The Board of Trustees inspected the Loma Linda College of Medical Evangelist’s facilities, including its laboratories, library, courses of study, and clinical facilities. They noted its recognition by other medical schools and the Association of American Medical Colleges. They acknowledged its efficient faculty and substantial plans for the future. They then voted to recommend to Seventh-day Adventist young people who anticipated becoming physicians that they attend CME rather than any other institution, “for we believe by so doing that they will be far more efficiently prepared for work in this Great Advent Movement.”
In August 1912, the Board expressed appreciation to the Board of Management of the Glendale Sanitarium for leading out in appropriating five percent of the institution's net gain for the year ending June 30, 1912—the amount to be expended in the building of the new hospital. As the months continued to pass, political realities increasingly demanded that CME build a hospital and clinic which would support the clinical education of its student physicians. These “absolute needs” punctuated the Board minutes for November 9, 1912: “The College has come to the time when it is conducting work in the first two clinical years of the course. Two very essential features of a medical college are a clinical hospital and a dispensary [outpatient clinic].
The law of the medical associations requires that a hospital and dispensary be connected with each college that graduates physicians. Many of the states of the union require that students presenting themselves for examination before state boards shall have been graduated from colleges having such facilities, and excluding from such examinations all who have been graduated from colleges not possessing these facilities. The least hospital facilities that will satisfy the requirements for a medical college is the entire hospital as planned for this college, including an administration and clinic building, and the two wings for ward and private patients, together with a dispensary in one of the nearby towns. The consideration of these absolute needs of the College confronted the Board and much earnest thought was given to the possibility of providing these facilities at the earliest possible moment.”
As the Board agonized over this most critical need and the lack of available capital, the strong spiritual foundation of the institution became evident. Words expressed in the Board minutes under the subtitle "Prayer Session," illustrate their spiritual insight and faith: “In view of the great needs of the College in the way of means for carrying on its work of furnishing adequate facilities for conducting a strong medical course, the Board spent the entire session in earnest prayer for continued guidance in this enterprise, and for means with which to push the work of constructing a hospital. In this prayer session all took part and a precious season was enjoyed together.”
The need for clinical facilities continued to weigh heavily on the Board, and motivated creative ideas. On November 11, 1912, Board members voted to prepare a series of three or more articles in the Review [the church paper], to appeal for means to construct the new hospital. Compounding their challenge, $25,000 of the appropriations pledged by the various conferences had not yet materialized. The Board voted to correspond with the conference presidents to arrange a systematic effort to raise the money by appointing a Loma Linda Day to raise the funds.
In response to the urgency of the moment, and in order to start construction on the proposed hospital as soon as possible, the Board asked Pastors Irwin and Burden to at once visit individuals of financial ability and urge them to make large gifts “that this work may proceed immediately.” They also decided to prepare literature and appeals to be used in soliciting means for the construction of the hospital.
On December 4, 1912, when funds failed to materialize, CME suspended all improvements, except a few very urgent ones. Fiscal responsibility prevailed. The Board did not feel free to proceed with construction until the means were in hand, or in such a condition of certainty that there could be no reasonable question of failure. With considerable anxiety the Board stated: “We recognize that this is a very hazardous thing to do for the interest of our College, being it is time now when the Hospital should be at the present time in use for the good of the College. This step is liable to place our College in a class that will work great harm to our school, but the Board felt that until further means is in hands we cannot go further.”
To be continued…