substitute work in the institution during and after the program in lieu of payment.

An editorial in The Medical Missionary for May 1893 staled that for several years the terms had been "board, room, washing, tuition, text-books, shoes, uni­forms free the first year; and, for the second year, compensation amounting from $10 to $12 per month in addition to board and washing, the student furnishing his own books, clothing, etc."24 for which the students worked sixty-five hours a week. Reporting to the General Conference in 1895, the reason given for Lhe large num­ber of workers was that students were wholly self-supporting. "They not only receive board and tuition free, but in addition to that they receive clothing and books. The first year each receives from $20 to $25 worth of books and clothing. The second year, they receive not only board and instruction, but wages. The wages are little more Lhan enough to cover the cost of the books and clothing, amounting to $2.50 to $3 a week." This year their wages had been increased.25 It was reported in 1905 that "At limes the number of student-workers has been five hundred or more."26

The accepted length of professional nursing programs was two years when Dattle Creek Sanitarium opened the two-year nurses' course in 1884. However, dur­ing the next twenty years the Sanitarium advertized "nurses courses" of one, t11ree and five years.

Over the years Lhere was considerable ambivalence concerning the length of the program. On the one hand was the desire of the student to become involved in mis­sionary work as quickly as possible; on the other hand was the recognition of the necessity for the best preparation possible. Moreover, as the program lengthened, there was concern that missionary fervor might be lost by the student who remained

6

The Battle Creek Sanitarium Training School for Nurses

in a learning situation too long. In 1888, seven applicants formed the nucleus of a five-year class of missionary

nurses. The group pledged to devote themselves to missionary service under the direction of the Sanitarium board for five years of service afte r graduation. They were to receive instTuction in advanced class work following completion of the two­year program. These classes were p1imarily subjects that belonged in the physicians' course. The aim was to pJ:epare nurses "to do almost everything a doctor can do, and much that but few physicians know how to do."27 Four years afte r graduation they were serving as follows: in a responsible position at Boulder Sanitarium , as medical matron at the Battle Creek Sanitarium, as head resident at the Medical Missionary College in Chicago, conducting hygienic work in an Eastern city, helping to organize the Sanitarium in South Africa, as matron of the Haskell Home for the Aged, as a medical student, and one had died.28

In 1891, the school enlarged its mission to prepare missionary nurses in addi­tion to nurses for the Sanitarium. A decision was made to admit only applicants who were pledged to use their knowledge solely for missionary nursing. The commit­ment was for five years with the school and to work under the direction of the Sanitarium Board upon graduation. At first the number of applicants was inade­quate to meet the needs of the Sanitarium for nursing care. Consequently, the nurs­es were greatly overworked until sufficient numbers had been admitted to relieve tl1e situation. One nurse reported working a week of twenty-hour days.29 Gradually the situation was relieved as the program was interpreted more fully to the public. By 1893, about one hundred missionary nurses were enrolled . The students were called missionary students until graduation , at which time they were ti tled mission­aty nurses.30

The two-year program was extended in 1893 to three years by including sever­al of the advanced courses.31

An editorial in The Medical Missionary described the nurses' courses being offered at the lime. The "Two Year's Course" prepared the person for general nurs­ing. The "Three-Year's Course" "qualifies a nurse to labor as an independent mis­sionary nurse in foreign Belds."32

Course work p rovided various aspects of missionary work in depth . Classes dur­ing the first year presented methods and openings for the individual as a missionary. The second year presented the church as a missiona1y agent and the history of mis­sions beginning with examples from the Bible. The third year included a general study of missions and topics that concerned special departments of home work.33

By 1895, it required four years for students to work their way through tile pro­gram. Calls were coming from many sources for more nurses and the management saw that they were not producing them rapidJy enough. Therefore, several modifi­cations were made in the program. The fi rst was to permit "the student to pay for the fi rst year, while Laking the elementary studies of the first two years, thus saving time for study."34 The second was to establish th ree grades of nurses to meet the

7

Mission of Love

demands for workers. The first level was "general nursing, one or two years, accord­ing as the nurse takes the regular or special course; for obstetrical and surgical nurs­ing, two years; for superintendence, teaching, and organizing work, th ree to four years."35 The third was the introduction of one year of field missionary work. After one year at the Sanitarium students could be senl to begin home mission work in connection with the city missions being developed. There they would work under the direction of prepared superintendents.

For twenty years the Battle Creek Sanitarium Missionary School for Nurses advertised a two-year program. In 1904, the announcement reported that states were increasing the requirements for the nursing program and ils length, and that nearly half of the 545 training schools in the United States provided a three-year program. Anticipating movement by the Stale of Michigan to require a three-year program, the school announced in August that the course was being lengthened from two to three years. In reality, they explained that the Sanila1iu m's course was already three years in length because of the six-months preliminary period, and the six-months postgraduate course which many nurses took.

Extension of the course to three years involved the following adjustments: first, the six-months' postgraduate course was added to the regular two-year course, with anatomy, physiology, chemistry, and hygiene included during the firs t months; sec­ond, the pledge of commitment lo the Board was removed . Graduates were free to engage in any work they desired, including work for God and humanity where they felt called. Third, the hours of work were shortened from ten to eight. However, the student was allowed "to work extra hours for pay. "36

M issionary Training in Chicago

The family of a former patient offered D r. Kellogg the opportuni ty to open home health care and other missionary work in Chicago. Sister Emily Schranz was selected to pioneer the work. In the summer of 1892, she joined lhe Chicago Visiting Nurses Association to obtain experience in nursing among the sick poor. In the fall she was joined by Sister Nelson and shared with her what she had learned.

Nurses at the Battle Creek Sanitarium took an active interest in this opportuni­ty for missionary nursing. They arranged for volunteers lo work one month at a lime in the city, receiving only a round-trip ticket toward their expenses. They received no pay, but board and room were supplied.

