By Dennis E. Park, MA, ’07-hon, Consulting Historian
The early days of the College of Medical Evangelists (CME) were very dark, with little hope that the “one-horse medical school”1 would succeed. Nevertheless, “Students came, and stayed, even though they had little status offered them. They were taught by highly motivated teachers, some of whom were graduates of American Medical Missionary College (AMMC), and they studied with do-or-die enthusiasm.”2 To fulfill the need for qualified faculty, a few Seventh-day Adventist (SDA) physicians who were graduates of other medical schools were carefully recruited. In addition, the college leadership made note of the medical students who demonstrated keen intellect and leadership potential. It was their desire to groom those students, should they be interested, toward faculty and administrative roles.
One such recruit was Arthur N. Donaldson ’15 who was asked to join the faculty to head the physiology department and serve on the staff at the sanitarium. His tenure at the struggling college, 1915–1927, was during a pivotal juncture in CME’s history. Dr. Donaldson accepted his responsibilities with enthusiasm and was not timid in speaking his mind. As an author and editor, he employed a sharp pen. As a speaker, he held the brethren accountable. As a researcher, he led by example by being the first CME alumnus published in the prestigious Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA).
Dr. Donaldson was a dedicated proponent of research. His first JAMA article was titled, “Simplified Apparatus for Obtaining Arteriograms.” It should be noted that this article appeared just one year after CME received a “B” rating. Through the late 1920s he goaded Loma Linda leadership to fall in line with the more progressive medical schools that recognized the importance of research.3 In 1922, several months before CME received the coveted “A” rating, Dr. Donaldson’s research paper debunking one of J. H. Kellogg’s pet ideas on the cause and remedies of constipation was published in the March 25, 1922, issue of JAMA. The paper was titled, “Relation of Constipation to Intestinal Intoxication.” 4
Donaldson took the editorial reins of the Medical Evangelist a Journal Devoted to the Promulgation of Health Reform Principles (ME) in 1919, a role he held until 1922. He was tasked with reviving the periodical after a lapse in its publication schedule. The ME was published first by the College of Evangelists beginning in 1908, then by the CME, and finally, by Loma Linda University. The final issue was published in 1962. During his tenure as editor, Dr. Donaldson favored a sharp pen, and was not shy in using it PRN. From “Call for Reform in Medical Practice,” to, “Flesh Diets Condemned,” his articles voiced his passion for pushing CME forward.
From the archives of the university, we can glean from minutes and other papers that Dr. Donaldson was a visionary; he thought outside the box. In one ME editorial, “A Hope for the Future,” he outlined his ideas for real medical evangelism, which may sound somewhat familiar today:
Instead of pills and tinctures, a well-appointed treatment room with tactful attendants administer to ambulatory cases, and available nurses carry the same healing art into the home. The medical workers are community educators and their services have a prominent place in every evangelical effort put forth… This sort of a program is worth thinking about… Who will pioneer the way? 5
Arthur N. Donaldson ’15 (in black suit) instructs medical students. His son, A. Norton Donaldson ’43 (third from left), stands behind him, looking over his shoulder.
He was just as direct with his words as he was with his pen. During his 1926 medical director’s report before the Loma Linda constituency, he made several incisive comments about the inequities of the sanitarium and hospital having to continuously bail out the medical school. He bluntly asked,
Why should this sanitarium and hospital be picked out to play Santa Claus to a denominational school to the extent that each year it [the sanitarium and hospital] faces a deficit, and is compelled to crawl up to the powers and beg for money for facilities that it could well provide for itself, were it not for the present policy? … We think we have been, and are, quite an asset to the denomination, and deserving a lot of consideration. For instance, every dime we have made has gone into the education of doctors for general denominational consumption, and the denomination is getting a lot of them—all it asks for … This institution helped pay the bill that makes it possible for them to return big money to the cause…” 6
Dialing back the tenor, he continued by acknowledging the Lord’s blessing on the institution.
