Celebrating 100 Years of Whole Person Health
It’s our 100th Anniversary. It’s about our history. It’s about our vision of health care. It’s about celebrating both; to honor our past, reaffirm our beliefs and build on both to sustain a health care philosophy and institution that will carry our mission of healing forward into the 22nd century.
The original Washington Sanitarium or “the San” was founded on the concept of whole person care, treating not just a person’s body but also their mind and spirit. This has been the guiding principle for our first 100 years. And now, as we embark on our second 100 years, whole person care remains the core of our mission. And it reveals itself in ways that our founders could not have imagined but if they could see what has been accomplished and what is planned they would undoubtedly approve of Washington Adventist Hospital’s stewardship of our calling.
In June 1907 The Washington Post writes, "A few devoted reformers, believing that the wrong habits of the people were responsible for the rapid increase of crime and disease, propose to open an institution where the sick can be treated rationally by the employment of the simple agencies of nature…water, air….massage and pure food." "The San"
officially opens June 13, 1907 at 3pm. It had rooms for 40 patients and a staff of 12. This date also marks the opening of the adjacent School of Nursing whose graduates will provide important contributions through the years to "San’s" excellence in medical care.
This emphasis on whole person care, shaped by Seventh-day Adventist beliefs, is evident throughout every chapter of the hospital’s existence. The Sanitarium, which is officially renamed Washington Hospital and Sanitarium in 1918, regularly finds itself in the vanguard of health issues. Noteworthy among these is Dr. Henry Miller’s research into the nutritional benefits of soybeans. Today, soybeans are a common food ingredient and provide a healthy alternative to meat.
Dr. Lauretta Kress, wife of our first superintendent, was another groundbreaker in our history. She was Montgomery County’s first female physician and established the region’s first maternity ward, Kress Maternity and Children’s Hospital, at the Sanitarium in 1916. In her long and distinguished career, Dr. Kress delivered over 5,000 babies.
Dr. Kress was also active in lectures and writings against smoking including a 1934 warning to expectant mothers to avoid cigarettes in the interest of good, prenatal care. The movement to help people stop smoking found one of its staunchest advocates in Dr. J.W. McFarland. In 1960, 3 years before the Surgeon General issued the landmark study
linking cigarette smoking to a host of ailments and diseases, Dr. McFarland developed a program that helped people quit in a mere 5 days. Additionally, he worked with the Montgomery County School Board to campaign against students’ use of cigarettes.
Growing clinical excellence highlights Washington Adventist Hospital’s expanding influence and reputation as a premier healthcare center. We’re a leader in behavioral health care and in 1961 became the first hospital in Montgomery County to admit and care for psychiatric patients. And responding to a three-fold increase in emergency room care, from 6,000 patients in 1950 to 25,000 in 1965, we opened a new and vastly expanded emergency room in 1966.
We were the first suburban Washington hospital to offer comprehensive cardiac careand over the years have achieved many notable regional, national and world-wide firsts including the region’s first open heart surgery.
The need for innovative post-cancer treatment leads to the creation of the Cancer Navigator in 2006. The Navigator is a professional nurse who assumes the role of a personal guide and advocate for cancer patients and those who are concerned about cancer.
Then there’s the new Adventist HealthCare Center on Health Disparities, established in 2006. The center is a direct
result of community outreach efforts that are the center of our Vision for Expanded Access. The Center’s mission is to develop a locally-driven approach addressing and eliminating health disparities in all communities.
Washington Adventist Hospital, on our 100th Anniversary, honors all the people whose contributions of time, effort and money over this span propelled this institution to a position of being a vital community resource.
We enter the second 100 years guided by faith, devotion and service; confident that on our 200th Anniversary, people
will look back at this moment and think, "well done, good and faithful servant."