USA > Michigan > Calhoun County > History of Calhoun county, Michigan : a narrative account of its historical progress, its people, and its principal interests, Volume I > Part 45
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The sanitarinm contains extensive facilities for the application of vibration, several vibratory treatments having been devised here, such as the vibrating chair, vibrating bars, etc. Mechanical massage is also much used, the treatment rooms containing several apparatus for ap- plying rolling movements to the back, abdomen and other parts of the body. Other ingenuous devices in the mechanic-therapy rooms are ma- chines which reproduce with great accuracy the movements of horse-back and camel riding. The gymnasium and the facilities which it affords for exercise are described elsewhere.
The sanitarium has gained a world-wide reputation for the perfection
T
PALM GARDEN
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of its dietary system, based upon the fact that the poisons which the system absorbs and which, entering the circulation, are carried to every part of the body and cripple the functions of the liver and other vital organs, are for the most part derived from the putrefaction of protein, or nitrogenous substances, in the alimentary canal; inasmuch as meats are rich in protein, flesh foods of all kinds are eliminated, and their place taken by various foods which have been devised at the sanitarium.
The elaborate method of examination employed at the sanitarium makes it possible to prescribe for any patient the amount of food which he should eat and the proportion of the various food elements which his food should contain. An important feature of the sanitarium menu, therefore, is the statement beside each dish of the number of units of the food elements which the dish contains, whether it be proteins, fats or carbohydrates. This enables the patient so to order his meals that he shall eat precisely the amount of food his examination indicates, and also to approximate very closely the proper proportion of the various food elements. The figures in the case of each food are based upon experi- ments made by the Federal Department of Agriculture and by the sanita- rium laboratories.
The sanitarium equipment contains one of the best appointed surgical wards in the United States. Every precaution possible is taken to elimi- nate germs and to make every detail connected with the operation aseptic. A large number of operations are performed each week, many of them of an extremely critical nature, but with a very high average of success.
A special ward is maintained for obstetrical work, in which the same care is taken to prevent infection of any kind and to eliminate every possible source of danger.
The system of examinations which makes the accurate application of this number of treatments possible is unequalled in its completeness, giv- ing a complete inventory of the patient's vital assets: the patient gives his attending physician not only a complete history of his case, but in addition his blood is tested for pressure, rate, viscosity and hemoglobin ; every means is employed to ascertain the condition of the heart, kidneys, liver and other vital organs; the gastric juice is analyzed and careful note taken of the extent to which the various digestive ferments are present ; by means of an ingenius device, known as the dynamometer, careful measurement is made of the strength of the several sets of muscles in the entire body, and the records compared from time to time to as- certain whether the body strength is gaining or decreasing, while com- pletely equipped dental, nose and throat departments examine patients when necessary and give thorough treatments.
A UNIVERSITY OF HEALTH
The ideal that the sanitarium management has kept before it from the first has been an educational ideal. A prominent part of the daily program are the lectures on various subjects relating to health, hygiene, sanitation, etc., so that the patient who makes the most of his opportuni- ties is able when he returns home to continue many of the curative meas-
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ures that benefitted him at the sanitarium. Doetor Kellogg's Monday night question-box lecture has been one of the most popular features of the sanitarium program for many years; at this lecture Doctor Kellogg opens a box to which patients during the week have contributed ques- tions on various subjeets relating to health and hygiene, and answers them. On Thursday night Doetor Kellogg again leetures, taking for his subject a question of current interest and illustrating his remarks by the use of stercopticon, moving pictures and charts made especially for the occasion. On Wednesday night some member of the sanitarium medieal staff, delivers a lecture relating to a eertain phase of hygiene. Several evenings of each week are oeenpied by concerts, and by lectures
BATTLE CREEK SANITARIUM IN 1866
and addresses by noted guests at the sanitarium, people who have won distinction in various lines of human activity; these gladly place them- selves at the disposal of the other guests and give addresses that are not only entertaining but inspiring and instruetive.
