On November 25, 1915, the Loma Linda College of Medical Evangelists (CME) Board officially voted to ask Percy T. Magan, MD (after whom the Loma Linda University administration building is named), to join the faculty and to direct CME’s educational program in Los Angeles. Magan, an astute educator, had matured through hardship and sacrifice. The orator could instill confidence in members of the church constituency. However, because of a lack of funds, CME invited Magan to join its faculty under the condition that he raise his own salary—$23 per week. Because of Magan’s passionate loyalty to the denomination, he officially accepted the invitation, even though he had medical school debts to pay and had begun a successful practice in Nashville, Tennessee, in addition to his educational responsibilities at Madison. The Board also voted: “That the Chair appoint a committee of five to furnish the sisters, who are planning to raise the funds with which to build a hospital and [outpatient] dispensary in Los Angeles, information regarding the need, object, etc., of the buildings in order that they may work intelligently in soliciting the funds, and to assist in the raising of the funds. Carried.”
Also on November 25, 1915, Newton G. Evans, MD, introduced the possibility of conducting both of the clinical years of the medical course in Los Angeles instead of the last year only. A comprehensive discussion ensued. In light of potential accreditation they: “Voted, That, after sufficient investigation, if it is found to be absolutely necessary to conduct the last two years in Los Angeles in order to secure the proper rating of the school, the Faculty be authorized to make this arrangement.”
The Council on Medical Education of the American Medical Association inspected CME on December 12, 1915. Inconceivably, from the institution's perspective, CME retained its class "C" rating. The report, painful to read even today, not only provides a perspective of the accreditation concerns of the era, and the lack of consideration for the denomination’s interests and priorities, but also provides a time capsule from which to measure the institution’s subsequent successes. “This college has made some improvements in the laboratory portion of the school since the last previous inspection. The department of anatomy…has now been temporarily placed in charge of Dr. Charles W. Harrison, who was formerly connected with the department of chemistry. Dr. Harrison appears to have had no special training for the teaching of anatomy. (This comment is especially interesting in light of the major contribution Dr. Harrison, Class of 1915, eventually made with his legendary dissections in the teaching of anatomy at CME and Loma Linda University.) …The library and museum represent merely a beginning of what is necessary before they can be considered satisfactory teaching adjuncts. The equipment for physiology has been improved by the addition of about 20 Nystrom’s charts, which are said to have cost four dollars each.
“The college obtains a few post-mortems at Loma Linda and at San Bernardino, which are performed by Dr. [Newton] Evans, a pathologist. They are still too few in number, however, and the control of the material is not sufficient to permit satisfactory teaching in this direction or the proper development of the medical museum….
“It was claimed that there are ten full-time teachers, and that the total expense for salary amounts to $15,368. This sum, however, includes expenses for janitor service and other help about the institution. One of the full-time teachers receives $1,200 per year; four receive a salary of $1,100 each, and one receives $1,000. (Salaries for four not given.)
“The college building and the apparatus are comparatively new and in excellent condition and this portion of the school presents an atmosphere of serious and dignified work.
“This school could undoubtedly be given a higher rating than it at present has if it undertook to do no more than the work of the first two years. Unfortunately, the institution continues to offer the complete four-year medical course, although the clinical departments are not properly manned…. The San Bernardino Hospital is too far distant and on no direct line of action. A new building is now being planned but it is to be placed several miles out of the city, which will prevent its ever becoming a satisfactory teaching hospital. The dispensary at Los Angeles is located at 941 East First Street, in a part of the city remote from the City and County Hospital. It has an average daily attendance of about 30 to 35 patients….
“The institution is at present considering the possibility of erecting a 50-bed [hospital] near its dispensary in Los Angeles. If the institution is bound to continue the teaching of clinical medicine, this is a move in the right direction, although it is only a beginning of what will eventually be required before the school could ever expect to be included among the first class institutions.
“From the beginning officers of this school have gone ahead in their organization and in their teaching with a full knowledge of the difficulties they are facing…. The financial question in this school appears to be the least of its problems. The institution appears to have no difficulty in obtaining money whenever it is needed. If they determine to erect this 50-bed hospital at Los Angeles, there is no doubt that the money will become available.… Until this is done, however, a higher rating for the institution cannot be recommended.”
This report which documents some of CME’s early growing pains, caused major discouragement in Loma Linda. However, administrators accepted it as a challenge and, thankful that the school had not been closed, mounted an appropriate response.
To be continued….