Impressions of the Manila Sanitarium, 1932

http://docs.adventistarchives.org/docs/FEDO/FEDO19321201-V21-12__B.pdf#view=fit

FED Outlook, Vol 21, No 12, Dec 1932, p 6.

Impressions of the Manila Sanitarium

(Where Health and Happiness are Contagious)

By J. H. McEACHERN

Where was it that I heard it said?
"No patients to the grave are led."
Was it in heaven? So strange it seems,
Did I dream it in my dreams?

Ah! No, it is no fairy tale,
The sick get well and never fail,
Where Doctor Hall, with staff so rare,
Defeats disease by skill and prayer.

The place is in the Isle Luzon,
Where tribes and nations all do come;
Where Dewey sank the Spanish fleet,
And set "Old Glory" waving sweet.

And would you know the secret here,
Of health and wealth and all good cheer?
It's not the medicine that heals;
The hand of God is in the wheels.

Nor is the power alone Divine;
God works through skill of human mind.
The surgeon's knife when deftly held,
Sin's growths removes and tissues weld.

But more than all, the spirit counts,
Where faith and love grim fear dismounts,
The cells revive, new life begins,
The soul is washed from stain of sins.

For where is spot so near like heaven,
Where nurses' singing starts at seven?
The angels seem to hover 'round
Each patient's pillow, at the sound.

Again I say, this is no dream,
For I a patient here have been.
In all my jaunts o'er land and sea
No kinder nurses did I see.
  

Nor are they here to dig for gold;
The poor are welcome in the fold.
The rich, of course, are glad to pay,
But never a need is turned away.

No questions asked about the creed;
The place was built for human need.
A welcome to all people here,
From lands afar or islands near.

And may the day be hastened on,
When graduates from here will swarm,
And start health centers through the land,
Supervised by Doctor's hand.

(Written November 11, 1932, while convalescing from an operation in the Manila Sanitarium.)