Among the persons of international fame who often visit the sani- tarium, and whose addresses never fail to draw large sanitarium audi- enees, are Sir Horace Plunkett, the leading spirit of the Irish back-to- the-land movement, Irving Fisher, Ph. D., Professor of Political Eeon- omy at Yale, Mr. Horace Fleteher, Mr. S. S. MeClure, Editor of Me- Clure's Magazine, Mr. Gifford Pinehot, former head of the federal Forestry Bureau.
A school of health is held at five o'clock in the afternoon at which leetures are given by the sanitarium dietitian and other experts on the
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subject of nutrition. These lectures attempt to give expert instruction in the science of food so that the principles underlying the sanitarium system of dietetics may be applied in an ordinary kitchen and in various lines of health culture.
The gymnasium is open at all hours, and several classes in gym- nasties and physical culture are daily conducted by experts in this line of work. Here the patient is taught to sit, walk and stand correctly, with the chest held high, the chin drawn in, the lips held back, and the abdominal muscles tense. In this position he takes various exercises with the arms, limbs and trunk, until the muscles of the back are so strengthened, that they are able to hold the body in correct position.
OUTDOOR SWIMMING TOURNAMENT
For those in whom the muscles are so weak that the desired result can not be accomplished by gymnastic exercises, manual Swedish move- ments and the sinusoidal electrical current are called upon to accom- plish the first stages of the cure. Nothing is left uncertain, and no pre- scription for exercise is made until the patient's strength has been thoroughly tested and a strength graphic has been prepared. With the chart before him, the physical director gives work suited to each case. The exercises taken in general classes are of such a character as to be suited to nearly all cases.
Individual work is given, that is depended upon chiefly for cor- rective development. They are special exercise classes for feeble pa- tients, and the very feeblest convalescents of the surgical ward are
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visited several times daily and directed in taking various deep-breathing movements, which are especially adapted to their individual cases. The gymnasium work of the day is concluded at 6:45 by a drill and grand march, in which several hundred patients take part.
Swimming also occupies an important part of the educational work of the Sanitarium. In addition to the indoor gymnasium there are two enormous outdoor gymnasiums, one for ladies and one for men. These contain each a fine swimming-pool, while nearby are heaps of clean white sand, where one may lounge in the sun; horizontal bars, ladders, swing- ing rings, a running track and various appliances for gymnastie games ; in one corner is an old-fashioned woodyard with logs, crossent saws, sawbneks, wood-saws and sharp axes. Besides the two swimming pools in the outdoor gymnasiums, each of the two bathrooms contains a capa- cious pool, thus giving unlimited facilities for water exercises. For those who can not swim, competent instructors are afforded.
The educational feature of the sanitarium work does not end here. From the very first, owing to the wide range of the curative methods employed, need was felt for especially trained physicians and nurses. This was necessarily true in view of the fact that many of the treat- ments originated at the sanitarium and so could not be included in the work of the ordinary medical school, while on the other hand many of the methods were brought from Europe, and outside of the sanitarium were unknown in this country. Accordingly schools in nursing and medicine were organized.
TRAINING SCHOOL FOR NURSES
First came the Battle Creek Sanitarium and Hospital Training School for Nurses, organized in 1883. This school is not only one of the oldest, but also one of the largest and most thoroughly equipped of any similar institution in the United States. The school has a faculty of thirty teachers, and a curriculumn that covers not only all the ground ordinarily required, but, in addition, the subjects of hydrotherapy, elec- trotherapy, medical dietetics, and other features peculiar to the sanita- rium system. Training is carried forward during the entire year. so that the amount of actual instruction received by the students of this school is more than double that given in most other training-schools. The school gives a post-graduate course of six months' instruction in physiologie methods, while there is a two years' course in nursing for men, the diploma entitling the possessor to registration as a trained nurse. More than one thousand young men and women have received their training in this school.
