The Story of our Health Message

The Biennial Report

The secretary gave a report of the operations of the association during the two-year period. As soon as he had finished and the report had been accepted, a delegate arose and said: “I was not quite sure, Mr. Chairman, of the statistics; but the best I could get it, from the report, is that this association employs 74 physicians, 448 nurses, and about 1,200 other helpers. Am I correct?”—The General Conference Bulletin, April 10, 1901. SHM 301.2

On being assured that these figures were approximately correct, the delegate continued: “Then if this is correct, there are more persons in the employ of this association in its various departments of work than in the employ of the whole General Conference. Is that correct?”—Ibid. SHM 301.3

Again the conclusion was affirmed, and thus these striking figures were emphasized, as indicating “the size of the work that is being brought before us today.”—Ibid. SHM 301.4

A good part of the strength of this organization had been the result of its progress and growth during the two-year period covered by the secretary’s report. During that time there had been added eleven of the twenty-seven sanitariums then functioning, and fifteen of the thirty-one treatment rooms then in operation, not only in the United States but also in Switzerland, Denmark, England, Germany, South Africa, India, Australia, New Zealand, Mexico, and the Pacific Islands. Scores of nurses were engaged in self-supporting work among the poor and needy in Chicago and other cities. The Haskell Home for Orphans and the James White Memorial Home for the Aged were filled to capacity, and other lines of philanthropic endeavor were widespread. Besides the Good Health, with an average circulation of 30,000 copies monthly, nine other health publications were issued, some of them extending the knowledge of the health principles to lands across the sea. There was a steady demand for doctors and nurses and health educators, calls from various parts of the world being received faster than these workers could be trained for service. SHM 302.1

The quality of the training given in the American Medical Missionary College had been subjected to the severest tests in examinations given to the graduate students by the State Board of Illinois, and the splendid results achieved secured admittance for the college into the Association of American Medical Colleges. Forty-five members of the two first classes had graduated, thus making possible the opening of several new institutions and the strengthening of those already in operation. The 115 undergraduates also gave promise for still further expansion. SHM 302.2