Sanitarium Workers
[
The Spirit of Sacrifice, 35-37
(1905).]
Dear Brother,
Have you learned how much Dr.-------proposes to charge for his
services? If a physician does his work skillfully, his talent should be
recognized, but there is danger of our being brought into perplexity.
If we introduce a new system of paying our surgeons high wages,
there may be a hard problem to settle after a time. Other physicians
will demand high wages, and our ministers will require consideration,
also....
There is great necessity for decided reforms to be made in regard
to our dealings with the workers in our sanitariums. Faithful, consci-
entious workers should be employed, and when they have performed a
reasonable amount of work in a day they should be relieved that they
may secure needed rest.
Only a reasonable amount of labor should be required, and for
this the worker should receive a reasonable wage. If helpers are not
given proper periods for rest from their taxing labor they will lose
their strength and vitality. They cannot possibly do justice to the work,
nor can they represent what a sanitarium employee should be. More
helpers should be employed, if necessary, and the work should be so
arranged that when one has performed a day’s labor he may be freed
to take the rest necessary to the maintenance of his strength.
Let no man consider it his place to judge of the amount of labor a
woman should perform. A competent woman should be employed as
matron, and if anyone does not perform her work faithfully, the matron
should deal with the matter. Just wages should be paid, and every
[315]
woman should be treated kindly and courteously, without reproach.
And let those who have charge of the men’s work be careful lest
they be too exacting. The men should have regular hours for service,
and when they have worked full time, they are not to be begrudged
their periods of rest. A sanitarium is to be all that the name indicates.
331