Early in the spring of 1893, th e SDA Benevolent Association of Batlle Creek decided it was time to establ ish a long-desired Medical Mission in Chicago. They obtained a building in a slum area of the city, and renovated it to provide facilities for water and electrical treatments, free baths and laundry, a dispensary, and living quarters for the workers. On June 23, 1893, the Medical Mission opened its doors. The Sanitarium philosophy of patient care was extended to this dispensary and patients received the same therapeutic treatment as they would if they. were inpa­tients at Battle Creek Sanitarium. Free showers were given three limes weekly to

8

The Battle Creek Sanitarium Training School f or Nurses

men or women and children on alternate weekdays. An obstetrical service provided an alternative to care by "ignorant" neighborhood midwives. Home visits were made to rich and poor. All services, medicines, and necessary food were provided the patient without charge.

The flrst year's medical report indicates how tremendous the needs were: Baths given . .... .. . ... 18,748 Treatments given . . 12,215 Dressings applied .. .. ... 4,537 Prescriptions .... . . J ,165 Persons prescribed for . .. 4,169 Nurses' visits .... .. 3,185 Most rewarding to the workers were the more than 11,500 gospel conversations

and tracts distributed .37 After the Chicago Mission opened several nurses were sent from the Battle

Creek Sanjtarium. By December six nurses were at work, some visiting homes, some in the dispensary.38 A physician was available for two hours each day, otherwise nurses were responsible for the medical care.39

Both female and male nurses displayed a red-white-and-blue cross on their coals, and the men had "the initials M.M .N.(Merucal Missionary Nurse) in gold let­ters on their caps."40 Recogrution of this emblem protected the nurses as they made their rounds in the slum areas of Chicago.

The work was supported by monetary donations, the sale of the magazine Life Boat, and charges for treatments given to wealthy cilents in their homes. Different kinds of supplies were donated that could be used in the ruspensary and in homes. Donated clothing was given to the poor.

The cosmopolitan nature of Chicago, where people from numerous foreign countries and cultures lived , was recognized as an opportune situation in which lo provide training in various missionary methods for student nurses. It was not long before students were sent for three months' experience in Chicago. It also provided experience for nurses planning to go to a foreign mission field and those under appointment to a foreign mission field.

The Training-School faculty decided to send half of the large sp1ing class of 1899 to begin their t raining at the C hicago Mission. They outlined the program to the students and asked for volunteers. Forty-five students offered to go. Dr. and Mrs. David Pau lsen and Mrs. AJlison went with tl1em lo organize the work and to provide instruction and supervision . As they traveled to Chicago the class voted to put aU their earnings into a common fund lo support tl1emselves, thus relievi ng tl1c Sanitarium of any expense. The Lord blessed them with success.

The day's activities began at 8:30A.M ., when the workers gathered to study how to bring people to Christ, and individuals related their experiences with the persons they had met. From 9:00A.M. to 3:00P.M. the students were involved in a variety of activities which were considered part of missionary nursing.

While several remained to work in the dispensary, other stllclents started on their home visits to care for the sick. The students' experience was directed by an cxpe1ienced nurse. Small groups were sent to sell Life Boat from door to door,

9

Mission of Love

which opened the way to hold mothers' meetings and cottage meetings. O ther groups helped "organize mothers' clubs, children's meetings, e tc."41 Students had experience at the Workingmen 's Home, health-food store, and the Life Boat Mission in the evening. All students re turned to the Mission for class from 4:00P.M. t9 6:00 P.M. They studied the same class work as their classmate-s were studying at Battle Creek Sanitarium: Bible Study and missionary methods, physiology, p hysical cul­ture, cooking, nursing, and simple treatments. After spending several weeks in Chicago, the students were replaced by groups of their classmates from Battle Creek.42

By 1902, the missionary projects in Chicago provided a variety of experiences. New opportunities bad been developed by opening the Life Boat Rest for Girls, a hygienic dining room at the University of Chicago, a sanitarium and a hospital. The staff at the Chicago Mission consisted of a supervisor and two staff nurses. There were twenty-four me mbers in the curren t student class.43

Around the tum of the century serious disagreement developed between Dr. Kellogg and the Seventh-day Adventist Church. This culmi nated in a complete break in 1908, at which time the Battle Creek Sanitarium and a number of sanitar­iums withdrew from the church.

The Battle Creek Training School for Nurses continued to operate and gradu­ate nurses. At the school's Semi-Centennial Celebration in 1933 the announcement was made that the school was closing. D uring its fifty years Battle Creek Training School for Missionary Nurses had graduated 2,108 nurses.44

ENDNOTES

l. Mrs. S. M. Foy, Medical Missionary and Gospel of Jiealth, January 1903, 37. 2. Medical Missionary Board, 'Workers Needed for Our Medical Institutions," Medical

Missionary and Gospel of Health, January 1903, 49. 3. Ibid. 4. The Medical Missionary, July 3, 1906, 21. 5. The Medical MissionanJ , Ma rch 13, 1907, 88. 6. Good llealth , October 1883. no page number. 7. Medical Missionary Board. 'Workers Needed for Our Medical Institutions," The Medical

Missionary , January 1903, 49. 8. Good llealth, October 1883. 9. J. ll. Kellogg, "Medical Missionaries Still Wanted," Adventist Review (throughout the

E ndnotes this title will be used for all fo rmer titles o f the official. Seventh-day Adventist peri­odical), January 2, 1894 , 14; G.C.T., "The Demand for Christian Nurses," The Medical Missionary, July 3, 1906, 2 J.

10. Goocl llealth, October 1883. ll. G.C.T. , '"The Training School,'" The Medical Missionary. October 1904, 269 . 12. G.C.T. , "The Demand for Ch ristian Nurses," The Media1l Missionary, July 3, 1906. 13. "The Nurses Trai ning School," The Medical Missionary, December 4, 1907, 389. 14. ""The Training School," Medical Missionary Yearbook, 1896, 116. 15. "The Sanitarium Medical Mission and Training School,'" The Medical Missionary, November-

10

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l

2

GJJaug~ters of t~e ~atde f!ree~ $anitarium f!rainin~

$c~oof {or Xurses

By 1890 the Battle Creek Sanitarium Training School was functioning well and the St. Helena and Mt. Vernon sanitariums had been established. When nurses graduated they were replaced at the Sanitarium with newly admitted students. What to do with the graduates? Dr. Kellogg believed that the purpose of anyone who entered the medical or nursing professions should be to use that education for sav­ing souls. Therefore he sent the graduates to different communities to establish treatment rooms, to sell literature, to hold cooking classes and classes for mothers and babies. That is, to do medical missionary work.

