I received private feedback about the blog article on RBTI retreats.  Some described total satisfaction.  Some wanted to substitute other ways for the known particulars of certain retreats. And, yes, some total dissatisfaction was reported.

I do not think that any retreat will ever do EVERYTHING exactly as Reams would have wanted it done, but there is the old story about him getting tears of joy in his eyes when he visited the resort that Elinor Barnes worked in up Massachusetts way.  Perhaps if we move away from wanting to see 100% Reams and think more in terms of a passing grade we will see existing retreats flourish and new retreats spring up. Good retreats certainly are needed.

The evaluation form I am working on is intended to allow any retreat client to give the rest of us valuable feedback so that we can make better choices. Although it is not programmed on a 1-5 star (5 maximum) concept, those who have chosen which book they may or may not care to read by looking over the Amazon reviews will understand.

Retreat stay reviews from clients can be as valuable to the retreats as it is to prospective clients.  The retreat operator who does not notice that they are getting bad reviews and make necessary changes is short-sighted.

You can click this link if you wish to participate in the design.  The completed survey will be offered to all.

© 2009 by Elinor Barnes

Arriving at our destination, we were immediately struck with the beauty of the facility. It was on the coastline, set high above the water, with cobblestone streets leading to the cabanas where the guests and the staff were housed. We were shown to a very nice mobile home/cum apartment, which was to be our home for the duration Shortly after bringing our bags in and looking around our quarters for a few minutes, Fern came to escort us to the courtyard which was filled with guests.

They were awaiting our arrival; she had obviously convinced these people that we were their lifesavers! They had a lot of questions for us – about their programs, how they were progressing, what to do when they went home, etc.,etc. Oh, my goodness! Where and how to begin?

First of all, it was obvious that no one had been supplying them with counseling except on a very cursory basis.Some of them were nearly ready to go home and were understandably anxious. Typically, Dr. Reams was not there often enough to spend time with them; he left that in the hands of LaVerne and Betty, his daughters. So far they had not set up any kind of a schedule for meeting with the guests individually as we had done in Roanoke.Shades of Blue Ridge! We remembered only too well how chaotic it had been when we arrived there, and we wanted very much to reassure these guests that we did care about what was happening to them and make every effort to make the retreat experience a pleasant and helpful one.

We assured all of them that we would set up a session with each one of them and start with those who were closest to finishing the program, but we needed to get to an office and look at their records in order to give them any comprehensive counseling. Sounds like a plan…right? There were about 50 people in various stages of the program, so our first job was to get their records….hopefully, someone had been keeping the test results and hopefully, Doc had made some analysis of their situation. One couple was ready to depart that day, so we accompanied them to their room after picking up their records. We talked to them as LaVerne was getting their baggage out to the car. We went over the program they had been given and assured them that we would send a comprehensive report on what they had accomplished with the retreat. We also had put together a booklet with spaces for recommendations which we said we would send to them in a few days. Someone had made sure they had enough supplements. A problem was that they were not sure when and how to take them. Again, we assured them that the booklet would have detailed information for them, and, if they were unsure of how to proceed, they were to call us. (Of course, this was long before E-mail and cell phones) Can you remember a time without either?

As our introduction was completed, we went around to each of the guest rooms to say “hello” and then went to meet with the staff. It consisted of 2 lab techs, an RN, (Mexican) and a young intern who was there to help with any medical emergencies. Dr. Rodriguez was expected in a few days. Everyone seemed glad to see us. My only thought on this was that Fern had really sold them a bill of goods about us, bless her heart! On the other hand, it really solidified our feeling that Dr. Reams really did need us and that our experiences from Blue Ridge, Roanoke and yes, even Tecate’ would prove invaluable in putting a good retreat program in place.

The following day was Betty’s 68th birthday. We awakened to a terrible storm which was close to hurricane proportions. Wonderful! Going down to the dining room, those guests that were not on a fast were pretty anxious so we started our day reassuring them that all would be well, supplying them with ponchos or whatever we could find for them to get back to their cabanas. What next? Well, the electricity went out by afternoon, our water supply was running low, and the toll road above the retreat was washed out by a landslide! Luckily, the free road was still open at that point and we were able to get distilled water delivered from Rosarito, just a few miles north of the retreat. Still we had no water for bathing purposes or flushing toilets. Our Mexican helpers were very ingenious, however. They brought up buckets of water from a stream a short way from the retreat and did take care of that problem for the guests.

Our cooks made meals on gas stoves and we survived the first day. After the storm abated, we found out that we were completely shut off….the roads in both directions, north and south, were washed out or blocked by the landslides. A helicopter was flying up and down the coast, ready to evacuate people that might have been stranded. Fortunately, no one was in dire need and we did not have to avail ourselves of that. We were able to take care of everyone, testing them twice a day, going to their rooms and either counseling or visiting them to see if they were comfortable. It made for some very long days!

Finally, we got word that the toll road was open, so we decided that I should be the one to drive to Tijuana and get across the border to San Diego to Dr. Reams, if he was back from his travels or get Fern down to Plaza to give us a hand dealing with all of this. That trip was a heart-stopping experience….the road was barely passable…..dodging around rocks and mud in the roadway, passing groups of men who were clearing the roadway by hand, shoveling the mud off the road and trying to move the rocks out of at least one lane.

I literally prayed my way up to Tijuana….and I vowed I would never complain about American highways again…but I may have gone back on my word on that one over the years. When I got off the toll road, I was told that it really was not open to traffic yet…..no wonder I didn’t meet any other cars and I got some very strange looks from all those laborers on the highway! After arriving in San Diego, I found that Dr. Reams would not be back for a couple of days, so I recruited Fern to help us. We stocked the cars with supplies and headed back to Plaza, not on the toll road but on the free road. My heart ached for the peasants in the tiny villages that we passed on the way back…they had been flooded out of their homes and were trying to salvage what they could. There is so much more to this part of the story, but I will leave that to another time.

Needless to say, Betty was very relieved and happy to see both of us back at Plaza. It was amazing how well she had kept everything on an even keel. The lights were back on, thanks so some generators, so we were able to cook and serve meals.

With the electricity on, our water pumps were working as well. The sun was shining and it was as if the storm was a bad dream. We began putting the program in order and getting people on the path to wellness, which was the original intent of the Reams program. We began to have fun also. We would meet in the evenings and share our stories and have singalongs.

Finally, Dr. Reams was back with us, and he began assessing the guests’ progress. When he visited them in their cabanas, I usually went with him to take notes. Probably that was the best training I got in seeing how the numbers changed and hearing Doc explain what he was seeing in the sclera readings and how it all came together. One of Dr. Reams’ favorite statements was, “Give me a set of numbers (urine/saliva), eye readings (sclera), age, height, weight and sex of any individual, and it is like opening up the body and reading it like a book.” That is one thing I still hold on to even after all this time. I cannot do as well as Dr. Reams did, but I can pretty well analyze what is going on in that body without ever seeing the person.

A few weeks later, we were told that a new guest was coming in who was critically ill, accompanied by his wife and a very close male friend. We had expected them to arrive early in the afternoon, but they did not arrive until late at night. Betty and I had left notes in their rooms that we would see them in the morning. Upon arriving in the dining room early in the morning, we were greeted by 3 people who were to have a profound impact on our lives, Ron and Nancy Polder and Larry Kerr. They had flown down to San Diego from Michigan in a chartered plane, starting out in a snowstorm out of Detroit airport. They were met at the airport by a young Mexican in a nice van; he spoke very little English and they spoke no Spanish; Larry wondered at the time if they were going to be kidnapped; he had heard a lot of stories about things that happened to Americans who went down to Mexico. He was much relieved when they arrived at Plaza and were shown to 2 adjoining rooms.

What a story they had to tell us. First, they explained the reason for their trip to Plaza. Ron had been diagnosed with acute granulocytic leukemia…he was not expected to survive more than a couple of weeks. The doctors in the Detroit hospital had told him that he had to have radiation and chemotherapy treatments immediately. When Nancy had called her sister about Ron, her sister, who had been at Roanoke with her own husband, advised her to find Dr. Reams and get Ron to him wherever he was. That began a search that took several days; they finally discovered Dr. Rodriguez in Mexico who was working with us at Plaza. He told them to get on a plane and get Ron down to us at once.

