History of Women in Adventist Medical Missions

 It is always awesome to see what women have achieved despite all the roadblocks that were placed on their way. On May 8, in the series of meetings focusing on 150 years of Adventist Missions, the Women’s Ministries group in Tübingen (Germany) looked at women who pioneered in the medical professions in the early times of the Seventh-day Adventist church. It was interesting to see that the first sanatorium was established only three years after the church's founding and that the first doctor at the Western Health Reform Institute (1866) was a woman. This doctor, Phebe Lamson, was convinced that healthy food, simple dress, pure water, clean air, rest and exercise, sunshine, a happy disposition are the basis for good health and that almost everything can be cured or alleviated with hydrotherapy. This sounds very much like the NEWSTART program the church is using today to propagate healthy living.

As the church spread to other areas and continents, health work was always at the forefront, and many women trained as doctors and were sent out to start new health institutions. Women like Kate Lindsay, Mary Britton, Lauretta Kress, Nettie Keller, and Lottie Blake were outstanding women of faith, courage, and perseverance, who gave their all to serve the Lord and the church they loved. Others, like Mrs. Ella Kellogg, a specialist in dietetics, and Maria Haseneder, a Swiss missionary nurse, did the same in their fields of action. Another doctor, Emmy Behn of Germany, has long been overlooked although she was the first Adventist medical doctor in Europe, having studied at Battle Creek and at the Women’s Medical College of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, graduating in 1908 with a degree as a medical doctor.
All these achievements were put into the context of the world situation of their time. Considering the historical backdrop and the development of knowledge, new discoveries and general advancement, the biographies of these women were even more astounding. This information was presented as a board game, with the participants looking out for various events, characteristics or connections in the lives of the women considered. At the end, the overview sheet was covered with spots marking the qualities of the women, making the information visible and awe-inspiring. Although long gone, these women are still an inspiration to us today.