At the 1893 General Conference Session the Seventh-day Adventist Medical Missionary and Benevolent Association was organized to be responsible for the church's medical-missionary and charitable work worldwide.l Although the Association was initiated by the General Conference, it was not to be part of the denominational structure. Its lay membership was guided by Dr. Kellogg, President, during all of the years it operated. Annual mcelings were held in conjunction with the General Conference Session . Wh en new san itariums were founded they orga­nized as state affi liates of the Battle Creek Society and established training schools for the tra.ining of medical-missionary workers.2

Nurses' training schools organized by newly established sanitariums were under the umbrella of the Medical Missionary and Benevolent Association . These schools required "a fair education (the more complete the better) [with] an elementary knowledge of the sciences and a thorough knowledge of hygiene, both pract..ical and theore tical" for admission .3 An action taken at the meeting of November 8, 1899 stated "that the Nurses' Training School be conducted in such a way that those who are permitted to finish the course be recommended to the Medical Missionary

)3

Mission of Love

Board for a diploma." At graduation the Association assigned the nurses to their field of labor. Some of the graduates who came from Europe returned to their homeland and established treatment rooms. Nurses who accepted their assignments were classified as self-supporting missionaries; otherwise they were considered independent professional workers.4

At this time a number of Seventh-day Adventist young people were graduating from medical schools, and after 1895 there were the graduates of the American Medical Missionary College, to further the "right arm of the message." All graduates were encouraged to practice under the direction of the Medical-Missionary and Benevolent Association. Those who put themselves under the direction of the Association were sent to communities to establish sanitariums for the extension of tl1e medical missionary work. When a physician moved into a community, he pur­chased or rented a large house to provide hydrotherapy and physiotherapy rooms, inpatient rooms and often a dining room. Each sanitarium stated that its purpose was the training of missionary nurses. When the establishment was ready to func­tion, two or three nurses were sent from Battle Creek Sanitarium to assist and to start the training school. The course was similar to that of the Battle Creek School, "the instructors in tl1ese several schools having all received their training in the Battle Creek Sanitarium."5

By 1894, calls were coming from as far away as South Africa for the establish­ment of a sanitarium following the principles of the Battle Creek San.itarium.6 The proliferation of sanitariums was rapid. The 1896 Yearbook of the International Medical Missionary and Benevolent Association listed seventeen sanitariums. The five located in the United States were Battle Creek, St. Helena, Nebraska, Portland, and Colorado. Twelve sanitariums located outside tile United States indicate the rapid spread of medical-missionary work to foreign lands.7 Five years later there were twenty-seven Seventh-day Adventist sanitariums worldwide.

The seventy-eight sanitariums identified in the 1909 statistical listing are cate­gorized under ilie headings "Conference Supervision" and "Private Management." Of the forty Conference-owned sanitariums, twenty-two were located in ilie United Stales. Three had a bed capacity ofless than 15, and three had a capacity of over one hundred: Nebraska at College View, Boulder, and St. Helena. The bed capacity of the remaining th irty-four sanitariums ranged between thirty and fifty-two except Lorna Linda with seventy-five beds and New England with eighty beds. Lorna Linda employed seven physicians, St. Helena had four physicians, and six of the smaUer sanitariums employed only one physician. All sanitariums had training schools for missionary nurses except five.

Of the thirty-eight sanitariums listed under "Private Manage-ment," thirty-one were located in ilie United States. Five had a bed capacity of ten or less. Hinsdale Sanitarium had a bed capacity of 100, Chamberlain Sanitarium in South Dakota had a bed capacity of 125, and Noriliwestem Sanitarium, Port Townsend, Washington had a bed capacity of lOO. The bed capacity of tl1e remaining thirty sanitariums

14

Daughters of the Battle Creek Sanitarium Training School for Nurses

ranged between fifteen and fifty. Hinsdale, Chamberlain, and Otter Lake sanitari­ums employed three physicians each and seven sanitariums employed two physi­cians. The remaining twenty-eight sarutruiums were staffed by one physician only. Chamberlain, Hinsdale,and Paradise Valley conducted lTaining schools for mission­ary nurses. Il is possible by the large number of nurses reported that four other san­itariums conducted trairung schools for missionary nurses also.B

While the Medical Missiona1y Yearbook for 1905 listed the names of physicians engaged in missionary work, there was no official list of missionary nurses because ''i t would take too long a list to contain all their names. "9

St. Helena Sanitarium School of Nursing

The first school to be established was the St. Helena Sanitarium Nurses Training School. In 1878 Dr. M. G. Kellogg, W. A. Pratt, A. B. Atwood, and others had opened the Rural Health Retreat, later changing its name to the St. l I elena Sanitarium. Opened as a private corporation, it became a nonprofit institution when the corporation was dissolved after several years.lO Soon after the Missionary and Benevolent Society at Battle Creek was organized, the hospital organized a similar society in California.

