The Story of our Health Message

The Appeal Successful

The response to this appeal, we are told, was “even more successful than was anticipated by its projectors.” Good Health, February, 1890. At the end of the four-month period of training, it was reported that the regular daily attendance of the class had averaged about one hundred, of which number more than twenty were prepared to enter the field immediately. SHM 247.3

Among those who enrolled at this first Health and Temperance Missionary School were a number whose names were later to become prominent in denominational work. There was Elder W. H. Wakeham, secretary of the American Health and Temperance Association, who for many years exerted a strong influence in promoting medical missionary work. Other members were A. A. John, J. B. Beckner, G. H. Baber, W. L. Bird, M. A. Altman, and Mrs. D. H. Kress. SHM 247.4

This enterprise, started in 1889 and progressively known as the Health and Temperance Missionary School, Health Missionary School, and Medical Missionary School, “marked the beginning of a revival of interest in hygienic subjects.” (Medical Missionary Yearbook, 1896, p. 125.) At the end of five years other classes were formed, in which the course was given. By this time there were several health instructors in the field, and an earnest group of self-supporting workers were freely ministering to the poor and needy. SHM 247.5