The doctors at the hospital in Detroit did not take this very well at all. They said that his wife was signing a death warrant for Ron and he would be dead in a few days. (May I digress for a moment…a few days ago, there was a story on TV regarding a parent who took her son away from a hospital where they were going to administer chemotherapy. It was the same harassment that Ron went through over 20 years ago. Some things never change.) I do concede, however, that the treatment of leukemia today has improved a person’s chances considerably. There was practically no hope of survival in the late seventies and early eighties, and there were many horror stories of children actually taken away from their parents and forced to undergo chemo or radiation over parental objections. I am not talking about religious objections, such as Christian Science or Scientology. I am speaking of those who wished to go the way of alternative therapies, such as Dr. Reams’ program, or Dr. Contreras in Mexico and others who saw the damage being done by the introduction of chemicals for the cure of disease.

Anyway, Ron, Nancy and Larry met us in the dining room at Plaza and were so thankful that they had found the Reams program. They asked for Betty and Elinor and when we presented ourselves to them, they told us their story, about leaving Detroit in a blinding snowstorm, flying south to San Diego and praying that they would be able to get Ron over the border and down to Plaza Santa Maria. Their prayers were answered

Fortunately, Dr. Reams was due to arrive the same day they did, and he met with them and set up Ron’s program. One change that he instituted with Ron was that he did not put Ron on lemon water. After reading his test results and eye readings, he said Ron was too weak to do the lemon water, it would detoxify him too rapidly. He put him on carrot juice instead. I had seen Dr. Reams put a person on lime juice once, another was put on cabbage juice but I had never seen carrot juice used as a detoxifier.

40 ounces of carrot juice and 40 ounces of distilled water daily made a big change in Ron. For one thing, his skin turned orange….Dr. Reams assured him that it was okay; it was just all the carotene coming out of his system. Another amazing result of detoxification was that Ron’s eyes changed color….no, not to orange! Ron had always had bright green eyes; they turned to a gorgeous shade of blue! Doc said that he was truly blue-eyed, but that toxicity had made them green from childhood. All I can say is that his eyes were blue from that day on.

We had blood tests done on several of our patients weekly. Dr. Reams sent our blood work over the border to San Diego to a lab that he had worked with a great deal. When Ron’s first blood work was done, the technician brought the results down to us. She was in a great state of anxiety. “Do you know what you are dealing with?This man has terminal leukemia,” she stated to Doc. He assured her that he knew what the diagnosis was. She went away shaking her head, thinking that this was a lost cause. Ron continued to have blood tests every few days; by the time he had finished the fasting portion of the program, we could see a real change in his energy level; he began to walk around the retreat area and attend some of the programs in the evening; previously, he had been totally exhausted and could not be up for any length of time. His blood work began to improve, as well.

Ron and Nancy were with us for five weeks. On the last week of their stay, Dr. Reams had sent his blood work up to San Diego as he had done regularly. This time the technician came down with the report she was totally amazed. She told us that if she did not know better, she would not believe that sample had come from the same man she had been testing for five weeks. In fact, she began to distrust her own results and had called in several other labs to verify her findings. They confirmed her work and said that Ron had no sign of leukemia….this was absolutely unheard of with Ron’s type of leukemia, but it was true. His blood counts were totally free of cancer.The blood work proved that he was not just in ‘remission’; the cancer was gone from his body, cleansed by the fasting, the distilled water and the balancing of his metabolic systems.

However, his immune system was seriously depressed. He had no ability to fight any other invasions. That was why Dr. Reams insisted that when he went home, he had to make arrangements with a private lab for regular blood transfusions to keep building up his antibodies (the disease fighters in our blood.)

Meanwhile, Larry Kerr had become very interested in the Reams theory. He had submitted to being tested, and when Dr. Reams told him he was a candidate for a major heart attack, Larry was dumbstruck. He had just had a 3-day physical in Detroit as a condition of his employment. He was a sales manager for the same business that Ron Polder was in. The doctors had passed him with flying colors; supposedly, he was in perfect health, but Dr. Reams saw high sugars, high salts and high ureas, plus a line in the sclera of his eyes that indicated great stress on his heart. He became a true believer in the program and has remained a client of mine, along with his wife and children, to this day…..nearly 30 years later! It has been one of the great blessings of my life to be a part of the Kerr’s extended family. When Betty was with us, we spent many, many happy days with them in Michigan and then Ohio.

The Polders were excited about going home and telling everyone about the miracle that had happened in Mexico.Ron continued to improve at home for several months then disaster struck. They had had to go to a doctor to get permission for the transfusions and the continued lab work. Somehow, he contracted a very serious staph infection and, with such low resistance, it devastated his already weakened immune system. Returning home after this, he never seemed to regain his strength. This story does not have a happy ending, unfortunately. Ron Polder died in August of 1980. The one thing we were all very certain of: Ron did not die from leukemia. There was no leukemia in his blood when he left Plaza; he died from the effects of a weakened immune system that opened him up to the staph infection. And where do most very young and elderly patients develop staph infections? In hospitals, that’s where. MERSA has been the most recent hospital-borne staph infection. In fact, my daughter contracted MERSA after surgery less than 2 years ago. She was fortunate to recover from it fairly quickly. One more reason to be on a program that stabilizes the metabolic systems in the body so the immune system can fight the ‘bugs’ that are out there just waiting to attack us….especially in hospitals!

We stayed on at Plaza for a total of 11 months. Hundreds of people came and went in that time, and Betty and I were really getting exhausted. The days were very long, since we were the only full time employees that were trained by Dr. Reams to handle the day by day emergencies that seemed to always happen late at night or very early in the morning! There is not room to tell all the many incidents that occurred during our tenure at Plaza, most of them happening when Doc was off the reservation drumming up new clients for us. We finally decided that we had been away from home and family long enough and gave Fern and Dr. Reams a month’s notice that we were heading back home. They had a pretty hard time finding someone willing to undertake all that was required to run the retreat, but after six weeks they did have a replacement. We took a couple more weeks to get her acclimated to the operation and finally started for home. We decided on the way that we really needed a good vacation; Betty had an aunt that lived in Switzerland who was going to be ninety years old in November of that year. What a wonderful opportunity for us to get away and to celebrate Tante Lena’s birthday. We were busily making plans all the way across the great and wonderful country of ours.

On arriving home, we found that Phyllis Greene had been trying to reach us for some time; she found out we had left Mexico, and she was very anxious for us to consider coming to Scituate, MA where she and her friend, Dorothy Freeman were running Green Pastures Inn, another Reams retreat. Dorothy and her husband, Albert, were anxious to retire to Florida. Do you see where this is leading?

We called Phyllis and told her of our plans to go to Switzerland. That was fine with her, but would we first drive out to Scituate and consider being the administrators there? No rest for the weary, I guess! We did travel toScituate, which is a charming old New England town. Green Pastures Inn was delightful, it could accommodate about 30 guests, and we were truly excited about working with Phyllis, whom we had talked to many times by phone but had never met. Dorothy and Albert had already gone to Florida and a young couple were acting as administrators. It may be the less said about that the better. So after promising Phyllis that we would come back after the first of the year, we came back home and completed our plans to go to Switzerland. We each were taking a granddaughter with us, hers named Heather and mine named Monica…eleven and twelve years old respectively. It was a wonderful trip for all of us and the girls never forgot it. They have grown up now, married, and have children of their own.

After the holidays, we began making arrangements to go to Scituate. It again meant leaving home and family, but at least it was only about six hours away from home and we had already decided we were going to have some time off. We were both getting older and if they wanted us to be able to do a good job, they were going to have to let us have a more normal schedule.

On Feb. 1st we started our new adventure in Scituate in a well-organized retreat, thanks to Phyllis. We had a wonderful medical doctor on hand who was also a homeopathic physician. We had cooks who actually spoke English!

Much more about Scituate in our next chapter.

© 2009 by Elinor Barnes

Dr. Reams was negotiating for another property a few miles out of Tecate, an abandoned resort area.  So, after only a few weeks in the village, we moved out to this new facility.  This time, Dr. Reams had a pretty good staff in place to take care of the physical needs of the guests.  We began taking in more guests and operating a really efficient program.  We saw miracles begin to happen….people with severe arthritis were able to walk without assistance, several people who had had radiation and chemo for cancer and had been told they were going to die…suddenly came to life and began to participate in the activities of the retreat and eventually went home to live, not die. 

Lest you think that we won every battle with every disease, we did not, but I firmly believe that we did improve that quality of life for 99% of all who followed the program faithfully.  This allows for the very small percentage of those for whom the program did not work. It has always been our policy to be very honest with every client we ever had.  If we saw that there was no improvement in the test results, and that no detoxification was taking place, we would advise them of that fact.  We did not want to hold out false hope to anyone.  This is equally true today; however I will admit that it has happened rarely in the 30+ years that I have been counseling in RBTI.