At the annual meeting in 1888, a four-month summer course for nurses was voted, to consist of "physiology, the art of nursing, the science and practice of water treatments, and other practical duties with which a nurse should be fami liar."ll The committee appointed to plan the course soon realized that this was too much to teach in such a short span of time, and decided that it would be more practical to plan a two-year course. Because of "a scarcity of competent teachers, insufficient room to house the students and a lack of cHnical material," implementation of the plan was delayed.l2 In 1891, five young women and one young man entered a six­month course that was soon extended to one year. A year later a second class was admitted to a two-year nurses' course that began with a special term of four months. Students had the choice of working six hours a day or paying n tuition fee of $2.50 per month . "Class instruction (would) be from five to seven hours per week, with the view that this number be modified as experience demands."l3

In 1898, St. Helena Sanilmi um reported that graduates were working at the Door of Hope Mission, the Helping Hand Mission, and the Sanitarium's branch office, al l located in San Francisco, and the Home of the Friendless in AJameda.14 On May 24, 1900, fourteen students graduated, the first students to have complet­ed the ent ire course under lhe auspices of the California Med ical Missionary. and Benevolent Association . ln less than a decade of its founding Rowen and Lena Prickett, Class of 1895, had gone to Pitcairn Island and Tah iti and graduates could be found "in every quarter of the habitable globc."l5

15

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Mission of Love

Colorado Sanitarium Training-School at Boulder

For a number of years the need for a sanitarium in Colorado to care for patients suffering from tuberculosis was recognized by Dr. Kellogg and others. Steps were taken when two graduate nurses were sent, in the fal l of 1893, to open a hygienic boarding house. Two years later Dr. 0. G. Place arrived and opened medical work.l6 Dr. Kate Lindsay, recently returned from South Africa, reached Boulder in time for the dedication of the sanitarium on July 1, 1896. Immediately she helped to plan the opening of a training school for nurses. For the remainder of her ufe, Dr. Lindsay lived in Boulder and was aclively involved in guiding the school and teaching the students."l7 The school followed closely the pattern established by the Battle Creek Missionary Nurses' Training School. "Only those are received in the class who pur­pose to devote their lives to medical missionary work."18 The sanitarium had been incorporated as the Colorado Medical Missionary and Benevolent Association, and graduates of the school were expected to work where the Association sent them.

On October 15, a little more than three months after the Sanitarium opened, twenty-two young women and men enrolled in the two-year program. Eleven of these students graduated two years later. In 1904, at the time that Colorado nursing education came under state control, the course was lengthened to three years.

At fi rst the students lived in tents. Later they were moved into small cotlages and rooms in the vicinity of tl1e hospital. Still later they lived in large cottages dur­ing the winter, from which they moved into tents in the spring upon arrival of the sanitarium's clients. This semiyearly uprooting continued until1930, when a mod­ern dormitory with educational facilities was built.

There was no class schedule in the early days. "The students did all the work which had to be done and went to classes when and if the work was nnished." The hours of required work decreased very slowly. The catalog for the school years 1927-1929 stated that during the Freshman year twenty-eight hours of work were required a week and during the Junior and Senior years forty-eight hours were required. This was exclusive of class hours. On Sabbath students were required to do only work that was essential.

Portland Sanitarium School of Nursing

In the early 1890s, a number of friends of the Battle Creek Sanitarium living in Portland, Oregon, began a campaign to have a sanitarium organized in their city. About 1893, Dr. L. J. Belknap moved from California to Portland, established a medical practice, and placed himself at the disposal of the Medical Missionary Board. Three years later Dr. Belknap obtained a large building to convert in to a san­itarium.l9 Immediately Mrs. Belknap and two nurses, all graduates of the Battle Creek Sanitarium Missionary Nurses' Training School, accepted three young women as students. Following the practice of Battle Creek Sanitarium, worship ser­vices were held in the sanitarium moming and evening, and at the beginning and close of the Sabbath.

16

Daughters of the Battle Creek Sanitarium Training School for Nurses

From its inception the purpose of the school was to train only those "who have as their objective medical missionary work."20 TWo of the four students in the first graduating class (1899) soon sailed for mission fields. Maude Harvey (Rue), the first alumna to leave for a mission field, went to Japan. Not long afterward Mabel Shaffer (Murrin-Griggs) saiJed for the Philippines.21

Nursing students lived in homes in the vicinity of the sanitarium for the first quarter-century. Finally, an "ancient residence" was purchased in 1925, where the students could live as a group, but it was 1928 before a residence was built that pro­vided a chapel and classrooms on the ground fioor.22

New England Sanitarium School of Nursing

The New England Sanitarium was first established in South Lancaster, but moved three years later to Stoneham, Massachusetts. In Apri l J 899, it received its charter from the state and opened the training school in September. Fifleen young women and men were in that first class, but only eight graduated in J 901.23 Three members of this class transferred for the second year of training to the Battle Creek Sanitarium .24 From the beginning the simple curriculum "emphasized physical therapy and on the spiritual phases of the opportunities before the student nurse."25

Each year approximately fifteen applicants were admitted into the two-year course. About 1905-1906, the course was increased to three years. In D ecember 1904, the school reported that "so many calls for help have recently been made that we are unable to IJII all of them with the present class."26 The twelve graduates in 1905 increased the total number of graduates to fifty-two in IJve years. The 1906 class of fourteen graduates represented eleven different states and countries from Newfoundland to Jamaica.

Hinsdale Sanitarium School of Nursing

In October 1904 Drs. David and Mary Paulson moved from the Chicago Sanitalium to newly purchased property in Hinsdale, where they opened the Ilinsdale Sanitarium. At the beginning of the new year a nurses' school was opened from which four students graduated from a three-year program in 1908.27 Student activities were greatly restricted. The school bulletin for ] 925 slated: "Picnics, par­lies, outings and walks should not be arranged for without consulting the Superintendent of Nurses, and then can be permitted only when accompanied by a suitable chaperon."28

Students slept together in double beds until a dormitory was bui lt in 1930. When emphasis was placed on missionary field work early in the 1920s, students had experience at the Medical Mission located in the downtown slums of Chicago and in visiting the city's jails .29

Early graduates to leave for an overseas mission field were Archie nnd Mary Borg Field, class of] 917. They were sent in 1919 to Peru, where they worked in the Lake Til!cata region.30 ln 1930 the school reported that 1:\.velve grad~ates were in

] 7

Mission of Love

the mission fields. However, the Hinsdale School of Nursing graduated two mis­sionary nurses whose entire professional lives were devoted to one school of nursing in the United States. Martha Borg, class of 1915, responded to the recruitment pleas for nurses to staff the White Memorial Hospital when it opened in 1918. She pro­vided leadership at this institution for the next twenty-four years.3l Jessie Tupper, class of 1921, devoted her entire thirty-three years of professional life to the

Hinsdale Sanitarium and School of Nursing.32

Glendale Sanitarium School of Nursing Within a few weeks after the Glendale Sanitarium opened in August 1905, Miss

Lenora Lacey, Superintendent of Nurses, started a school of nursing "for the pur­pose of training young men and women in the art and science of caring for the sick, and for the purpose of equipping them to become successful medical missionar­ies."33 Two students graduated in 1906. The five students graduating in 1907 com­pleted a two-year course. The nursing school was accredited by the State of

California in 1911.34 When students entered the school they were placed on a three-month proba-

tionary period. DUling this time they had little experience in nursing. In accordance with a resolution passed by the Medical D epartment of the General Conference, the advancement in nursing depended on the nurses' profici ency in domestic service." Consequently, they worked in the linen and supply rooms, and cleaned the doctor's offices, physiotherapy department, laboratory, operating room, and hospital.