AMERICAN MEDICAL MISSIONARY COLLEGE
A few years later came the organization of the American Medical Missionary College, incorporated July 3, 1893, under the laws of the State of Illinois. The organization of this college was an expression of the religious ideals which have characterized the sanitarium work from the first, and had for its purpose the attempt to meet the increasing
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demand for medical missionaries. Experience had proved that the highest type of medical training demands a broad education, that can not, in the very nature of the case, be given in the ordinary college. It often happens too, that in many cases young men and women were anxious to devote their lives to medical missionary work, but lacked the necessary means for carrying out their ideals. Ample provision was made whereby cases of this kind could sustain themselves throughout the course. Part of the college work was done at the College Dispens- ary in Chicago, and an able faculty and every facility were maintained for acquiring clinical and practical experiences, the dispensary being located in the stockyards district, where hospital assistance is in much demand.
The work of the college was of the very highest character. Battle Creek graduates have received honors in post-graduate work in many of the foremost American and European universities, and today much of this talent may be found in every part of the world, many graduates being at the head of sanitariums and hospitals, based upon the principles and ideals of the Battle Creek Sanitarium.
Owing to the extremely rapid growth of the sanitarium itself, how- ever, and the rapid development of several new branches of natural ther- apeutics, it seemed necessary to concentrate the energies of the institu- tion upon strictly curative work, and accordingly in the year, 1908, the college was merged with the University of Illinois.
SCHOOL OF HOME ECONOMICS
The necessity for training a large number of cooks, dietitians, and expert hygienic housekeepers for the work of the sanitarium, and to meet the calls, which are constantly being made for dietitians especially trained in the sanitarium methods, led the management to establish the Battle Creek Sanitarium School of Health and Household Economics This school presents in its curriculum all the branches usually taught in the best schools of domestic and household science, besides giving at- tention to the dietetic features which have rendered the sanitarium fam- ous throughout the world in the treatment of digestive and other dis- orders. The school offers a comprehensive one-year's course for matrons and housekeepers of institutions; and a two years' course for dietitians and in addition to these courses the Sanitarium conducts a cooking-school for the benefit of the sanitarium nurses and cooks. These schools are all the outgrowth of a practical cooking school and "experimental kitchen," organized by Mrs. J. H. Kellogg, in the year 1883, upon the researches and findings of which the diet system of the Battle Creek Sanitarium is largely based.
THE NORMAL SCHOOL OF PHYSICAL EDUCATION
The sanitarium has unrivalled facilities for the scientific study of exercises and physical culture, and a Normal School of Physical Educa- tion was organized to make these facilities available to students desiring to carry out a definite course of instruction. The school gives a two-year
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course, and its curriculum not only ineludes every phase of physical education and related sciences, but embraces as well a large group of cultural subjects. The faculty represents the best talent obtainable, and its splendid opportunities for practical gymnasium work makes it one of the most thorough and best equipped schools of this kind in the country.
POST GRADUATE COURSES
Besides the schools which have been enumerated, a number of post- graduate courses are offered. Graduate nurses receive post-graduate instruction in hydrotherapy, electrotherapy and other branches of physio- therapy. A second post-graduate course is offered graduates in domestic science, or home economics. This course gives special attention to di- eteties, a subject which has been carried farther in its development in this institution than in any other place. The course includes an oppor- tunity for actual practical experience as assistants to the regular dieti- tians who are daily required to arrange hundreds of balanced bills of fare or diet prescriptions.
THE HEALTH AND EFFICIENCY LEAGUE, CHAUTAUQUA COURSES, ETC.
Other features of the sanitarium educational campaign are the Health and Efficiency League, and correspondence courses in health and hygiene. This campaign is not confined to Chautauqua platforms, but includes as well the organization of health clubs and health schools by sanitarium experts. The Health and Efficiency League, organized at Chautauqua, New York, includes among its vice-presidents and mem- bers of its central committees, a considerable number of men and women who are well known on both sides of the Atlantic, among others Judge Ben Lindsey, Mrs. Mary F. Henderson, of Washington, Dr. J. N. Hurty, Secretary of the State Board of Health of Indiana, Commandant Ni- black, of the United States Navy, Ex-Governor Van Sant of Minnesota. Gifford Pinchot, Horace Plunket, and others of equal prominenee. The correspondence course embraces a series of prepared courses on food and diet, health exercises, home nursing and other topies of hygiene, home economies, etc., supplemented by suggestions and questions for home study. In addition to seeuring individual students, an organized effort is made to form health elubs in every community, the members of which are to study in groups, and listen to lectures, demonstrations, etc., afforded by the department.