One major factor of the program was that it gave hope to those whom the medical community had given up on. That alone influenced a positive reaction to the treatment; along with a sense of community that was built at the retreats which said, “We’re all in this together.”The entire staff contributed by getting to know each guest as an individual, listening to their stories and helping to build a sense of community.  The guests encouraged each other with the feeling that “We are a team, and we are all working toward the same goal…..restoration of a feeling of well-being as we bring the body into balance.”

We also had some fun moments; one of those happened on a warm morning as the guests were coming down the outside stairway from their rooms to go to breakfast in the main building.  Suddenly, one of the ladies (I recall her name being Irene), was about to step down when another woman screamed, “Watch out…..Snake!”  Well, let me tell you, Irene could have won a gold medal in the Olympics!  The snake slithered backward off the stair, and Irene sprinted down the stairs, around the pool and into the dining room ahead of all the competition!    I must tell you that was the fastest any of us had ever seen Irene move since she had been with us.  When we finally caught up with her (and stopped laughing hysterically), we calmed her down and even she was amazed at how fast she had run.  Luckily, she did not pack up and go home.  Actually, she became a bit of a celebrity and her athletic ability was a topic of conversation for several days.  She also became a good friend and we visited her at her home in Austin, TX sometime later.  She had recovered from some serious complications with rheumatoid arthritis and was doing extremely well.  Her husband was very grateful and even he got tested and started on the home program; we kept in touch for several years.  We often shared a chuckle over the snake episode.  Irene was very proud of her remarkable running ability.

In the midst of all this, the retreat had settled into a very good routine with guests arriving to go through the 10 day to 2 week program.  I was patiently awaiting Betty’s arrival in a few weeks, when everything was sent into a tailspin!  We had a call from someone in Tecate that the Federales were looking for Dr. Reams.  Why?  No one would tell us.  We placed a quick call to Fern, who was up in San Diego; she contacted Dr. Reams who was out of the state.  By the time several phone calls were made to various individuals in Mexico, it was determined that the Federales were coming out to close down the Retreat!  We were told to pack up and move out immediately! Panic struck as I tried to grasp this whole scenario.  I had approximately 20 clients in various stages of the program.  I had one young man who was very ill….lymphoma.  He had been with us only a few days.  Several others were nearly ready to go home.  Where was I going to take them all?  How were we going to get over the border and what about all our equipment, supplies, etc?  Needless, to say, I made many phone calls to Fern; she was trying to line up a motel for a couple of nights until we could make arrangements for everyone to travel home.

Meanwhile, everyone was packing up the lab and supplies we might need.  We tried very hard not to panic the guests and told them that we had to leave that day but that all arrangements would be made for them.  Really?  I didn’t have a clue as to where we were going and what we were going to do; I had to trust Fern to handle all those little details!           

By early evening, we had everything packed up.  A truck had arrived to transport our goods across the border and Fern had commandeered several cars for the journey to the ‘motel’.  This whole episode was a nightmare!  I was delighted when we at least got over the border without being stopped.  We proceeded to the motel…..an abandoned motel, actually.  It was fairly clean, but there were beds to be made up, our guests had not had their evening meal, and the kitchen left much to be desired!

I must have a guardian angel and he or she was working overtime that night!  One of the guests, a young man named John, who had nearly completed his program, said he would help me get the kitchen ready for the evening meal.  He got a couple of other guests who were willing to pitch in and, miraculously, they put together a light meal of salad, soup and fruit for all of us!  As they cleaned up the kitchen afterward, I met with the rest of the guests and explained that we were going to take them into San Diego the next day where Fern was making arrangements for transportation to their homes.  Naturally, they had lots of questions, many of which I could not answer, but I assured them that all would be well.  After we got all of them off to bed, I borrowed a car and went to the nearest telephone, called Betty and had a meltdown!  Truly, I am not a crybaby, but this was too much for me to handle.  Of course, there was nothing Betty could do, but at least she calmed me down and we talked about all that needed to be taken care of.  If there was ever a reason for abandoning the Reams program, this was it!  Needless to say, we didn’t do that. 

Next morning everyone got breakfast….thanks to John and his volunteers.  Fern arrived with the necessary travel arrangements, most of them for that day, and a few for the next day.  This meant one more day in this marvelous motel!  However, we persevered, everyone was cared for, we even got them tested, and we counseled those that we could, regarding what they were to do when they arrived home.  Actually, I think some of them regarded it as a bit of a lark….a story they could tell the folks back home about their adventure in Mexico!  I guess that was fortunate for us that they didn’t sue the retreat or Dr. Reams.  Of course, I don’t think anyone could collect on such a lawsuit!   Now, if it had happened in 2009, maybe…since we are such a litigious society.

Following the trauma of Tecate, I went home.  Betty had ended her commitment to our church camp, and we settled into a serene time of talking about the program, about never returning to the frenetic craziness of retreat life.  However, we should have known better than to say ‘never’.  You’d think that the ‘Escape from Tecate’ would have been enough to keep me firmly anchored at home. Instead, after a brief respite of a couple of months, we got another phone call from Fern.  Doc had a new retreat in Mexico, in the Baja, south of Tijuana.  Right on the ocean, absolutely beautiful, well organized…..does this sound like a sales pitch?  Dr. Reams really needed us! Sure he did!  We weren’t buying it at all. 

Then we began getting daily calls from Fern; Doc was desperately in need of us.  The retreat had the potential to take nearly 100 guests.  There was good housing in cabanas, the streets were lined with lovely trees, there were several buildings that could be used for lab work and for counseling.  How soon could we leave?   Betty and I just looked at each other.  Could we do this again?  We told Fern we would get back to her, and we began exploring the possibilities.  We finally decided that we needed more assurance that this was not going to turn into another Roanoke or Tecate situation.  we needed to be confident that expenses for travel would come to us first….we could ill afford to make that kind of a trip without some help.  It would also solidify the reality of a retreat.  Our next consideration was that we would take our car to Mexico and not be trapped in a situation where we had no way to leave as it had been in Teacte.  We also wanted some assurance of remuneration, since I had received very little pay for my last time in old Mexico.   Basically, we wanted some security.  It took several weeks for the travel stipend to appear; in fact, it was around the first part of January.  The promise of remuneration also came at the same time.  I don’t want any of you to think we were going to get rich, so I will tell you that Betty and I were going to receive $400.00 a week….for both of us!  Also, expenses for our car, gas, etc. would be included. I will also mention that guests were paying $1250 a week for the program; a companion not on the program got room and board for $625. 

So, in January 1979, off we went.  Since it was winter time, we decided to go directly south and then west to California.  It was a great trip across our country.  For 10 days, we leisurely made our way to our new adventure. Ole’!  

Meeting with Dr. Reams and Fern in San Diego at his home was really interesting.  He had acquired a solid lease on Plaza Santa Maria in the Baja.  Pictures of the new retreat were certainly spectacular and we began to get excited about working with the staff he had in place.  He had secured the services of a well-known oncologist, Dr. Rodriguez (I’m sorry to say I have forgotten his given name)   who was very supportive of the program.  He had been a doctor in Mexico City and had become very discouraged at the lack of progress in cancer research that would halt the progress of the disease.  He also saw the amazing change in people who were on the Reams program and was anxious to see the results over a longer term.  It is interesting to note that Dr. Kelly, a dentist from Oregon, also had a program on the grounds of Plaza.  He had basically appropriated some of Dr. Reams program and made changes to it.  He charged $3,000 a week for his program….and it did not work!  His clients were in another part of the Plaza and sometimes they wandered over and compared notes with our guests.  This so upset Dr. Kelly that he actually forbade them to talk to our guests!  You can imagine how well that went over.  Things like this happened to Dr. Reams over and over.  He had no patents on his minerals so that company was literally stolen from him.  Doc trusted everybody.  He thought that he should give the information to anyone who asked about it.  For instance, when he ran his schools for testers, he never stressed that they were to follow his rules and not go off on their own tangents.  We saw this happen again and again.  Remember, Dr. Reams had over 1200 people across the country doing testing in the early 80’s)  I will again state that I do the testing and eye readings exactly as Dr. Reams taught us.  My motto is: ‘if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it’

Within a few days, we were on our way to Plaza Santa Maria, traveling down the Pacific Coast Highway.   The next chapter in this saga will tell the story of the 10 months we spent in a remarkable setting while witnessing some astounding results.

© 2009 by Elinor Barnes

So what was next for the team of peripatetic grandmothers? Here we were back home in Herkimer, NY with no idea of what was in store for us. Were we supposed to continue on with the Reams program, which had been so suddenly shut down in Roanoke? What kind of trouble might we be in if we pursued it in our own area? Would we hear a knock on the door and be told by the AMA to cease and desist? Neither of us relished the idea of a jail cell for telling people how to get healthy in a natural way, not with medically prescribed drugs, but with food that was grown in good soil and contained the nutrients needed to supply the body with energy. Add to that pure water, lemons for detoxification and the proper balance of natural vitamins, minerals and herbs to keep the body in balance.