The school's report to the Medical Department of the General Conference in 1922 announced that seventeen graduates were in the mission field, thus fu lfilling

the objective of the schoo\.35

Loma Linda Sanitarium School of Nursing

Soon after Dr. Julia A. White anived with several nurses from Battle Creek Sanitarium at Loma Linda on November 5, 1905, she approached Elder John Burden about the necessity of opening a school of nursing to provide nursing care for patients.36 Already, three young women had t ransferred from the Glendale and Nebraska sanitariums and were working and attending classes.

Elder Burden placed notices in the Review and Herald and the Pacific Union Recorder for December 28, 1905, slating that the special training school for medical missionaries would include a nurses' course. As a result four more students, who had various degrees of preparation, joined the three during the next few months. In those days the curriculum was very Oexible; consequently, this first class of students took the courses that were individually considered necessary. Two men were among

the seven graduates on July 10, 1907. The opening date for the second year of the school was set for September 20,

1906. However, only a few members of the medical faculty appe~ed at the designated time. By OctoLer 4, about thirty-five students and the remainder of the

18

Daughters of the Battle Creek Sanitarium Training School for Nurses

medical faculty had arrived and the school year began. As of November 12, there were fourteen nursing students enrolled.

The students Hved in cottages near the sanitarium . Four students were assigned to a bedroom that contained two double beds in which they slept two to a bed.

The arrival of Professor and Mrs. Warren E . Howell in June, 1906, provided leadership for developing the objectives for this educational institution. As part of the student body, the nursin.g students benefited from the educational emphasis of the school. All students were required to work one hour daily out of doors to pro­vide exercise and maintain good health. Nursing students were not exempt. Their nursing responsibiHlies in the sanitarium were limited to thirty-six hours weekly, making a total forty-two-hour week. This number of hours of work covered the cost of tuition, room, and board.

The class schedule provided in excess of 600 hours of theoretical instruction each year. The third year, added in 1906-07, covered the first year of the Evangelistic-Medical program. All manual procedures were taught by the nurse supervisor on the nursing unit. Giving a hyperdcrmic injection was the most techni­cal procedure performed by nurses of that era.

The Medical Department of the General Conference passed a resolution that favored "the most careful training of nurses in domestic work. .. . no woman can be a well-trained nurse unless she has been drilled in the principles of cooking, laun­dry work, and the care of the house; . . . the advancement in nursing lines will depend on their proficiency in domestic service." At Lorna Linda nursing students did about the same amount of domestic work as nursing students in the other sani­tarium schools. After the medical school opened, nursing students participated in a community clinic for the Mcxican-AmeJi cans, in obstetrical deliveries in the home, and in health teaching.

Professor Howell left Lorna Linda within the year to serve as a missionary to Greece. Dr. George Abbott became president and the school continued to be directed by a physician-president for almost half a century. Many principles of edu­cation were ignored, especially in Umes of severe financial constraints. Educational practices that had distinguished the education of nurses at Loma Linda from that of the other sanitarium schools gradually disappeared, and in less than a decade the Loma Linda Sanitarium School of Nursing was much like its sister training schools.

Washington Sanitarium School of Nursing

Franke Cobban, the fi rst student to enter the nurses' course, started her pro­gram at the Iowa Circle Sanitarium in downtown Washington, D .C. in 1906, whjle the sanitarium was under construction.37 When the building in Takoma Park was ready for occupancy in 1907, the sanitarium operations were moved there. A school of nursing was established and Miss Cobban and students from England, the New England Sanitarium, and the Philadelphia Sanitarium transfem~d to the new insti-tution , forming a class of four. _

19

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Mission of Love

Dr. Daniel Kress was the medical director, and Dr. Lauretta Kress was chief surgeon and obstetrician. She also assumed responsibility for most of the teaching of the nursing students.

A class of twenty-!lve students was accepted the Drst year in the new sanitari­um. They were a cosmopolitan mixture of students from the Unjtcd Slates and for­eign countries. Seventeen of these students graduated in 1910.38

Student nurses did all of the domestic work required in the hospital. Graduates of the classes of 1910 and 1916 reported that each nurse was in charge of the laun­dry for a month. and often worked many months in the kitchen. When Anna Ho!Tmier (Hadley) entered in 1913, she was assigned to the kitchen and dining room for nine months. Myrta Comer (class of 1910) was immediately put to work canning tomatoes the day she arrived. Soon after graduation she was assigned to take charge of the kitchen, and remained in that capacity for more than forty years, making it her life's work. The eight cents an hour students were paid was sufficient for room, board, and tuition.

In 1913, ten grades of schooling were required for admission. Students worked twelve hours daily from 7:00 a.m. to 7:00p.m. and were called at other hours to care for "their patients." Classes might be held during the working hours or in the evening. Dr. Harry W. Miller taught anatomy at 5:45 a.m.! to the class of 1916.

Students were often assigned to individual patients for "special duty" in the san­itarium and private-duty nursing in the home. Later in life Miss Cobban told of entering a home to nurse twin girls who were seriously ill with pneumonia. One night the life of one of the girls had been given up by the doctor. Miss Cobban prayed for the child's life as she worked with the baby. and the baby lived. In l 937 Miss Cobban moved to Glendale, California and met Ellen Vogel, a highly respect­ed nurse administrator and educator at the White Memorial Hospital. Upon meet­ing Miss Vogel's father, Miss Cobban learned that his daughter was the infant that she had nursed and prayed for so many years before in Washington, D.C. Miss Vogel later took the medical course at Lorna Linda and graduated in 1950.

