Co-operation Between Schools and Sanitariums

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I have been instructed that there are decided advantages to be gained by the establishment of a school and a sanitarium in close proximity, that they may be a help one to the other. Instruction regarding this was given to me when we were making decisions about the location of our buildings in Takoma Park. Whenever it is possible to have a school and a sanitarium near enough together for helpful co-operation between the two institutions, and yet separated sufficiently to prevent one from interfering with the work of the other, let them be located so as to carry on their work in conjunction. One institution will give influence and strength to the other; and, too, money can be saved by both institutions, because each can share the advantages of the other.

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In connection with our larger schools there should be provided facilities for giving many students thorough instruction regarding gospel medical missionary work. This line of work is to be brought into our colleges and training schools as a part of the regular instruction. This will make it unnecessary for our youth from all parts of the land to go to Battle Creek, or to any other one or two places, to obtain a thorough and satisfactory education and training.

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Those in training to be nurses and physicians should daily be given instruction that will develop the highest motives for advancement. They should attend our colleges and training schools; and the teachers in these institutions of learning should realize their responsibility to work and pray with their students. In these schools, students should learn to be true medical missionaries, firmly bound up with the gospel ministry.

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Our people who have a deep interest in the children and youth, and in the training of laborers to carry forward the work essential for this time, need not be left in perplexity and uncertainty about the steps to be taken for the training of their youth as medical missionaries. God will open ways before all who humbly seek Him for wisdom in the perfecting of Christian character. He will have places ready for them in which to begin to do genuine missionary work. It is to prepare laborers for this work that our schools and sanitariums are established.

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For the strengthening of this line of effort, counsel has been given that in connection with our larger schools there should be established small sanitariums. Whenever a well-equipped sanitarium is located near a school, it may add greatly to the strength of the medical missionary course in the school if perfect co-operation is established by the managers between the two institutions. The teachers in the school can help the workers in the sanitarium by their advice and counsel, and by sometimes speaking to the patients. And, in return, those in charge of the sanitarium can assist in training the students who are desirous of becoming medical missionaries for field service. Circumstances, of course, must determine the details of the arrangements that it will be best to make. As the workers in each institution plan unselfishly to help one another, the blessing of the Lord will surely rest upon both institutions.

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No one man, whether a teacher, a physician, or a minister, can ever hope to be a complete whole. God has given to every man certain gifts, and has ordained that men be associated in his divine service, in order that the varied talents of many minds may be blended. The contact of mind tends to quicken thought and increase the capabilities. The deficiencies of one laborer are often made up by the special gifts of another. And as physicians and teachers thus associated unite in imparting their knowledge, the youth under their training will receive a symmetrical, well-balanced education for service.

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In all these efforts, there will come many opportunities for manifesting gentlemanly courtesy. The Christian is always courteous. And by close association with his fellow-workers, he becomes more and more refined. He learns to overlook little points of difference regarding questions that are of vital consequence. Such a man when in charge of one of the Lord’s institutions, is willing to deny self and to yield his personal opinion on matters of minor importance, in order that, with all brotherly kindness, he may co-operate heartily with the managers of another institution near by. He will not hesitate to speak plainly and firmly when occasion demands; but his every word and act will be mingled with a courtesy so kindly, so Christlike, that no offense can be taken. Powerful is the influence for good that is exercised by a consecrated, active Christian gentleman. And when the managers of our institutions in close proximity, learn to unite their forces, and to labor unselfishly and untiringly for the upbuilding of one another’s work, the results for good are far-reaching.

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The benefits of hearty co-operation extend beyond physicians and teachers, students and sanitarium helpers. When a sanitarium is built near a school, those in charge of the educational institution have a grand opportunity of setting a right example before those who all through life have been easy-going idlers, and who have come to the sanitarium for treatment. The patients will see the contrast between the idle, self-indulgent lives that they have lived, and the lives of self-denial and service lived by Christ’s followers. They will learn that the object of medical missionary work is to restore, to correct wrongs, to show human beings how to avoid the self-indulgence that brings disease and death.

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The words and actions of the workers in the sanitarium and in the school should plainly reveal that life is an intensely solemn thing, in view of the account which all must render to God. Each one should now put his talents out to the exchangers, adding to the Master’s gift, blessing others with the blessings given him. At the day of judgment, the life-work of each one is investigated, and each one receives a reward proportionate to his efforts.

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That the best results may be secured by the establishment of a sanitarium near a school, there needs to be perfect harmony between the workers in both institutions. This is sometimes difficult to secure, especially when teachers and physicians are inclined to be self-centered, each considering as of the greatest importance the work with which he is most closely connected. When men who are self-confident are in charge of institutions in close proximity, great annoyance might result were each determined to carry out his own plans, refusing to make concessions to others. Both those at the head of the sanitarium and those at the head of the school will need to guard against clinging tenaciously to their own ideas concerning things that are really non-essentials.

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There is a great work to be done by our sanitariums and schools. Time is short. What is done must be done quickly. Let those who are connected with these important instrumentalities be wholly converted. Let them not live for self, for worldly purposes, withholding themselves from full consecration to God’s service. Let them give themselves, body, soul, and spirit, to God, to be used by Him in saving souls. They are not at liberty to do with themselves as they please: they belong to God; for he has bought them with the life-blood of His only-begotten Son. And as they learn to abide in Christ, there will remain in the heart no room for selfishness. In His service they will find the fullest satisfaction.

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Let this be taught and lived by medical missionary workers. Let these laborers tell those with whom they come in contact that the life that men and women now live will one day be examined by a just God, and that each one must now do his best, offering to God consecrated service. Those in charge of the school are to teach the students to use for the highest, holiest purpose the talents God has given them, that they may accomplish the greatest good in this world. Students need to learn what it means to have a real aim in life, and to obtain an exalted understanding of what true education means. They need to learn what it means to be true gospel medical missionaries, — missionaries who can go forth to labor with the ministers of the Word in needy fields.

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Wherever there is a favorable opportunity, let our sanitariums and our schools plan to be a help and a strength to each other. The Lord would have his work move forward solidly. Let light shine forth as God designed that it should from his institutions, and let God be glorified and honored. This is the purpose and plan of heaven in the establishment of these institutions. Let physicians and nurses and teachers and students walk humbly with God, trusting wholly in him as the only one who can make their work a success. Ellen G. White.