Could we in good conscience walk away from this program from which we had benefitted so greatly? We decided that we had learned so much from our experiences at Blue Ridge and Roanoke for a reason, and we should not waste what had been given to us. We started talking to a lot of people about the program and gradually a few of them showed some interest in being tested. We began a small health food store in our home; we had a large family room which had been our childrens’ playroom, stocking it with the minerals and vitamins that Dr. Reams had formulated and which worked so well….(incidentally, I still recommend these same mineral formulas to this very day, 33 years later!).

Our very first client for the program was a dog! A neighbor had a beautiful old red setter that seemed to be aging rapidly and had become very listless. Her formerly shiny red coat had become dull and lifeless and she seemed very sad; we definitely thought a change of diet and some supplementation of vitamins and minerals would be helpful. It certainly would not hurt the dog, so we laid out a program for her and amazingly, the dog’s energy returned, her eyes brightened up and she acted like a puppy instead of the old dog we had seen just a few weeks earlier. Hey, this program was first was used in animal husbandry in Germany for cattle; why not use it for a smaller animal….actually, we have used it over the years for many of our own pets.

Gradually, we spoke to various friends about the Reams concept; people would ask us questions about their health problems. When we were able to test them, we would send the test results to Dr. Reams for his analysis and recommendations. Soon our clientele began to grow and we became more and more proficient in the testing procedures. We also developed a booklet for the clients to use which told them exactly what they needed to do such as the amount of each of the recommended supplements as well as dietary suggestions. These few clients became our most enthusiastic advertisers as they saw the changes in their own bodies. This is exactly the way the Reams program always spread, by word of mouth, without advertising in health magazines, but by the experience of individuals.

One thing we learned early on was that a prophet is without honor in his/her own land.  We had very few of our close friends or family as clients – the very people we most desired to help rejected our ideas about natural healing through non- medical means. Perhaps our very enthusiasm scared them or they were not ready to leave the world of doctors (who they thought only one step down from God!) and who prescribed drugs to relieve their pain and suffering. We learned the hard way that alternative therapies were not readily accepted by those who grew up relying on family doctors and/or specialists, who had those magic letters MD after their names. It was inconceivable to them that lemon water, distilled water, properly grown and prepared foods along with the addition of appropriate vitamins, minerals and/or herbs could accomplish far more than many of the drugs they were using. A bit disappointed, we remained faithful to the dietary recommendations of Dr. Reams and we kept in touch with many of the staff from Roanoke, especially Jack Shaver and his wife, Loretta, the former administrators of the Roanoke retreat. They were back in Utah and were trying to set up a new Retreat with Dr. Reams on Dorothea Island in the Caribbean. They wanted us to go down and work with them on this project, but before it came to fruition, the backers who were going to finance the venture backed out…another stumbling block to expanding the program.

Meanwhile, Dr. Reams was in California and was seriously considering opening a retreat in Mexico, in the Baja. There was a great deal of harassment of all natural therapies in those years (the late 70’s and early 80’s). The US Food and Drug Administration were threatening to close down all health food stores and make vitamins and minerals available only by prescription. What does this tell you? Too many people were getting well by leaving their association with the medical profession’s approach and using natural therapies – coincidentally, it was taking money away from the medical profession which obviously made some of them extremely unhappy. Anyway, all of this led to another period of waiting and wondering until in Nov. ’78, we received a call from Fern Stansfield, Dr. Reams’ secretary, asking us to pack our bags and head for California. Dr. Reams was in the process of opening a new retreat in Mexico, in Tecate a small town just across the border from San Diego. I can assure you that we did not immediately jump into action on the basis of one phone call! We needed more information and some assurance about the feasibility of leaving our home again after we had just nicely gotten settled into what should be a normal routine for women our age! Going to Mexico was definitely not just a little jaunt down the block…it was well over two thousand miles from our safe haven…and what would our friends and families say about this? However, Fern persisted, calling us every day or two for a decision. She kept telling us how much Dr. Reams needed help, etc. etc. etc.

One definite obstacle to all of this was that Betty would not be able to go to Mexico until the end of the summer as she had already made a commitment to our church’s summer camp program. Fern brushed that aside and insisted that I could be of great assistance to the program and why didn’t I just fly out to San Diego and she would take me down to Tecate. Once Betty was available she could join us. This was a very persuasive person as well as a very good friend, so I finally gave in and set out for California and Mexico.

Tecate was a whole new experience; the retreat was another motel situation, but was barely functional. Dr. Reams was the only staff person at that point and he was chief cook and bottle washer, literally! He had about 15 clients in various stages of the program and he was doing the testing and counseling as well as well as preparing the lemon juice and distilled water for each person. Luckily, he had hired a couple of housekeepers to clean and do laundry. He also had a couple of maintenance men to fix whatever broke down that day….there was always either a plumbing or mechanical problem of some sort. Needless to say, things were usually in a state of confusion; it was my job to bring some type of order out of this chaos.

First, I set up a schedule for testing, meals, counseling sessions, etc. I asked Dr. Reams to hire some more help for the kitchen and housekeeping duties. Then I got busy visiting each guest, hearing their stories and finding out how far they were into the program and how they were progressing. The thing that always amazed me was the fact that no matter how disorganized the program was, the guests seemed to thrive; after the three day fast, they seemed to become more alert, there was a bounce to their steps as they looked forward to regaining the energy and hope that seemed to be lost in their illness. I thought back to the way Betty and I had felt when we first arrived at Blue Ridge and how different our outlook became after only a few days. It is amazing that when we detoxify the body, clean out the debris of many years of poor nutrition and the effects of the drugs that the medical doctors prescribed, how quickly the body responds with new energy. The emotional system also gains a new perspective that permeates the whole body. I am reminded that we are triune beings consisting of a physical body, an emotional system, as well as a spiritual component; for one system to be out of balance is for all three systems to suffer. Our program deals mainly with the physical body, but we are always aware of the other two….the mind and spirit. While we do not preach any specific doctrine, we always thank God for the knowledge He had given Dr. Reams which he passed on to so many others.

So there we were, in old Mexico, taking care of several guests and always being aware of the Federales, the Mexican police who kept a watchful eye on us ‘gringos’. Being in the center of the town was a bit daunting. The motel had regular guests as well as our group. Sometimes it got a bit rowdy in the evening when the regular motel guests were visiting the local bars, but that was not our concern. The only problem it presented was the loss of sleep for some of our folks.

[Editor's note from Wikipedia: Tecate is a small city in the Mexican state of Baja California, located at 32°34?30?N 116°37?7?W on the border with the United States and adjacent to Tecate, California. There is a border crossing which is much quieter than nearby Tijuana or Mexicali, making it a more accurate representation of small-town Mexican culture. The crossing is not open between 11 p.m. and 5 a.m. Although the city is only 40 miles from San Diego, the link is a winding mountain road, so Tecate is not so viable as an alternative to long lines on the Tijuana–San Ysidro border. ]

© 2009 by Elinor Barnes

We saw many other remarkable recoveries in the year and a half that we were at Tinker Mountain Retreat. For instance, we saw people with severe arthritis throw away canes and walkers. A woman with advanced diabetes (who had staunchly refused any type of treatment in her native Newfoundland) made a total recovery from this disease. And the answer was so simple; we are using the same methodology today with many people who would have become senile diabetics if we had not set them on the right path. Heart patients, cancer patients who were given up on by the medical community found a new lease on life. Yes, it was an amazing time.

However, there was a large medical community who were very annoyed at this entire group of people who were turning away from the chemical zoo that the doctors were prescribing and going back to basics…..good food, pure water, and the proper supplementation for their individual bodies. This was the time (in the late 70’s) when the medical profession was trying its best to shut down all alternative therapies. They tried to stop the sales of all vitamins and minerals, as well as herbs, saying they should only be used by prescription from an M.D. They ginned up several case studies to back up their claims for the harm done to individuals…one I especially remember was when they told us not to use Vitamin A as it had been proven to be deadly. Come to find out, they used a huge overdose on a young boy in Boston for the treatment of cancer. That overdose was so toxic to his body that he died from the effects of it. Then they came out with a huge article in the Journal of American Medicine that warned everyone not to use that horrible vitamin any more without a legitimate prescription. Other vitamins and minerals came under the same type of attack. Common sense tells you that almost anything can be toxic if given in huge doses; sadly, common sense was in very short supply at that time!