Even the press has been brought into service in behalf of the sanita- rium educational work, and books, traets, pamphlets and periodicals, representing the principles upheld by the sanitarium, are mailed to every part of the world. Among the periodicals are Good Health, the Medical Missionary, and the Battle Creek Idea. Good Health, recognized everywhere as the leading health journal in the world, is issued every month, and is the oldest health magazine in the world. It was, as we have learned, the first product of the Battle Creek health movement. being established several months before the sanitarium itself, and called the Health Reformer. Dr. J. H. Kellogg, the superintendent of the Vol. 1-25
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sanitarium, has been its editor for more than thirty-nine years. It is an attractively written and practical monthly, and has a large popular circulation. The Medical Missionary is a monthly, devoted particularly to the spread of the medical missionary movement backed by the sani- tarium. It is the organ of the Medical Missionary Conference, held at the sanitarium in January of each year. The Battle Creek Idea is a bi-monthly health newspaper, the news organ of the Battle Creek Sani- tarium and its allied interests. It is intended particularly for past and present patients of the sanitarium, and all who wish to keep informed of the progress of the work of the institution.
A PURELY PHILANTHROPIC INSTITUTION
The sanitarium is, by virtue of its constitution and the large number of charities which it conducts, a purely philanthropic institution. Benev-
A CORNER IN ONE OF THE GREENHOUSES
olent work has, indeed, been kept to the front from the very first year of its organization. A reorganization in 1898 incorporated the institu- tion as a philanthropic and charitable institution under the provisions of Act No. 242, of the Public Acts of the State of Michigan. In ac- cordance with the law, and its recognized character as a charity, the sanitarium is exempt from taxation. In a test case brought before the supreme court of the state of Michigan for the purpose of determining the status of the sanitarium and whether it should be required to pay taxes, the decision of the court was in favor of the institution. A still stronger test came immediately after the fire of 1902, when a committee of Battle Creek citizens investigated the books of the sanitarium to de-
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termine whether its work was a sufficiently benevolent character to justify public assistance in the work of rebuilding. The committee found that the sanitarium was conducted on purely philanthropic lines, and gave its opinion in part :
"1. The sanitarium is organized under the provision of Aet No. 242 of the Public Acts of the State of Michigan as a philanthropie and charitable institution.
"2. The articles of association of the Battle Creek Sanitarium, so far as they relate to the question involved in our investigation, provide as follows :
** * The objects of said corporation and other matters germane and auxiliary thereto, are as follows :
" 'To found a hospital or charitable asylum within the state of Mieli- igan for the eare and relief of indigent or other siek or infirm persons, at which institution may be received also patients and patrons who are able to and do pay for the benefits there received; and which institution shall devote the funds and property acquired and received by it from time to time from all sources, exclusively to maintaining itself, improv- ing its conditions and facilities and promoting its purposes, by such sanitary, dietetie, hygienie and philanthropic, humanitarian, charitable. and benevolent, and in no manner directly or indirectly for private profit or dividend paying to any one.
"3. It is therefore clear-
"a. That no profits of the institution can ever accrue or be law- fully paid to any private party or parties whatsoever.
"b. That no funds of the institution ean be lawfully sent outside of the state to build or support other enterprises of any kind.
"c. That any and all revenues of the institution must be devoted to philanthropie and charitable work within the state of Michigan, and to developing and extending the facilities of the institution, and for these purposes only.
"d. That all the property of the institution is held in trust for the above philanthropie and charitable purposes only.
"e. That title to any of the property of the institution can never be passed to any private party or parties whatsoever, but can only be trans- ferred at the expiration of the statutory limit of the corporation to the trustees of another corporation organized for the same purposes and under similar restrictions.