Senior student nurses were in charge of directing the work of younger students on the hospital floors. Obstetrical experience was obtained by accompanying Dr. Lauretta Kress on home deliveries. The students obtained an insight into commu­nity problems during their experience at a cl inic operated by the sanitarium in a poverty area of Washington.

In 1914, Washington Sanitarium opened a Mission Hospital to provide experi­ence for students in self-supporting work. Dr. Henry G. Hadley, a recent graduate from medical school, operated the hospital.

During those early days when the sanitarium was struggling (Jnancially, the stu­dents were sent into the city to sell the magazine Life and Health for a month. This activity was encouraged by an action of Lhe Medical Department of the General Conference in 1909, that advocated three months' field work including distribution of literature.

20

Daughters of the Battle Creek Sanitarium Training School for Nurses

At first the fourth floor of the unfinished sanitarium was used as living quarters for the students. When the wind blew through the open windows, the screens that separated their beds fell with a clatter, awakening tbe students from their sound sleep. The bathtubs were on the third floor, and tbe students had to walk down a narrow back stailway to reach tl1c rooms for a bath.39 They felt fortunate when a nurses' residence was completed in 1909.

Paradise Valley Sanita rium and Hospital Training School for Missionary Nurses

The Sanitarium property was purchased tJ1rough the counsel and financial assis­tance of Mrs. E. G. White in 1904.40 However, a steady water supply and renova­tion of the building were needed before the institution was ready for occupancy. Several years passed before the situation was satisfactory for establislting a school of nursing. During these years a few workers received some training, but flnishecltheir course at other sanitariums.

Miss Winifred Frederick (BCSN, married to Mr. Harmon Lindsay in 1911) and Miss Myrtle Phillips (BSN) arrived in October J 908, and began to organize the nurs­ing_ s~rvicc for the sanitarium. When they were ready to open the Missionary Trammg School in November 1909, Mrs. Frances Martin (NESN) had been added to the staff. Twelve students were in that first class, but only two graduated from the three-year program in 1912. A member of this class was Harold Walton, who grad­uate~ later from the College of Medical Evangelists and was General Conference Med~eal Secretary 1937-1946. Mrs. Daisy Coleslon Walton graduated with the class of 1_914. When California nurses' registration was passed in 1914, the school receJVed state accreditation, which il maintained through the years of its existence. Mr. and Mrs. Fred Stuckey, class of 1913, who wenl to South Africa, were the school '~ first graduates to go to tl1e mission field.

M1ss Frederick had a reputation as an excellent executive. This was a necessity when_one reviews her duties: making the schedule, making rounds witl1the doctors, teachmg all the nursing classes, and supervising Ule operating room.

Florida Sanitarium School of Nursing

The Florida Sanitarium and Benevolent Association was established in 1908 in Orlando, Florida under the control of the Florida Conference of Seventh-day ~dventists . It was not long before an attempt was made to conduct a nurses' train­mg course. In 1913 five students graduated from a tl1ree-year program and the next ~ear there were two additional graduates. Until J 918 there appears to have been no 'onnal nurses' h ' program. AL that time an acceptable t ree-year nurses course was ~~~~-~~hed that mel Lbe requirements for recognition by the Stale of Florida in

The "School of Nursing Announcement 1()27 1928" "' invites young men and women wl d · . . . 1° CSJre a preparation ror Christian Medical MISSIOnary ServiCe to apply

21

Mission of Love

for admission ." For many years school bulletins included several quotations by Mrs. E. G. While relative to selecting young people for this important work. An admoni­tion that was used repeatedly was "THOSE WHO HAVE NO BURNING DESIRE TO SAVE SOULS ARE NOT TilE ONES WIIO SHOULD CONNECT' WITH OUR SANITAIUUM S" (sic).

In 1927 the Florida Sanitarium had 135 beds. Many rooms were occupied only in the winter by clients who came from the northern states for Lhe sanjtarium treat­ments. In many respects the environment was similar to European spas that offered hydrotherapy, diet, and a recreational program. These cuents suffered mainly from their lifestyles and few presented a medical diagnosis. Nevertheless no clinical affil­iations to broaden student experience were provided for some years.

The school provided two dormitories located on a peninsula between two lakes that bordered the sanitarium. Each of the dormitories' double-occupancy rooms was furnished wi th single beds. There was a kitchenette and a parlor with a piano in each building. Educational facilities included well-equipped classrooms and a library with a number of denominational periodicals in addition lo "many standard and denom­inational works."

After the probationary four months, students worked a 48-hour-week plus "nec­essary hours on Sabbath." The daily schedule allotted five hours for classes, and a study period of one hour and forty-.6ve minutes was scheduled in the evening. Every minute was accounted for between 5:00a.m. and 10:00 P.m. , when lights went out.

Off-duty appearance was regulated as closely as the sh.1dents' professional appearance. The dress "should not be shorter than one third distance from knee to floor . . . The round and square neck should not be more than one inch below the sternum .. . Sleeves should be elbow length ." As recently as 1938, according to that year's Bulletin, students were not permitted to have "bobbed hair."42

White Memorial Hospital School of Nursing

The White Memorial Hospital began in 1913 as a dispensary to provide teach­ing resources for the medical students of the College of Medical Evangelists.-13 It was located in Boyle Heights, a low economic income area of Los Angeles, that pro­vided a continuous supply of patients of many ethnic and cultural origins. Nurses were needed when two cottages were opened as a hospital in 1918. Miss Martha Borg (HSN 1915) was one of a few graduate nurses from Lhe Midwest who respond­ed to a call for nurses when the hospital opened.

