In this research we focus on the medical evangelist Levi B. Salmans, and The Good Samaritan sanitarium. Doctor Salmans lived in Mexico for about 50 years (1885-1935). During the first part of his stay, he was devoted to found churches and Methodist schools. However, from 1891 he took a turn in his career by founding dispensaries in different towns of Guanajuato to create, in 1899, the private charity association for the sick and infirm The Good Samaritan. His intense, intellectual, and practical work led him to create health journals, to train nurses, and to promote physiotherapies in accordance with the science advances of that time. By itself, this research shows that the history of medicine in Mexico still has long way to go and that Protestant communities, in favor of modernity and scientific knowledge, took a big part in shaping the history of this discipline in Mexico.
La presente investigación expone la figura del médico evangelista Levi Salmans y del sanatorio El Buen Samaritano. El doctor Salmans radicó en México aproximadamente 50 años (1885-1935). Durante la primera parte de su estancia se dedicó a fundar tanto iglesias como escuelas metodistas. Sin embargo, a partir de 1891 dio un giro a su carrera al fundar dispensarios en distintos poblados de Guanajuato hasta crear, en 1899, la Asociación de Beneficencia Privada para Enfermos “El Buen Samaritano”. Su intensa labor práctica e intelectual lo llevó a crear revistas de higiene y salud, a formar enfermeras y a promover fisioterapias congruentes con los adelantos surgidos de la modernidad y la ciencia. Por sí misma, esta investigación muestra que la historia de la medicina en México aún tiene un largo camino por recorrer y que las comunidades protestantes, partidarias de la modernidad y del conocimiento científico, fueron partícipes en la institucionalización de la medicina en México.
Keywords: Altruism; Beneficence; History of medicine; Mexico; Protestantism.