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Protocol Presentation
Published by Martha R. Jones Foundation for Health Education, author unknown, undated.
* * *
Introduction:
The world-famed British researcher, Sir Robert McCarrison, M.D.–knighted for his studies in nutritional diseases in India–said: “Through a change in the make-up of the diet, it is possible, experimentally, to produce at will, in animals, any stage of health–good, bad or indifferent.” Said the famed American nutritionist, the late Tom Spied, M.D., “Our chief medical adversary is a disturbance in the inner balance of the constituents of our tissue cells which are built from the air we breathe, the water we drink and the food we eat.”
Historical:
In many parts of the world there are mass demonstrations of the physical degeneration of whole populations that had no change in their air or water, but experienced radical changes in their diets–foregoing their own home grown native foods in favor of the imported varieties of their visitors. This was striking in Hawaii.
Captain Cooke, who discovered the islands in 1776, estimated the native population to be 400,000. The people were large in stature, and rated second to none in physical fitness. Broad dental arches with full complements of beautifully aligned, decay-free teeth were universal at all ages. In 1928, the picture had changed dramatically. The population consisted of many racial groups with only 20,000 pure-blooded Hawaiians. Taro, sweet potato and sugar cane for eating–food staples of the native people for untold centuries–had become practically nonexistent, and white rice, white bread and white sugar now constituted the bulk of the islanders diet. The “common cold” and tooth decay were practically universal. Babies of the laboring population, especially, were born with defective teeth which commonly disintegrated as they erupted. The infant death-rate was staggering.
Preparation:
After years of study at Peabody College for Teachers, Nashville, Tennessee, and at Vanderbilt and Yale Universities (Ph.D. degree in physiological chemistry); followed by 7½ years of research in nutritional diseases in babies and experimental animals in the Department of Pediatrics of the University of California Medical School, San Francisco, Dr. Martha R. Jones sought the opportunity for further study in Hawaii. Finding conditions in the islands in complete agreement with experimental findings, she proposed to prove her thesis that a return to native foods would solve the distressing health-dental state of the laboring population. Permission to conduct an infant feeding clinic in an isolated village of Filipino laborers was granted by a plantation manager–provided, he said, “it would cost the plantation company EXACTLY NOTHING.”
Pipeline Village Experiment:
About 100 Filipino families constituted Pipeline Village. They were new-comers to Hawaii, the oldest resident having been there about six years. They were a sturdy people. Most of them had full complements of decay-free teeth. Notwithstanding heritages of untold generations of sound teeth, breast-fed babies of Pipeline mothers already had odontoclasia (disintegration of enamel). One in three born died before its first birthday. Two months of persistent effort netted a single enrollee in the infant feeding clinic–a feeble, breast-fed, nine month old baby whose newly erupted central incisors were already disintegrating. He was the fifth baby born to his parents since their arrival in Hawaii. The first four had died. Fear prompted the distraught mother to let her baby eat the food the clinic wanted to provide. He LIVED and THROVE and ODONTOCLASIA WAS ARRESTED! Soon there were 33 enrollees in the infant feeding clinic. NONE DIED.
Ewa Plantation Health Project:
So spectacular was the success of the Pipeline Village experiment during the 16 months of its existence that opposition to it changed “over night” into enthusiasm, and it was sponsored, financed, staffed and extended to cover the entire plantation of some 4500 people of various races. Four “Health Centers” were established at convenient locations for babies to be brought once daily and fed under supervision. Food for other feedings was taken home by the mother. Physical check-ups were made every two weeks. As in Pipeline Village, sickly babies became healthy huskies, odontoclasia was arrested and a towering infant death-rate tobogganed to ZERO. A “Flu” epidemic which swept the plantation completely by-passed clinic-fed babies. Peak enrollment in the clinic (part pay basis) reached 320 children from birth to three years of age with 180 “graduates” from three to five. The latter were given a noon-day meal, only, in the kindergarten.
Morale: A gratifying by-product of the clinic was a marked improvement in the morale of the plantation workers. Language difficulties were overcome. Traditional enemies (different tribes of Filipinos who spoke different dialects) and “warring” neighbors became friends as day after day they sat beside each other at the health center tables, feeding and admiring their fine babies.