A supply of student nurses was a necessity to provide bedside care for the patients. Letters to other sanila1ium schools for transfer students were not produc­tive. Restrictions by the State Board for Nurses on the transfer of nurse students raised obstacles to thjs source of recruitment. Eventually students were sent from Lorna Linda Sanitarium to relieve the situation . It is not known when they first arrived at the hospital during 1918, but Lhe nursing school bulletin for J 919-1920 lists both institutions as the location for the School of Nursing.

22

F

Daughters of the Battle Creek Sanitarium Training School for Nurses

At first the students were rotated to the White Memorial for some of their clin­ical expedence. It was not long before students who applied to the Lorna Linda School of Nursing were assigned to begin their program at either the White Memorial or Loma Linda hospital. However, by 1923 the complete program was given on both campuses. The contr3St between the atmosphere and the socioeco­nomic status of the patients at Lorna Linda and at the White could not have been greater. This was of real value in training missionary nurses. Nevertheless difficul­ties and Jivaldes arose between the two locations, and in 1923 it was decided to organize 1\vo separate schools. For the next three years they functioned under one supelintendent with an assistant in each school. The separation was made complete in 1926 when each school organized independently. Although receiving d iplomas from separate schools, the graduates of both schools were considered graduates of the College of Merucal EvangeHsts.

Conference Sanitariums' Schools of Nursing

The Nebraska Sanitarium , College View, 1895-1920; Iowa Sanitarium, 1899-1931; Madison, Wisconsin, Sanitarium, 1902-1925; Tri-City Sanitarium, Moline, Illinoi~, l 903-1925; Wabash Valley Sanitarium, 1904-1932; and Kansas Sanitarium, 1904-1927, were conference-owned small sanitariums that conducted training schools.

The small sanitarium schools believed their advantages to be that "every nurse has abundant oppo1tunity to learn all about the management of the sanitarium in its different departments." The experience in domestic work, which included experi­ence with a seamstress, would prove valuable "whe n they find themselves in foreign lands, or in responsible positions in our sanitariums."tl4

Students carried heavy responsibilities in the small sanila1iums. However, because of the compact environment they were under close supervision . The re was greater opportunity for individualized teaching. In 1930, the year be fore the Iowa Snnita1ium discontinued its school, "the Iowa School ranked highest in general aver­age of any school in the state," which speaks well for the quality of instruclion.45

. In tirne, states required hospitals lo have a minimum number of beds and pahent census in order to conduct a training school. This often presented a problem to the SJ~all sanitariums. It was necessary to arrange affiHalions at other instituUons to provttle sufficient experience in some clinical areas. ln 1942 a Nebraska Sanitarium graduate of 19J5 wrote to D . Lois Burnett, Associate Secretary of the General Conference Merucal Department, concerning the difficulty she was having obt · · j·

ammg tcensure in Connecticut because of the small bed capacity of the Nehmska Sanitarium. She wrote that "patients cnme from miles distant for opera­ti ons and treatment ... A 50 beu annex was built to he used for a nurses home. Jl was used instead ~ · w · · · h d 0 . or pat•ents. e nurses remamed m the nCJghbor oo cottages.

ur \\'lde conid · 1 1 · ors, m t 1e lOSpllal proper were used for wards . .. Our teachers "'<' re most alert t ' ' o our every need . .. had it not been for their untiring e fforts 1

_L _____________________________ ·~---- - - ----- -- - --- -- -- - ------

Mission of Love

would not have been fitted for the responsible positions, in the nursing pro­fession, which I have been able to successfuUy hold, throughout the years since my graduation."46

When the Kansas Sanitarium decided lo close its training school in 1927, there was difficulty in arranging the transfer of the twenty-five students to other schools. Stales diiTered in their requirements for admission to their schools of nursing. When the Superintendent of Nurses wrote loa number of both denominational and non­denominational schools seeking those institutions that would accept students, the failure of many to have completed high school was a serious impediment. Schools were prohibited from accepting these students when a state required high-school completion. Finally the students were accepted by the Schools of Nursing of Lorna Linda, Glendale, Boulder, Hinsdale, and Florida Sanitariums, and Denver General HospitaJ.47

A month before closure, Mrs. Edith Hawkins, Superintendent of Nurses, received a letter from Lottie Ulnick, R.N., of the Ilinsdale Sanitarium. Miss Ulnick, faced with the eternal problem of maintaining adherence to the dress codes, inquired whether [Mrs. Ilawkins] thought it necessary to hold "to the standard of ten inches from the floor" since the General Conference had revised the regulations for civihan dress to twelve inches from the floor. This was a problem Mrs. Hawkins had to contend with no longer.

The Madison, Wisconsin, Sanitarium was having difficulty in the 1920s with the State Board of Examiners' refusal "to recognize men nurses, holding that it is impos­sible for them lo be fully trained." Insofar as possible, the school included the third year's work in the first two years and gave them a certificate at the end of that lime. This enabled them lo transfer to other schools to complete their training and receive a diploma. In the twenty years the school was in operation, ninety students graduated.48

Student records were frequently kept in a haphazard manner. Often records were lost when schools closed. This created difficulty when graduates wanted to obtain licensure when they moved from state to state. In December 1938 Mr. Fogarty, a 1920 graduate of the Tri-City Sanitarium, planning to move to another slate, went to the Illinois Conference office to obtain his grades. lie had his diplo­ma with him . The office secretary of the Education Department wrote to Otis H . F. Blaum of the Lake Union Conference regarding Mr. Fogarty's course and grades. Mr. Bloum said that he would write to Brother Kinzer at Wabash Valley Sanitarium and try to contact the one who was acting head nurse at Lhe Tri-City Sanitariurr when it closed. lie also suggested contacting Gerald Simmons at Hinsdale Sanitarium. Mr. Kinzer wrote that all records were sent to Miss Jensen's office at the General Conference. Miss Jensen replied that they had never been received. D1 Norman, from Miami Battle Creek Sanitarium in Florida, wrote that he left Tri-Cit in 1916, and had difficulty finding his old grade book. Mr. Bloum, audjtor of lh; Lake Union, wrote Mr. II. 0 . Butler, former manager of the sanitarium, who ha·

