Health and Temperance Department (GC)

The department of the General Conference that, with its director, associate directors, and staff, fosters, counsels, evaluates, maintains close contact with, and aids Seventh-day Adventist medical work and institutions throughout the world, promoting temperance and health education in churches, schools, and to the public, and encouraging higher levels of health and well-being. History of Health Department — The Forerunner of the Department . The earliest organization sponsored by Seventh-day Adventists for the overall guidance of the denomination’s medical work was the Seventh-day Adventist Medical Missionary and Benevolent Association (later the International Medical Missionary and Benevolent Association). This organization was incorporated in 1893, with J. H. Kellogg, M.D., as president, A. J. Read as secretary, and H. J. Rand as treasurer. Unlike the present department, this association was both a property-holding organization and an administrative organization, intended originally for the control and oversight of all SDA medical institutions. Under the leadership of Kellogg, the Benevolent Association was active in the establishment of medical institutions in North America and, to a lesser extent, overseas. Later an attempt of the General Conference to bring this more or less independent body into closer denominational control resulted in the withdrawal of the association from its denominational connection. Of the major medical institutions affected by this withdrawal, only the Battle Creek Sanitarium was permanently removed from denominational control. Medical Department Organized . Profiting by its experience with the strong International Medical Missionary and Benevolent Association, the General Conference proceeded, in its 1905 session, to organize a medical department within the General Conference. In the eighteenth meeting of the 1905 General Conference session, held May 22, W. A. George, M.D., was elected chair and J. E. Froom, M.D., secretary and executive officer, and the department was named the Medical Missionary Department (or Council) of the General Conference. The department name was later changed to the Medical Department of the General Conference, and in the late sixties the name was changed to Health Department. In 1980 it was voted to combine the departments of Health and Temperance. Administrative Changes: Administrative function is shown by changes that occurred in the department through the years. In 1920 Franke Cobban was added to the staff for the direction of nursing education and service. In 1934 a secretary on medical placement was established and largely functioned at Loma Linda to more effectively encourage distribution of its graduates. In 1946 J. Wayne McFarland, M.D., was added as secretary of health and medical evangelism. Joyce Wilson (now Hopp) was added to the staff in 1956 to serve the department in the areas of health education and school health. To strengthen overseas recruitment and placement, E. E. Randolph was called as a new associate secretary in 1958. Also in 1958 Harley Rice was added to provide hospital administration expertise to the staff, and Eldon E. Carman, D.D.S., added dental expertise in 1971. The 1950s and 1960s were years of major transition from closed-staff denominational sanitariums to open-staff community hospitals. By the mid-1970s the church in North America had formed five regional organizations to manage its health-care work. In 1982 a national organization, the Adventist Health Systems/U.S.A. was formed, separate from the Health Department, but in 1991 this was reversed, and the coordinating function for all health-care work was moved back to the Health and Temperance Department. In 1993 the church’s health-care work in North America was operated by nine regional health-care corporations. Other concurrent trends have also been seen in the health work of the church. The 1970s saw a much stronger emphasis placed on public health and health education/health evangelism. In the 1980s, however, a strong trend toward consolidation of departments and decreasing the size of the Health Department became evident. Since 1985 the total staff of Health and Temperance decreased from 37 to 10. Despite this downsizing, however, the department continues to serve an important function in such areas as AIDS awareness, drug treatment and prevention, and helping to develop for the church consensus papers on such ethical issues as abortion. The Christian View of Human Life Committee, chaired by the Health and Temperance Department director, has been particularly active and has published consensus statements in the Adventist Review and Ministry magazines. Recognizing the importance of looking at alternatives to traditional medical care and the need to adapt to changing times, the department convened on June 19–23, 1993, in Silver Spring, Maryland, a major conference of representatives from around the world. Entitled Health 2000 and Beyond: A Study Conference on Adventist Theology, Philosophy, and Practice of Health and Healing, the proceedings have been published by the department, and recommendations for strengthening the impact on the SDA health program have been formulated. Areas of Concern and Responsibility. The Department of Health and Temperance, at all levels of church organization, currently: 1. Serves as a resource for information and counsel on health and temperance affairs. 2. Advises the church and its departments and related agencies, in the development and administration of health- and/or temperance-related policies and programs. 3. Promotes a healthful lifestyle among church members through literature, programs, and Sabbath services. 4. Provides, through publications, services, and programs, an ongoing witness to the world concerning the detrimental physical, mental, and spiritual effects of tobacco, alcohol, and other harmful substances. 5. Sponsors and/or organizes societies to effectively involve church and nonchurch organizations in united endeavors to promote the nonuse of tobacco, alcohol, and other harmful substances. 6. Encourages involvement in the evangelistic thrust of the church by developing and using health and temperance programs and media that will gain the trust and confidence of people. 7. Provides support of Seventh-day Adventist health-care institutions, clinics, and health/temperance programs at each level of church organization. This is done through memberships on boards, inspections, assistance in recruiting personnel, cooperation with community programs, and support for spiritual ministries, including the work of chaplains. 8. Maintains liaison with Seventh-day Adventist health personnel-related organizations such as dentists, dietitians, nurses, optometrists, and physicians. 9. Promotes and/or sponsors health and temperance seminars and workshops. 10. Develops and/or catalogs resource material for health and temperance education and programs. Secretaries/Directors: W. A. George, M.D. (chair), 1905–1909; W. A. Ruble, M.D. (secretary), 1909–1910; D. H. Kress, M.D., 1910–1911; George Thomason, M.D., 1912; W. A. Ruble, M.D. (secretary), 1913; L. A. Hansen (nurse, assistant secretary), 1913; W. A. Ruble, M.D. (secretary), 1919; L. A. Hansen (nurse, assistant secretary), 1919–1922; A. W. Truman, M.D., 1922–1926; L. A. Hansen, C. E. Rice (assistants), 1926–1928; A. W. Truman, M.D., 1928–1936; H. M. Walton, M.D., 1937–1946; T. R. Flaiz, M.D., 1946–1966; R. F. Waddell, M.D., 1966–1975; E. A. Crawford, M.D., 1975–1976; Samuel L. DeShay, M.D., 1976–1980; Mervyn G. Hardinge, M.D., 1980–1985; G. Gordon Hadley, M.D., 1985–1990; Albert S. Whiting, M.D., 1990– .