Public recognition: The Ewa Health Project became an attraction for hundreds of tourists and others traveling between the U.S. mainland and the Orient, and a mecca for doctors, dentists, social workers, civic and other groups interested in human welfare. In an incredibly short time Hawaii’s infant death rate dropped from the highest to the lowest in the United States. Ewa’s health record was acclaimed “the best in the world.” Reports on findings were made by Dr. Jones and associates in medical, dental and scientific journals as data accrued.
Today’s Health:
Vital statistics since World War I have shown a progressive deterioration in our national health. As early as the Korean conflict, autopsies on 300 American GI battle casualties (average age 22 years) revealed advanced coronary artery disease in almost 78 per cent of them. In striking contrast, the 300 Korean casualties studied had NORMAL coronaries. In a recent study in Boston, arteriosclerosis was found to be universal. Today, the question is not WHO HAS hardened arteries, but HOW HARD are they. A generation ago, cancer in children was a medical rarity. Today, it is the principal cause of death from disease of children under fourteen years of age. Babies are born with it. The American Cancer Society predicts that 45,000,000 Americans now living will have it.
The ever increasing physical, mental, moral and spiritual decadence of our youth–five of each seven examined were DISQUALIFIED for U. S. Army service; eleven of each twelve, for U. S. Marine Corps, according to recent report–arouses grave concern for the survival of our nation. Among adults, leaders in the prime of life and at the peak of their usefulness seem to be hardest hit–sudden death or physical disability which cuts short their careers. The losses entailed by physical breakdown at home and in the mission field of dedicated, highly trained men and women is also of grave concern–prompting, at Asbury Theological Seminary, a new dimension in Christian training–health education.
The Martha R. Jones Foundation for Health Education was established at Asbury Theological Seminary, Wilmore, Kentucky, on April 25, 1961. A “Foundation” was decided upon by the Executive Committee of the Seminary’s Board of Trustees for the purpose of soliciting, independently, the necessary funds for the development of the health education program envisioned–a program patterned on that which had proven so successful in Hawaii. On April 11, 1963, it was voted by the Seminary’s Executive Committee that the project would not be started until:
1st year operating budget is secured by cash in hand;
2nd and 3rd years operating budget is secured by cash or signed pledges.
About Asbury:
Asbury Theological Seminary is an international, interdenominational, interracial, fully accredited, graduate School located in Wilmore, Kentucky, a small town some 16 miles south of Lexington in the heart of Kentucky’s famed bluegrass area. Her graduates are presently serving in 43 countries and 49 states. Her students are mature men and women representing many Protestant denominations, colleges and professions from foreign countries, as well as the United States. All are imbued with a sense of mission in life and have come to Asbury for three years of Bible study and ministerial training. A large percentage of them are married men with families resident on the campus. These include expectant mothers, new babies and children of all ages. Because of the wide age range of the seminary “family”; the closeness of the student-body in religious beliefs and purposes in life; their voluntary banning of cigarettes and alcoholic beverages, and the School’s world outreach, Asbury affords a rare opportunity for a health demonstration, and for the development of a pattern for health education which may be adapted to conditions, anywhere.
Purpose of Asbury’s Health Education Program:
- To give students, especially missionaries going to underdeveloped areas of the world, a working knowledge of food values and laws that govern them.
- To teach by demonstration the relationship between good soil, good food, good health, good friends and good Christians.
- To make a pattern for health education which could be adapted to conditions anywhere in the world.
Procedure:
- Physical fitness clinic: As complete an examination as possible–using the latest approved techniques–to determine the true health status (physical, mental, emotional) of the “Seminary family.” As a group, it is representative of a cross section of so-called HEALTHY Americans with a higher than average health rating having passed “physicals” required for college entrance. Findings will provide incontrovertible evidence of the true state of our national health, as well as form a baseline for comparison with repeat observations subsequent to dietary changes.
Space for the clinic has been reserved in Asbury’s new School of Missions building which will be ready for occupancy in September, 1963. E. Cheraskin, M.D., D.M.D., a scientist of renown and unquestioned ability and dedication, has agreed to direct the Physical Fitness Clinic, and to make available to it the extensive laboratory, technical and library facilities at his disposal. - Health Center: Establishment of a community-type Health Center. This will require a specially designed building equipped to provide day care for 25 nursery school and 75 kindergarteners–the youngest age group in the “Seminary family.” A centrally located area in the new student-family housing development has been reserved for the Health Center building and grounds. It is planned that the mothers of the children will serve part-time, for pay, under professional supervision. Emphasis will be placed on the WHOLE CHILD and effort made to develop and give positive direction to latent talents the children may possess. Also, to develop in each a sense of “belonging” and group responsibility. With their preschool children cared for, many student-wives could be gainfully employed.