24

Daughters of the Battle Creek Sanitarium Training School f or Nurses

"walked away with the grade book as he was the last one to leave the sanitarium." Mr. Butler did not send the book because postage would be $1.29. However, he did send Mr. Fogarty's grades. "On the page where Mr. Fogarty's name appears, there seems to be no date but a slip of paper in the book indicates it was 1920." The Union Conference paid the postage to have the book mailed from Ithaca, Michigan, to Brookfield, Illinois. From there it was transferred to its final resting place at the Gene ral Conference.49

The Wabash Valley Sanitarium sta1ted a training school for missionary nurses almost as soon as the sanitarium doors opened. It granted the first diploma in 1906. Three years later it graduated a class of four and accepted a new class of ten stu­dents.SO A Handbook (undated) listed four objectives of the school. Two objectives focused on the missionary aspects of the program: "the training of medical mission­ary workers and to assist by influence and careful, direct effort the giving of Bible truths for this time."Sl

The lone graduate of the first class in 1906 was Anna M. Carahoff, who remained professionally active for many years. On May 7, 1928 Anna M. Carahoff­Thorne wrote from South Bend lo Mrs. Griffee, Superintendent of Nurses, slating that she had been refused membership in th e Indiana Nurses Association because she did nol belong to her alumnae association. Mrs. Thom requested that the Wabash Valley Sanitarium form such an association. Mrs. Griffee arranged for an organizational meeting on May 15, 1928. The five graduates who lived in the vkin­ity and Mrs. Anna Thome attended. It was suggested that a notice be placed in the Lake Union Herald and the Review and l/erald as a method of contacting graduates and obtaini ng their addresses. A second meeting was held June 21. Ten graduates were present representing the classes of J 909, 1910, 1912, 1918, 1920, and 192] . On January 3, 1929 a thi rd meeting was held. Records indicate that eleven members joiued in 1928 and nine members in 1929.52 The School of Nursing closed in 1932.

The growth of Seventh-day Adventist training schools was a reflection of the rapid expansion of nursing education in this country. Between 1890 and 1910, the number of schools of nursing in the United States increased from 33 to 1096. During tl1ese two decades the number of Seventh-day Adventist sanitariums increased from three to ninety, forty-eight in the United States and forty- two over­seas. A total of 966 nurses were in training in 1909.53

A few sanitariums developed into strong hospitals that continue to serve the denomination. Through the years as the regulations controlling nursing education became more stringent, hundreds of schools of nursing closed in the United States. With the closure of the Wabash Sanitarium School of Nursing in Jndiana in 1932, the small Seventh day Adventist sanitarium schools ceased to exist. There remained eleven schools of nursing located in the large sanitarium-hospitals.

The missionary purpose of these schools of nursing attracted numerous appli­~ants, many of whom wi thdrew from the course for various reasons. Nonetheless, rom the graduates a steady stream of self-supporting nurse missionaries spread

25

Mission of Love

across the world taking the Seventh-day Adventist message with them. Graduates of these programs between 1915 and 1930 became the nurse leaders who laid the fou ndation for today's denominational schools of nursing. They served as the inspi­ration for the Seventh-day Adventist nurses who are today's leaders.

ENDNOTES l. llome Missionary, February 1894, 33. 2. 'The International Medical Missionary and Benevolent Association," Medical Missionary and

Gospel of Health, April 1900, 168. 3. Medical Missionary and Gospel of llealth, January 1903, 38. 4. 'The International Medical Missionary and Benevolent Association," Metlical Missionary and

Gospel of Health, April 1900, 168. 5. International Missionary and Benevolent Association Yearbook, 1896, 124. 6. Home Missionary, February 1894, 29-33. 7. International Medical Missionary and Benevolent Association Yearbook, 1896. 8. "Seventh-day Adventist StatisUcal Report 1909," 15. 9. Medical Missionary, December 1905, 389 390. 10 International Medical Missionary and Benevolent Association Yearbook, 1896, 27. ll. Youth's Instructor, Fcbmary 20, 1940, 8. 12. lbid., 9. 13. St. Tlelena Sanitarium Golder1 jubilee, 1928, 18. 14. Medical Missionary, November 1898, 33 15. Medical Missionary and Gospel of Health, June 1900, 207. 16. International Medical Missionary and Benevolent Association Yearbook, 1897, 34. 17. JnformaUon for the remainder of this section was derived from Vema A. Burdick, R.N., 'T he

Nursing School 'at the Foot of tl1e Rockies,' Youth's Instructor; March 12, 1940, 8-9, except as otherwise stated.

18. Medical Missionary, November 1898, 324. 19. International Medical Missionary and Benevolent Association Yearbook, 1897, 33. 20. Portland Sanitarium School of Nursing Bulletin 1936. 21. Golden Memories- Portland Sanitarium and Hospital School of Nursing, 1949. 22. Ibid. 23. Medical Missionary and Gospel of lfealth, December 1899, 30. 24. Medical Missionary and Gospel of /Iealth, October 1900, 320. 25. Editl1 F. Strand, R.N., "Preparing for Service at the New England School of Nursing," Youth 's

lnstn1ctor, February 13, 1940, 8. 26. Medical Missionary, December 1904, 387. 27. Don F. Neufeld (ed.}, Seventh-day Adventist Encyclopedia (Washington, D.C.: Review and

Herald Publishing Company, 1966) [hereafter refe rred to as SDAEI. 10,523. 28. The Doings Supplement, September 27, 1979, Ilinsdale Sanitarium and flospital 75th

Anniversary, 8. · 29. School of Nursing Quadrennial Report 1922-1925, Jlinsdale Sanitarium School of Nursing. 30. The llinsdale Nurses' Alumni News, Fall 1982, 4. 31. Maxine Atteberry, From Pinafores to Pantsuits (Whittier, California: Penn Lithographics-Jnc.

1975) 35. 32. The lfinsdale Nurses' Alumni News, September 1980, 3. 33. Glend£1/e llospital School of Nursing Announcement 1936-37. 34. Neufeld, SDAE, 467. 35. Medical Depa1 tmcnt of tl1c General Conference, Glendale Sanitarium School of Nursi11g

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