Unfortunately, a program like RBTI has always attracted a lot of charlatans who saw an opportunity to make a lot of money. Dr. Reams objective was to help people; however, he was not a saint! He also was very naïve when it came to dealing with money matters. We find that most geniuses are like that; they work on a different plane of consciousness than we do. That makes for some interesting problems when it came to running a retreat program, such as paying the rent, buying supplies, etc. Luckily, Dr. Reams had a good business manager in Jack Shaver and he kept him from a lot of disasters.

One day, the attorney general for the state of Virginia, who had been getting a lot of complaints from the medical community about this “crackpot group” at Tinker Mountain, decided to investigate the whole situation. Sadly, we did have a few people there that overstepped the boundaries of nutritional consultants and started playing doctor….even going so far as to put a stethoscope around their necks and wearing a white coat when seeing clients. I can assure you that Betty and I never played that game.  Our job was to analyze the results of the testing (urine and saliva) and recommend the amount of water (distilled, of course), lemon water, dietary needs, etc. When the clients went home we had equipped them with as much information as they needed to stay on the program and continue on the path to better health.

In late summer, we came back to the retreat from a shopping trip and found armed guards at the entrance. The retreat was being closed down and no one was to go in or out. Imagine our consternation at that! We had many guests there, some fasting, some coming off fast and needing direction for the balance of their stay. The authorities had also sealed off the lab so that we could not test.

The guests were in a panic, and so were we. However, we got all the staff together and began making arrangements for some guests to go home. Then we started arrangements for others to be taken care of at home by testers in their area. We had to consult with each individual and set up a program for each one. We had 48 hours of very little sleep and a lot of tension trying to keep everyone calm and sending them on their way with proper instructions.

The whole situation was actually a set-up designed to catch Dr. Reams “practicing medicine”….which he never did. Also, he was not even at the retreat when this took place; he had been out on the west coast doing seminars and came back within a few days. Although he got the sheriff’s department to remove the guards from the gates, the damage had been done. Tinker Mountain never re-opened.

Dr. Reams had to eventually appear in court to contest the charges against him. Amazingly, when he got on the stand and started explaining what we did at the retreat, the judge became really interested in the entire process. I think he would have liked to have been tested by Dr. Reams, but that probably didn’t happen. Best of all, the judge threw the case out of court for lack of any evidence to support the charge of practicing medicine without a license.

Looking back on the high anxiety of that particular time, some may wonder why we stayed in the RBTI program. It was because we believed in it. We had seen what this program could do for literally hundreds of people, including ourselves. We saw people who came to us fairly sure that they were facing years of pain and suffering, surgeries and hopelessness. When they left the retreat, we saw people with a whole new outlook on life. They had been given a reprieve. Many of the ones that we followed up on went home to live productive lives, free from the pain and the fears that had trapped them for so long in a downward spiral of doctors, medications and expensive treatments that were not necessarily helping them. Why? Because most of the medical “solutions” were not addressing the causes of their discomfort. And what was causing the pain, the illnesses, the distress…metabolic imbalances in the body. I know that sounds simplistic, but it is amazing that once that balance is corrected, most of the problems disappear.

Lest you think that all of our experiences were anxiety producing and frightening, let me reassure you that the days spent in the retreats over a period of years were some of the happiest time of our lives. We were doing work that we believed in and we saw the results. Although the hours were long, the sense of accomplishment made up for that. We had fun times, too. Evenings were often spent in prayer and praise sessions. We performed skits portraying some of the guests (which they really appreciated). There was a wonderful interaction between all of the staff and the guests.  We became a little community even though the guests changed every week or two.

Leaving Roanoke was difficult, but we came back home with a lot of knowledge and the confidence that God had more for us to do. Where? When?  We just kept ourselves available for the next chapter to begin!
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© 2009 by Elinor Barnes

Dr. Reams often did rather impromptu seminars a couple of evenings a week. It was always a packed room….Doc was a great story teller. He also would do several on-the-spot readings for people who had just been tested. He always asked for their permission to reveal his analysis (never a diagnosis!) Almost always the guest was delighted to hear Doc’s interpretation of the numbers; occasionally, they were chagrined when he suggested that they definitely needed to get on the program, if not at the retreat, then at home. He would describe the condition of the colon, or the stomach, heart, lungs….whatever, and would let them know that they really needed to clean up their act starting with drinking distilled water in the proper quantity for their weight and drinking lemon juice daily so that toxins could not find a home in the body. It certainly made for some interesting discussion!

Every day brought new challenges and new insights into the inner workings of the Reams program. There was always too much to do and too few hours in which to accomplish it. Did I mention that we often had a motel full of people…up to 125! Luckily, we had a very competent kitchen crew that prepared the bottles of lemon water and distilled water for each one, fed all the guests that were not fasting (including staff members) and a lab crew that did the testing twice daily. There was scarcely time to think, let alone study and learn what we needed in order to counsel the guests. Lots of evenings were spent with guests who wanted to know what was going on in their bodies and if Dr. Reams was not available, we met with small groups and explained what we could about their progress. They were also fascinated by the testing, with the numbers posted daily; they wanted to know why the numbers bounced around so much, and we explained that as the body detoxified, the chemistry was being changed dramatically, trying to bring everything back in line.

Another astonishing thing that happened with so many of the guests was the level of energy they had even though they were fasting. We could see the difference in their eyes, how much more alert they were as they cleared out the debris in the system. Most could hardly wait to go home and tell the world about what was happening at Tinker Mountain Retreat.

The program was so simple, it seemed incredible that the medical profession could not see the benefits of it. Perhaps they thought it was far too inexpensive to work! Dr. Reams always said that to give a disease a long, fancy name was not a cure and if you would only give the body the proper amount of water, the right foods and find out where the deficiencies are for each individual, the body is built to take care of itself. By the way, after thirty plus years of working with the program for myself (and a few thousand people), I am convinced of the truth of both statements. I am on only one type of medication, that for high blood pressure which was uncontrollable for many years before I met Dr. Reams, and I’m sure it led to the many problems that I had back then. At 84 years of age, I feel I am a pretty good example of the benefits of it. I am extremely active and involved in many activities at my church and at our local Senior Center, where I direct the chorus. I do an exercise program at the center and also participate in water aerobics. I actually feel healthier and stronger than many individuals a lot younger than myself. I drive my car and make trips back home to New York state often; I travel to Maryland and to Ohio to visit dear friends at least twice a year and I look forward to each day with anticipation! I am also equally certain that God has truly blessed me by giving me a ministry of healing in our church which certainly ties into the work I have done in the program. I have the best of both worlds! (Sorry…I digressed there a bit.)

Betty and I had been at Roanoke for only a few weeks when we received a call from Canada. Betty’s friends, Corinne and Jim Gillespie, who originally introduced us to the program, were working out of their home in Toronto, doing testing and really were developing quite a clientele in their area.

They had just tested a 10-year-old boy who had Hodgkin’s disease. He had a large tumor in the shoulder area and had already had several operations as well as radiation and chemotherapy. At this time, the doctors were planning a radical surgery which would have removed most of the left side of his body, all the way down to his waist….this in order to ‘maybe’ prolong his life for a short period of time! The boy’s teacher and her husband were appalled by what was happening and they asked Corinne if he could possibly come to Roanoke to go through our program, basically to save him from this horrendous surgery…they were willing to pay his expenses and try to give him hope rather than a death sentence.

His name was Tony Anthony diLorenzo. His family were fairly recent immigrants from Italy, spoke very little English and were terrified of losing their oldest son. Fortunately, the teacher had gotten very close to Tony, had visited him in the hospital and after hearing what the doctors had planned for the boy, they contacted Corinne about the Reams program at Roanoke. We immediately contacted Dr. Reams and asked about the possibility of bringing Tony to Roanoke.

After hearing Tony’s story, Dr. Reams said to get him on the next plane, but it wasn’t quite that simple! However, Corinne and Jim arranged for his travel to the states and got permission from the parents. Dr. Reams said that the boy was very ill and we didn’t know whether there was enough reserve energy left in him to turn him around, but one thing was certain – we would save him from the horrific surgery that was planned and which Doc was sure the boy would not survive.

Betty and I became temporary guardians of Tony; when he arrived at Roanoke, we put him in a room next to ours. Tony was a frightened little boy; he wore a cap at all times because he had lost his hair during chemo. He walked slightly bent over, holding his left arm protectively against his body. Everybody’s heart went out to this youngster. Luckily, our retreat director had a 10-year-old daughter, Amy, who promptly took Tony under her wing, showing him around and making sure he got to the lab on time, and he actually smiled for her!

