Messenger of the Lord

The Beginning of Adventist Health Institutions

The implications of this Rochester vision were broad; the principles set forth are still valid. In practice, this vision provided Ellen White with a course of action to help her feeble husband in his slow recovery, a plan to spend the winter of 1866-1867 in northern Michigan. ²⁰ Further, this vision became an electrifying call to the young church to advance and establish an Adventist health institution. On one hand, such a thought seemed preposterous; on the other, it was the next logical step in fulfilling God’s plan through the Adventist Church. MOL 303.14

Ellen White’s Sabbath sermon at the General Conference session in Battle Creek, May 19, 1866, emphasized, perhaps for the first time publicly, the instruction given her in the Rochester health reform vision. Within days, the leadership responded to the call for a health institution, though with trepidation. J. N. Loughborough, president of the Michigan Conference, recalled: “When this testimony was read to our people, the question arose, ‘How can we, in our condition of limited means, obtain and control a health institution? ... The committee ... prayed over the matter, and said, ‘We will pledge to the enterprise, venturing out on what is said in the testimony, though it looks to us like a heavy load for us to hold up.’” ²¹ MOL 303.15

Within days, property was bought and tanks installed on the roof for hydrotherapy treatments. By September 5 the Western Health Reform Institute was ready for patients under the medical care of Drs. H. S. Lay and Phoebe Lamson. ²² Yet, many were the perils that lay ahead. The counsel of Ellen White saved the institutional management from making serious errors, especially in regard to the purpose of the institution: (1) The object is not primarily for “gain,” although it must be financially independent, not drawing on other denominational funds; (2) Standards must not be lowered in order to “patronize unbelievers“: (3) The institution, though not to be a place for “diversion or amusement,” will create an environment free from “diseased imaginations,” “dissatisfied feelings,” and “discontented repinings“: (4) The institution is established to “improve the health of the body that the afflicted may more highly appreciate eternal things“: (5) The institution should not expand any faster than adequate “skill, experience, and finance could be provided.” ²³ MOL 304.1

Even more amazing, in addition to establishing a medical institution, was the decision to publish Health Reformer, a periodical that Dr. H. S. Lay would edit. Shortly after its introduction, Ellen White wrote: “The Health Reformer is the medium through which rays of light are to shine upon the people. It should be the best health journal in our country. It must be adapted to the wants of the common people, ready to answer all proper questions and fully explain the first principles of the laws of life and how to obey them and preserve health.” ²⁴ MOL 304.2