- Family-type demonstration farm:
- To teach the “HOWS and WHYS” of living soil and its relation to plant, animal and human health.
- To provide top quality, poison-free food for the “Seminary family.”
Farming techniques applicable to underdeveloped areas of the world where Asbury graduates may serve will be emphasized.
Classroom Instruction:
- A course in nutrition in its broadest aspects (required)
- A seminar for those interested.
The Martha R. Jones Lectureship in Nutrition:
An annual lectureship in nutrition for the “Seminary family” and public was initiated April 12, 1961. Three series of lectures have been given to date by outstanding leaders in this field.
The Master Plan:
It is planned that the Asbury Health Education Project be a group activity in which qualified students will be given part-time employment under professional direction. In this way, they learn by doing. The Executive Committee will consist of:
- Chairman: Frank B. Stanger, S.T.D., President, Asbury Theological Seminary
- Vice chairman: Julian C. McPhesters, D.D., president emeritus, Asbury Theological Seminary; director Asbury’s Five Year Expansion Program.
- Physical-Fitness clinic: E. Cheraskin, M.D., D.M.D., chairman of Department Oral Medicine, University of Alabama, Medical Center.
- Nutrition: Martha R. Jones, Ph.D., formerly, research associate, Department of Pediatrics, University of California, Medical Center, San Francisco; originator and director Ewa Plantation Health Project, Hawaii, 1928-’36.
- Physical Education: Director and Assistants to be appointed
- Secretary-coordinator: Alfreda Rooke, M.P.H., Lecturer, San Diego Nutrition Society; curator, Weston Price Collection.
- Counselors: Professionals in medicine, dentistry, nutrition, agriculture, science.
- Women’s Auxiliary: Homemakers and others concerned with our national health, who believe that the proposed Health Project at Asbury is a practical approach toward its betterment. It is expected that the “Women’s Auxiliary” will constitute a public relations committee and will further “the cause” in whatever way they may be able.
Expected Returns:
- Increased resistance to disease, longer service and greater measure of usefulness of Asbury graduates wherever they may serve.
- Contribution to our national health by providing incontrovertible evidence of the true health status of so-called healthy people from infancy to old age.
- Establishment of the role of soil fertility in plant, animal and human health.
- Establishment of a pattern for health education–person to person on the ground level–which may be adapted to conditions, anywhere.
- Gradual build-up of a reservoir of self reliant, physically fit, socially adjusted Christ-filled young people sorely needed for leadership.
- Establishment of a “clearing house” in Asbury’s Department of Missions for sending and receiving health education information to and from her far-flung outposts.
Estimated Costs:
Building |
Equipment |
Annual maintenance, salaries, etc. |
|
Physical fitness clinic |
— |
$25,000.00 |
$50,000.00 |
Health Center |
$100,000.00 |
25,000.00 |
50,000.00 |
Family-type farm (20 acres) |
20,000.00 |
20,000.00 |
25,000.00 |
Office |
— |
5,000.00 |
15,000.00 |
Total |
$120,000.00 |
75,000.00 |
140,000.00 |
Grand total first year |
335,000.00 |
||
Grand total five years |
895,000.00 |
Personnel:
Salaries: |
|
Dr. F. B. Stanger |
none |
Dr. J. C. McPhesters |
none |
Dr. E. Cheraskin |
? |
Dr. M. R. Jones |
none |
Miss Alfreda Rooke |
? |
Physical Education director |
? |
Health Center director and assistants |
? |
Farm director and assistants |
? |
Financial Support:
It is believed that the proposed Health Education Project at Asbury Theological Seminary is unique in educational institutions because of the maturity and dedication of the student-body; the wide age-range of the student families and world outreach through graduates now serving in 43 countries and 49 states. Its potentials for physical, moral, social and spiritual betterment at home and around the world are tremendous. It is a daring and costly undertaking, and is entirely dependent upon gifts and grants for its establishment and support. Though it is to be a permanent Seminary activity, our goal is a five year budget of $895,000.00.