The next morning, we took Tony to meet Dr. Reams.  All of Tony’s exposure to doctors had been extremely negative, and he burst into tears as we entered the office. Dr. Reams was a large man with snow white hair; he walked with a cane and looked a bit like Colonel Sanders of Kentucky Fried Chicken fame. He also had a very raspy voice due to injuries to his throat during World War II, and he definitely was a scary figure to this little boy. But Dr. Reams also had a wonderfully loving heart; he took Tony by the hand, sat him on his lap and reassured him. “Son,” he said, “don’t be afraid. No one here is going to hurt you. There will be no needles and no surgeries because that is not what we do here. We need you to drink lemon water and distilled water; we need to test you (and all that means is that you have to pee in a bottle twice a day.” Tony listened to Dr. Reams and he slowly relaxed, even tried a little smile. We left the office with a much happier child than when we went in.

We only fasted Tony for one day….he was too weak to do more than that. He was very cooperative because everything we said to him was positive and encouraging. This little boy wanted to get well. He wanted to play baseball….he never would have had a chance to do that if he had stayed in Canada. Amy supervised his schedule, even going in to sit with him to make sure he rested. These two youngsters were all over the retreat. As Tony began his program, getting the proper foods and supplements, we saw a change in him. Within two weeks, he began to gain a little weight, walk straight up…and we saw the numbers begin to change for the better. Luckily, Dr. Reams was at the retreat to monitor Tony’s progress. At that time, Laetrile was the great hope for cancer patients. We were able to get it from Mexico, via California, under an affidavit that stated that it was for personal use by cancer patients. Tony responded very well to the Laetrile, and one day, as he was taking a tub bath, that ugly tumor literally began to expel itself from the boy’s shoulder….scaring him, and us, half to death! We called Dr. Reams in and he looked at what was happening and he was delighted. He covered the shoulder with a bandage and told Tony that his cancer was on its way out of his body.

Tony was with us for about 6 weeks, and the change in him was dramatic and exciting. He became a normal little boy, and the other guests were horrified when he and Amy started skateboarding down the hill toward the dining hall. We reassured them by reminding them where Tony had been a few weeks ago…sick, scared, and without any color in his face. This was hardly that child; he had a new head of curly, dark brown hair, his eyes were sparkling, he could laugh and run and play. It was a wonderful experience for all of us.

When Tony left us to go back home, there was a sense that we had saved his life, and we gave the Reams program full credit, along with a special ‘thank you’ to God for answering our many, many prayers.

When we sent Tony back home, it was with full instructions for diet, supplementation and a source of obtaining Laetrile at home. Sadly, a few months after his return to Canada, customs was confiscating his Laetrile supply at the border, the Canadian Medical Association was beginning to harass Jim and Corinne Gillespie, who were faithfully keeping Tony on his program and working with more and more clients who saw how well the boy had responded to the natural therapies we were using. Finally, the authorities shut down Jim and Corinne’s operation, and they had to stop testing altogether. They were told to cease and desist or face prosecution for ‘practicing medicine without a license.’ It was a long, sad story and as I think back on that time, it seems that we were on the forefront of a revolution in the treatment of the metabolism of the human body which had been ignored for far too long.

Unfortunately, for people like Tony, it was a battle which they could not win. He ended up back in the care of the physicians and surgeons who were very angry at the ‘interference’ of the Reams program, even though we sent back a healthy, normal little boy. When Tony returned home, there was no sign of the disease that had wracked his body. For our part, we saw numbers on his daily testing that were coming in line, and an energy level that was truly remarkable.

Due to the fact that the Laetrile was no longer available and the supplements that were so important to Tony were also being confiscated, the Hodgkins disease came back. The doctors finally got to do surgery on him, and two years after he had made this marvelous turnaround, Anthony diLorenzo died at age 14. To this very day, I am certain in my heart that if he had been able to stay in the states, he would be alive today.

There were many, many more stories to be told about the retreat at Roanoke. Maybe they can be told later on; I just wanted to share Tony’s story in this chapter.

[So ends Part 4 of Elinor's RBTI story.  There is one remaining part in this series for Tinker Mountain.  She is also working on the Mexico retreat segments.]

© 2009 by Elinor Barnes

We started traveling north and realized we would be within a few miles of Roanoke. We decided to stop in and see Dr. Reams and tell him all about our time at Blue Ridge (Doc had not been to Blue Ridge in several months at that point) He had left the administration of the retreat in Eugene Reams and Dodie’s hands. We learned a great deal from both of them; they taught us how to test, how to read some of what was going on in the body, what regimen would be needed for different individuals to balance their metabolism. Dr. Reams always said that each body was unique; if God did not make 2 snowflakes exactly the same, why on earth would he make carbon copies of humans! They may share a lot of similar features, coloring, and cultural and religious customs, but they each have their own unique personality and God-given minds. Since the advent of DNA testing, we know that we can place people into categories by their genes, but the uniqueness is still in place within each one.

Luckily, Dr. Reams was at the retreat in Roanoke and welcomed us with open arms. We sat and chatted for an hour or more and suddenly Doc said, “Where are you going now?” We replied that we were heading home to Herkimer, and he immediately responded that we should stay at Roanoke and go to work for him there. Impulsive? That was Doc! Meanwhile, his secretary, Fern Stansfield had come in and we could see that she was not that enthusiastic about this whole idea.
Over the years, we learned that Doc wanted everybody to work with and for him for the advancement of the program; he spent little time or thought as to what they could contribute and even less time or thought on how he was going to pay them.

That was Fern’s department. They already had a fairly large staff at Roanoke and Doc had not even consulted his Administrator regarding hiring these ‘two little old ladies’ that had been at Blue Ridge. We had been called that, plus some other choice names such as ‘a couple of dodoes’ by Bob Hoskins, the head of the Agricultural Labs, Dr. Reams’ mineral and vitamin company.  We chose to ignore the name calling and set out to prove to everyone at Tinker Mountain that we could be a great asset to the retreat and to the program in general.

A bit later that day, we were finally introduced to the administrator of the retreat, Jack Shaver, along with his wife, Loretta, who was very pregnant. I will say right here that one of the greatest benefits of being involved with this program has been the wonderful relationships that grew out of working with so many quality people.

Each person involved in the Reams’ work brought their own story and a desire to help others. Jack and Loretta Shaver were no exception to that rule; they had left a very comfortable life in Salt Lake City to come east and work with Dr. Reams. They had seen many wonderful results with people that had been ill and been given up by the medical community as hopeless cases. After going through the program themselves and finding a path to better health for themselves and their family, they sold everything they had and came to Roanoke to take charge of Tinker Mountain Retreat for Dr. Reams. We have counted Jack and Loretta and their family as dear friends and extended family ever since. Jack passed away about 2 years ago; Loretta returned to Utah and still lives there. We often talked about all the things that happened in Virginia, a lot of which will be in the book which they had encouraged me to write a long time ago.

After meeting the administrator and getting his approval for us to start working at the retreat, we settled in and began showing everyone that we were ready and willing to work and to learn. The days were long but very rewarding. We began to learn all bout the program, thanks to Dr. Reams’ son, Eugene, who was a marvelous teacher….much better than his dad. That was because Doc was so far ahead of us in math and the chemistry used for the formula that he often talked over our heads…..also, he was at least a generation ahead of the rest of the world in recognizing that we could really affect our own body chemistry.

We brought the knowledge that we had gained at Blue Ridge and soon found our special niche at Roanoke. Betty began working with Eugene in the counseling office; I began working with Fern in the office and going around to visit the guests in their rooms as Doc would tell them what his findings were from the testing that was done twice a day. That was such a learning experience for me; I wanted to know how Doc saw what he did in those numbers and the reading of the sclera of the eye. It was amazing to sit there and listen to him detail a person’s medical history just from the numbers. If I was amazed, you can imagine how the guests were absolutely astounded at his readings. They always asked, ‘Who told you about that?’ when he would describe some illness or surgery they had, sometimes years earlier. He would always laugh and say, ‘It’s in the numbers’or ‘It’s in the eye readings.’

I am most happy to say that I can see a lot of what Dr. Reams could see…never as much as he could, but enough for me to analyze where a person’s body chemistry is and what is needed to bring it back into line. Dr. Reams always said that he could take a set of numbers and eye readings, adding age, height, weight and sex and it was like opening a book and reading what was going on inside that individual’s body. I heard him tell a woman that she had a tumor growing in her stomach; she was totally shocked and promptly made an appointment with an oncologist. She did not tell him about Dr. Reams’ assessment, but waited for his results….he told her there was nothing wrong with her, probably she had a bit of diverticulitis and she would be just fine. Then the woman made an appointment through her family doctor for an X-ray and, guess what?….there was a huge, possibly cancerous, tumor that no one had discovered despite regular check-ups. Woops! She opted for the Reams program instead of surgery and after several months on the program, the tumor actually shrank and much of it was resorbed into her tissues, she felt so well that she went back to work and, as we followed her for several years, there was no recurrence of the tumor or any spread of cancer anywhere in her body.