"The revelations made by our investigations have been a surprise to us. Not only were we personally unaware of the wholly philanthropie nature of the institution, under the law, but were also unaware of the vast amount of charitable work performed by it, and the wonderful sacrifices made by the managers and employees generally. There are over eight hundred of these employees-physicians, nurses, helpers, etc.
"The more deeply we have gone into the investigation, the more convincing and overwhelming the proofs have become of the straight- forward management, the lofty purposes, the widespread beneficenee of the institution, and above all, of the personal devotion and wonder-
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ful self-sacrifice of the nearly one thousand persons employed in it, from Doctor Kellogg down to the youngest helper.
"Respectfully submitted, "S. O. BUSH, "I. L. STONE, "GEO E. HOWES, "W. S. POTTER, "NELSON ELDRED, "Committee."
In harmony with the purposes of the sanitarium as outlined by the committee, the sanitarium has expended by far the greater portion of its earnings in charitable disbursements, chiefly for the sick poor- nearly seven hundred thousand dollars out of a total of a million dollars. Part of the building formerly occupied by the Battle Creek College has been fitted up for use as a dispensary. This contains not only com- modions examining offices, but also two complete suites of treatment rooms-for men and for women. Here the poorest patient may receive whatever treatment his case may require, without paying anything, either for treatment, medical attention, or examination, the poorest sufferer receives the same painstaking, careful investigation as that of the wealthiest patient. Connected with the dispensary is what is known as the "food dispensary," where each day great basketfuls of food are dis- tributed to the poor who apply.
HIASKELL HIOME FOR ORPHANS AND DESTITUTE CHILDREN
In 1894 the Haskell Home for Orphans and Destitute Children, an allied charity, the gift of Mrs. Caroline E. Haskell, of Michigan City, Indiana, a friend of the sanitarium, was organized. The Home was housed in a beautiful new building in the western part of the city, with a capacity of more than one hundred children. The founders of the home desired to surround the children with a home atmosphere and eliminate the stiff formalism that is usually associated with an institu- tion of this kind. Accordingly the family was divided into small groups of from ten to twelve children with a "mother" or matron over each group. The idea was constantly born in mind that the home was not intended to be simply a transient home for homeless children, but, instead, a home school, in which homeless boys and girls are given a training and education to fit them for life. A special effort is hence made to render the institution as home-like as possible, and to encourage the children to look upon it as really their home. This ideal has never been lost sight of. The same habits of life which prevail in the sanita- rium, we might add, are cultivated among the children of the home, including diet. This building was destroyed by fire in 1910, but a new and similar institution was immediately erected.
With all these activities, and with all the facilities for the cure of disease which it enjoys, the usefulness of the sanitarium is, it would seem, but beginning. Particularly noticeable is the steady growth in patronage, as shown by the fact that although the number of patients treated had grown from 52 in the year 1866 to 3,869 in 1906, forty years
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later, in the year 1911 the number had reached the enormous figure of 5,035, by far the largest gain of any previous quinquennial period. Al- ready the need of more room has become pressing, especially in the summer months, when the parlors on the various floors are fitted up with beds, and the porches are utilized as outdoor-sleeping rooms; even the roof is converted into sleeping quarters, while a considerable number of guests sleep in tents pitched in a convenient part of the sanitarium grounds. In the year 1911 the sanitarium leased from the National Trade and Workers Association their beautiful five-story stone building, situated two hundred yards from the sanitarium itself. This, added to the capacity of 725 attendanee afforded by the main building, cottages and East Hall, gives a further accommodation for 325 making a total rooming capacity of 1,050 patients. But the relief is only temporary and the growing popularity of the institution will make further arrange- ments necessary at an early date.
The sanitarimm has always taken a keen interest in the welfare of the community. The doors are always open to the public, entertainments, lectures and other exercises being quite as much for the benefit of the city as for the sanitarium itself. Every helper at the sanitarinm is proud of the city in which it resides, and maintains a feeling of genuine loyalty to the spirit of progress, which it represents. The thousands of patients who visit the institution every year, become scareely less attached to the community, many of them remaining with us for months, and their patronage affording a very considerable source of revenue to the merchants of the city.
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