page_title: Paul E. Adolph
section_title: Medical work
hierarchical_section_title: Paul E. Adolph / Medical work
caption_attribution_description: English: Area map of Shanxi
context_page_description: Paul Ernest Adolph was an American medical missionary born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Adolph served the China Inland Mission, now OMF International, from 1929 to 1941 then served in the US Army Medical Corps as a Major from 1941 to 1945. Adolph returned to China to serve one last time from 1946 to 1949. After returning to the United States in 1949, he worked preparing missionaries for overseas work and restoring their health after contracting diseases. Once retired, Adolph served at his sons' hospitals in central Ethiopia and Bangladesh. Adolph opened two hospitals in Luan, Shansi and in Kaifeng, Henan and played a key role in the negotiations with Japanese military that kept hospitals open to Chinese populations during the Sino-Japanese war.
context_section_description: Adolph left the United States for China with the China Inland Mission for the first time in 1929. When he arrived in Beijing, then Peiking, he was able to visit his brother who was a professor of biochemistry in Beijing.
  Upon arrival in China, Adolph was first to spend six months at a language school in the Anhui province studying the Chinese language. After the six months, he proceeded to his residency at a hospital in Linfen in the province of Shanxi. Following a year of residency, Adolph was directed to open a 100-bed hospital in Luan, now Changzhi, in southeastern Shanxi. The missionaries that had previously worked in this region were no longer there as they had fled during the Boxer Rebellion.
  At the hospital in Changzhi, Adolph was the only doctor and carried out mostly surgical procedures. Initially, Adolph was received apprehensively in Luan and often called "foreign devil" by the children. He and his team made many efforts to integrate, such as wearing traditional Chinese clothing instead of American clothes. Patients at the hospital came from as far as 50 miles carried, walking, by wheelbarrow, or by cart. In his book, Surgery Speaks to China, Adolph recounts having to treat many cases of tuberculosis due to the unsanitary living conditions. Many times patients came with illnesses that had progressed beyond treatment and amputations were necessary. In these cases, the hospital had a carpenter on staff to build wooden legs. Adolph also reports many surgical cases to correct deformities, such as "hare-lip", or cleft palate.
  One of the goals of Adolph while in China was to improve sanitation among midwives as they were the primary means of delivering babies throughout the region. He did so by observing deliveries with midwives and advising other midwives to practice already present, more sanitary methods such as burning the umbilical chord to sever it instead of using an unsanitary tool.
  He also attempted to mend the sanitation issue by providing bathtubs at the hospital for patients and the public to use, as bathing was not a priority throughout the community. This combined with propaganda and example, especially using Adolph's infant son, proved to be effective. Adolph also made arrangements with poor patients to facilitate their care including providing housing until complete recovery and low, fixed costs. While in Changzhi, he would tour the province with his wife, son, a small medical team, and equipment in donated cars to treat people in rural areas. Clinics and operating theatres were set up in tents and many surgeries were able to be performed.
  In spring of 1936, after the birth of his second son, Adolph returned to the United States where he took a year of graduate courses at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine. After this and a course in general surgery, Adolph stayed to participate in research on sulfanilamide.
  In November 1937, Adolph returned to China and worked in Shunteh (Xingtai), Hebei because his return to Changzhi was delayed by the fighting of the Sino-Japanese war. Upon his return, Adolph practiced mostly war medicine and extensively used the delimiting tourniquet. He later published a paper on the use of the delimiting tourniquet in wartime in China and accredits many survivals to its use. In September, 1938 he was able to return to Changzhi but without his family. That winter, Adolph traveled to Liaochao to partner with the Red Cross in opening a hospital that needed a doctor.
  In 1939 a reoccurrence of tuberculosis caused Adolph to have to return to his family in Chefoo, now Yantai, for a five-month rest period. After this rest period, Adolph began his journey back to Changzhi. Before arriving to Changzhi he received news they had been overtaken by Japanese forces and went to work at a hospital in Kaifeng instead. Here, he was free to practice as long as he cooperated with both Japanese and Chinese troops. Adolph continued to practice here until he returned to the United States in 1941.
  When in the United States, Adolph practiced in industrial surgery in Detroit for six months 
caption: Shanxi, a province in northern China
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