Does the Reams program work? I believe it does and my opinion has not changed in over 30 years.

[End of part III. Next we meet young Tony and laetrile. Feel free to post comments in the form of either feedback, questions, or kudos.  Rex Harrill has been assigned to arrange the sclerology seminar, but no date or place has been formalized.  Elinor remains ready to pass the sclerology wisdom that Reams personally passed her to others before passing from the scene herself.]

© 2009 by Elinor Barnes

At the end of that evening, an exciting and wonderful thing happened for Betty and myself. Dr. Reams called us over as everyone was leaving, and he told us in a very matter of fact way, “I want you on my team here at Blue Ridge. See me in the morning in my office.” Can you imagine our surprise and wonderment? His team? What did that mean? What did he expect us to do? Another sleepless night!

Betty and I wrestled with what seemed to be an insurmountable problem….what would our children think? We were sure that they thought we had gone ‘round the bend’ already! I would expect they would have padded rooms ready for us at the Funny Farm if we were to spring this new idea on them. Yet, even in the midst of the turmoil of our thoughts and emotions, we got more and more excited.

We could really be an asset to the administration of the program, which was pretty haphazard to say the least. It needed a couple of good organizers, and we could fill the bill in that area. Betty had wonderful organizational skills; she had been a pastor’s wife for nearly 30 years, and had been a teacher. I had worked in an office and had a very good background in office procedures. We were a dynamite pair!

Working at the retreat at Blue Ridge would give us an opportunity to look more closely at the program and to learn all about the testing program so that we could help other people achieve better health and wellness.

Then some reality set in. This move would mean leaving our comfort zone in Herkimer….our house was just nicely settled and we were enjoying the peace and quiet of our lives there. Some of our children were near by and we were free to go and visit the others any time we wanted to. We were deeply involved in our church; there were so many strings attaching us to our friends and families that we were really doubtful about the new challenges we would face at Blue Ridge. And…we hadn’t even talked to Dr. Reams about what he was expecting of us! Maybe we were worrying about nothing. So we decided to get some sleep and face Dr. Reams in the morning with our questions. Secretly, I think we expected that his answers would lead us to turn down his offer to be ‘on his team!’

Morning came, a beautiful summer day in the hills of Georgia, and we hurried through breakfast and headed for Doc’s office. He was already preparing to leave, but he took a few moments to explain his vision for Blue Ridge. (Here I will say that Doc had a lot of big dreams, as most geniuses do, but he was not overly practical!) He brushed off our questions with ease and told us to meet with Eugene and Dodie (his son and daughter-in-law). They would help us to work out the details. He also told us he would give us a month to go home, take care of any details of leaving, etc. Then he was out the door and gone, saying, “I’ll see you here in August.” So much for explaining what we were going to be doing; and oh yes, was this a paid position? We really couldn’t afford to just volunteer! There would be expenses connected with this move, such as keeping the utilities on at home; winter heating would soon be upon us; also, what to do with our cat, Smokey, and who would look after our home while we were away for God knows how long. Perhaps, these were minor details for some, but not for us; Betty was well into retirement age and I had not worked for several years due to physical problems; what were we thinking of?

Our next step was to really pray about this whole situation; it probably should have been our first step, but we were a bit overwhelmed with Doc’s approach. Anyway, when we finally got in touch with God about our dilemma, our hearts were put at ease, and we were assured that this new venture was in His plan for our lives. Okay, now how do we convince our family and friends that we were listening to Him…not just wishful thinking! Well, as usual, God was way ahead of us and He was paving the way.

On this note, we returned home to Herkimer, in fear and trepidation, to tell our family about the Reams program and our opportunity to become a factor in it. We never dreamed how much that program would influence our lives for the next 30 plus years. Our families accepted our plans to be at home for about a month, to close up our house, find a new home for our kitty, Smokey, and return to Blue Ridge to become immersed in this exciting new way of life for us. We both were feeling so great since going through the 10-day program at the retreat. We knew that the fast and the introduction of the nutrition program had benefitted us greatly, but we really knew very little about the total premise of the program…how to achieve balance in our bodies so that we could stave off the diseases that were just laying in wait for us….diabetes, heart problems, cancer, arthritis, dementia…all of the illnesses that seemed to beset the elderly in this country.

Back home we went, full of enthusiasm and plans for the next phase of our big adventure. Explaining our decision to return to Georgia for an extended period of time was not as easy to sell to our families and friends this time around, but I’m sure they knew that we were not going to be dissuaded….we were a stubborn pair! Everyone was concerned about my health and how well I would be able to handle working many hours a day, etc., etc. They also pointed out that Betty was nearly seventy…although that had not slowed her down. She could run circles around most people half her age! And so it was….we began making arrangements for our big trip to Blue Ridge, packed our car with some necessities for our little trailer, lots of summer clothes and lots of office supplies, which were definitely missing in our office down there.

We said goodbye to our families and friends and were on our way about three weeks after our return home.

Arriving back at Blue Ridge, we found that, as usual, no preparations had been made for us…actually, I don’t think they really expected us to return! They had no idea of how determined we were to become a real part of this extraordinary experiment. First, however, we had to find where we were to stay and what we were expected to do. Dodie showed us how the office was set up, more or less, and told us we were going to be responsible for keeping records on the clients, have charge of taking payments for their programs, and handling telephone calls for reservations.

Eugene took us on an apartment hunting tour the next morning. The first place we looked at was about a half mile from the retreat, a huge, old house that was desperately in need of repair. There was no furniture in it and we just shook our heads and said, ‘no way’. Eugene agreed that it really wasn’t a very good place for us, so we went further down the road….about three miles from the retreat to a small trailer set off the road in a woodsy spot. Now, mind you, the roads in this part of Georgia were not paved, were of red clay which could become a slippery sea of mud in a rainy season. Of course there were no street lights either. We went into the trailer and looked around. Although it was sparsely furnished, it would be adequate for our needs with a little TLC. There was electricity and running water, so we decided it would do; however, there were two small drawbacks…..there was no phone (This was in the days before cell phones), and no key for the door! Eugene assured us that the key must be at the retreat office…sure. (It never turned up in all the time we were there!)

The next day was spent working in the office and then embarking on a shopping trip for supplies for our little abode.  Now a shopping trip from Blue Ridge was about 20 miles; it wasn’t just down the street. We found a small department store and a nice grocery store and had a fun time setting up house- keeping.

All of this narrative is to explain how much we believed in what Dr. Reams was doing and how much we wanted to be a part of something that would benefit so many people. We saw miracles at Blue Ridge – people that the doctors had given up on were literally given a new lease on life. So many people had come there, as we did, not knowing anything about the program but having heard about it from a friend or a relative. The program worked for nearly everyone that we saw at the retreat. It was so simple and such a basic approach that most doctors pooh-poohed it out of hand. They depended on drugs and surgery and did not believe that the body had the ability to heal itself; yet, this was God’s provision for mankind. Put the right foods into the body and drink plenty of water, get plenty of exercise, plenty of fresh air and sunshine, take time to rest and restore the natural balance of the body and, barring accidents, you can live in good health.

I know that all of this sounds too simplistic; we only have to listen to all of the drug commercials on TV where we are told that we are the sickest people in the world. Yet, I know of many who have gone back to basics and are living healthy productive lives in spite of all the gloom and doom out there! I feel that Betty and I were prime examples of healthy living and the Reams program. The premise has always been to get the metabolism in balance and the body will take care of itself.

Betty went to be with the Lord in 2003 at age 91; she had been a living example of how the program worked because she had no more arthritis in her neck and back which had severely handicapped her movements in 1976 before we found the program. Up until 2002 she could actually bend over and place her hands flat on the floor without bending her knees. She worked with me in 3 different Reams retreats….Blue Ridge, GA., Plaza Santa Maria, Mexico, and Scituate, MA and was an inspiration to everyone she met.

We stayed at Blue Ridge until Thanksgiving of ’76. The weather turned very cold and we had a lot of freezing rain which made traveling hazardous. The population of the retreat fell off drastically and it was decided to finish the programs of guests that had started and then close for the winter. Actually, that decision was a final closure for Blue Ridge because Dr. Reams had already opened another retreat house in Roanoke, VA. He had leased a motel that had shut down and had space for up to 125 people at any given time in the Tinker Mt. Retreat. He had hired a Director and was getting staff trained in order to open in early 1977.