The Lord has been good to us and has abundantly blessed our plans and efforts. For our successes we give Him our heartfelt thanks and credit, realizing full well that this is His institution, His work, and we His servants, grateful for the opportunity to serve as medical missionaries in this station. 7
Then, Dr. Donaldson extolled the college’s steady growth, again reiterating that the patient clientele was shifting toward the sick and suffering. In the next breath, he bluntly stated what others in the room might have been thinking, but were too afraid to say in such a forum: “The boarders, the idle rich, and the tourists have gone, and for this we are thankful.” 8 Then he again ratcheted up his rhetoric,
We have more sick patients in this institution today than at any time in its history, and with a more rapid turnover as indicated by the decrease in length of stay: 1924–25, 21 days; 1925–26, 17 days. … Instead of catering to the whims of money, we are enjoying the scores of interesting cases that come to us to learn the secret of living better. … This class is furthermore, much more profitable than the rest-cure crowd. It simply means that more service is demanded by the sick patient, and the various divisions of the medical department are being built up by the demand, the institution as well as the patient profiting thereby.9
What was the response to Dr. Donaldson’s constituency report? Apparently, it worked. The institution began shifting away from the “rest-cure” clientele and toward the acutely ill. This change in patient care anticipated by Dr. Donaldson was also one that other similar institutions throughout the country were beginning to understand and implement. To implement this new shift, the new college needed to expand its patient care facilities.
Dr. Donaldson’s fervent plea evidently had a therapeutic effect, for by the end of that decade there appeared on the crest of the hill a beautiful new Spanish-style structure which combined features of sanitarium and hospital. The bed capacity of the new structure was 50 percent greater than that of the former facilities. 10
By 1927, Dr. Donaldson decided he had given back all he could to CME. He and Charles R. Campbell ’17, along with their wives Orpha S. Donaldson ’15, and Lenore Dill Campbell ’17, moved to San Jose, California, where they set up practice and a clinic in nearby Mountain View. From San Jose, the Donaldson family headed south to Long Beach. After taking postgraduate work at Yale, Dr. Donaldson entered practice at the well-known Harriman Jones Clinic (HJC), where he also served as clinic director. Choosing to leave HJC, he set up a practice in Santa Ana, California, where he practiced until his death on Dec. 16, 1945.
The Donaldson family roots to the School of Medicine run deep. Following medical school, sons A. Norton Donaldson ’43 and Clarence M. Donaldson ’44-B joined their father’s practice in Santa Ana. The familial legacy continued with the brothers’ sister, Doris, marrying Franz H. Siemsen ’51 and their grandson, Kevin J. Schultz ’09, now practices obstetrics and gynecology. Grandson Arthur N. Donaldson ’70 (son of A. Norton Donaldson) is a retired ophthalmologist. Sons of Clarence M. Donaldson, James S. Donaldson ’78-B is a semi-retired radiologist and Thomas K. Donaldson ’84 is an orthopedist and the current chair of the department at Loma Linda University Health—continuing generations of Donaldson heritage in the institution.
For his exceptional contributions during the formative years of the college, Dr. Arthur Norton Donaldson must be remembered as one of the giants who contributed to steering a once failing college into a world-renowned institution known today as Loma Linda University Health.
Endnotes
- Utt, Richard. “The Attempt and Not the Deed Confound Us.” From Vision To Reality, Loma Linda University Press, Loma Linda, California, 1980, p. 35.
- LLU Archives—cited in Diamond Memories, 1984, p. 39.
- Ibid, p. 171.
- “Relation of Constipation to Intestinal Intoxication.” JAMA, March, 25, 1922, vol. 78, no.12, p. 884–888.
- Arthur N. Donaldson ’15, Medical Evangelist, March 1921, vol. 7, no. 5, .p. 17.
- LLU Archives—cited in Diamond Memories, 1984, p. 22.
- Ibid.
- Ibid.
- Ibid.
- Ibid.
- Loma Linda University Digital Archive: “College of Medical Evangelists, School of Medicine, Class of 1914 and 1915.”
Mr. Park is the consulting historian for the JOURNAL and former executive director of the Alumni Association. He produces www.docuvision2020.com and is the author of “The Mound City Chronicles: A Pictorial History of Loma Linda University 1905–2005.”