[End of part II.  Next is Tinker Mountain.  I hope all readers are appreciative of Elinor for taking the time to provide her first-person narrative of the early days of RBTI.  Feel free to post comments in the form of either feedback, questions, or kudos.  Her sclerology seminar is still being scheduled.  Although much RBTI literature refers to recording the engorged vessels of the white of the eye, hardly anyone writes about or seems skilled in matching those readings to organ dysfunction à la Reams.  Elinor hopes to pass the wisdom that Reams personally passed her to others before passing from the scene herself.]

by Elinor Barnes © 2009
An Introduction to the Reams Biological Theory of Ionization

Foreword:
It has taken me many years to arrive at the place where I am ready to write these pages. For the past 15 or 20 years, many clients and friends have asked me to do this, but I was too involved with actually working within the framework of the RBTI program, either at my home in New York State or in travels around the country. My friend, Betty Mosher, and I used the Reams method to get ourselves healthy and then were able to work with Dr. Carey Reams in several of his retreats. It was truly a learning experience for us at an age where we were retired and looking forward to the ease and comfort of home and family. But that was not to be.We both were told that we needed the retreat program, usually a 10-day program. We accepted Dr. Reams analysis of our numbers and went to Blue Ridge, GA, having no idea what we were getting into! Our friend, Gerald Phillips of Chicago, told us about the program and stated that ‘it will change your lives.’ It did, and that is just as true today as it was in the late 1970’s. It truly does change peoples’ lives when they apply the principles that Dr. Reams laid out.Another rule we followed from the very beginning with the Reams program. We did it exactly as Dr. Reams presented it. It worked, and there never has been reason to change it!As we begin this journey together, with all its ups and downs, it becomes abundantly clear that this is a way of life that can lead to an exciting future for those who desire the best that life has to offer us….the opportunity to live our lives to the fullest, obeying the rules that God laid out for His children many generations ago…that“our lives may be long in the land which the Lord our God has given us.”I hope my recollections will be a an inspirational story of one of the unrecognized geniuses of our time, Dr. Carey Reams.    …EB

So, Gerry, what is this new program you’re telling us about?

Betty Mosher and I first heard of Dr. Reams and his program for better health in 1976. This was shortly after my husband of 29 years died quite suddenly, although I was the one who had not been well for several years prior to that. I had never received a diagnosis from our medical doctors; in fact, I was told by one neurologist that ‘it was all in my head.’ My only comment to that was, “You’re right about that; that’s where it hurts!”

I had had periods of blackouts and tremendous headaches that totally incapacitated me. I often could not get my thoughts together in order to function at the simplest task; for instance, I recall standing in my kitchen, coffeepot in hand, not knowing what to do with it. I wondered at times if I was losing my mind; I could not stand being in crowds or in noisy places; I could not drive my car because I might get lost (even in my own neighborhood). Actually, I went from being a high functioning data entry person in a local industry to someone who sometimes could not remember how to do her job. I also had a lot of problems with equilibrium and would often walk into desks or walls, so the company decided I was definitely a safety risk and I was put on a leave of absence. I was never well enough to return to my employment which was not good for my morale! I began to feel that my productive days were finished.

The one positive thing that happened during this time was that a friend from earlier years came back to live in our area and we quickly renewed our friendship. She had become a widow in 1971; her husband, Father Edwin Mosher, was an Episcopal priest and our rector several years earlier. She had made many close friends in Herkimer and came back there to live in 1974. Luckily for me, she was available to take me to all my doctors’ appointments, which was a relief for my husband, Alfred, who was still working. Most unexpectedly, in December of 1974, Al contracted pneumonia, and developed complications with his heart and died on Jan. 25th of 1975 at the age of 57. My world changed after that; we had been talking about retirement for him and traveling and enjoying the rest of our years together. We had family in Pennsylvania and Florida as well as North Carolina, my husband’s home. The future looked pretty bleak at that point.

Betty, who had been my support during this time, had sold her home in Gilbertsville, NY, the last parish that Fr. Ed served. During many hours of conversation, we explored the idea of her moving in with me….first of all, I could not live on my own at that time; my children were grown up and out of state. I did not want to leave my home to live with them so this seemed a good idea; however, my house was not large enough to accommodate Betty’s furniture. We decided to put an addition on the house, giving her an apartment on the ground floor. That way, she would have her own living quarters and still be accessible to me if I was ill. It worked beautifully and we enjoyed the companionship greatly.

In the summer of 1976, life really took an unexpected turn; we went to visit friends in Grand Island, NY and there, friends of ours from Chicago, Gerald and Betty Phillips, introduced us to a program that he said ‘would change our lives.’

Indeed it did just that! We heard about the Reams program from Gerry who was very enthusiastic about it; he had just returned from taking the first course from Dr. Reams in Blue Ridge, Ga. We were the first people he ever tested. All that he had told us about the program made such good sense; just be aware that everything you ingest into your body has an effect on one or another of the body’s systems. For example, if you insist on putting salt on every food you eat, eventually it will build up as plaque along your arteries, narrowing them, and making you a candidate for a heart problem….either a mild heart attack, angina, or, if your reserve energy is low enough, it could trigger a major heart attack. (We equate reserve energy to the immune system…which gives our bodies the ability to fight disease).

Again, the premise of the program made great sense, and when we heard about the way that the testing – a simple urine/saliva analysis – could point out deficiencies of needed nutrients, we became excited about the possibilities of getting answers to our concerns about what was happening to our bodies. We seemed to be getting sicker and sicker, losing energy, and not being able to do the things we had previously done with such ease. The urine/saliva testing was followed by an eye reading identified as sclerology…it required charting of the engorged blood vessels in the white portion (sclera) of the eyes. Amazingly, this correlated with various organs of the body….heart, pancreas, liver, kidneys and the digestive tract. What it told was which organs were affected by those deficiencies shown by the urinalysis. All of this was accomplished without expensive testing and blood work! Impressive? You bet it was, after spending hundreds, if not thousands, of dollars on tests that never really helped that much. Most of them started you on a regimen of drugs and more tests!

Betty and I had the test done by our friend, Gerry and the results were sent to Dr. Reams down in Blue Ridge, GA. We had to wait nearly 2 weeks for his analysis and when it finally arrived, we were both told we needed to come to the retreat down in Georgia for a 10-day program to really turn our bodies around. That really shocked both of us, but Gerry explained to us that Dr. Reams felt that we could not really accomplish this at home. We needed the fasting program and close monitoring during the 3-day fast! Three days? No food? Not my idea of an ideal holiday! And who ever heard of Blue Ridge, Georgia?

However, after much prayer and consideration, we decided that it would probably be a sensible thing to do. We had been so impressed with the stories that Gerry had told us about what was happening to people who went on the Reams program, how they had felt so much better without resorting to drugs and chemical compounds which often tired them out and did nothing to help with their physical and emotional problems. Yes, this program also addressed emotional problems because many of them are caused by a metabolic imbalance.

You can imagine how scared Betty and I were by the news that we needed to go to the retreat post-haste. It was one thing to accept this program intellectually
because it made good sense, but quite another to leave our home and family in Herkimer and go traipsing off to Georgia. We knew no one there and didn’t have the foggiest notion of what we were getting ourselves into. We did trust our friend, Gerry, and we knew in our hearts that this was a turning point in our lives, so we bravely faced our children with the news that we were going to Georgia for this innovative alternative health program. Surprise of surprises, our families agreed that we should go and do it.

Our arrival in Georgia? We got to Blue Ridge late in the day, tired and hungry. We had been picked up at the airport in Chattanooga, Tennessee…about 60 miles from the retreat. The driver had proceeded to go on a shopping trip for supplies for the retreat. This was not encouraging! Arriving at the retreat, we were faced by a series of trailers (later elevated to ‘mobile homes’) which comprised the housing for guests, and a couple of buildings which were the offices and lab facilities. Hardly like a summer camp! In the office, we were met by a lady who obviously knew nothing about our arrival; she had to scurry around and find a room for us, which took the better part of another hour, really filling us with confidence! You know how organized we Northerners are; it’s hard to adapt to Southern ways. (Even though I had been married to a Southerner for 27 years)….but he had to adapt to our way since we lived in Herkimer most of that time!

Finally we were ensconced in a room which I will say was very neat and clean, supplied with twin beds and a dresser and a double closet. Then Dodie, the lady in charge of the office, went down to the dining room and found us some soup and salad for a light meal which we devoured promptly. There were no other people up and around at the retreat, so we decided to turn in and wait for the morning and the beginning of our great adventure.

We were up bright and early and followed a group of guess over to the dining room where we were told to report to the office for instructions….our fast was to begin that day! Bummer! The one good thing was that the sooner we started, the sooner it would end. Three days was not a lifetime, so we bravely went back to the dining room and picked up our supply of distilled water and lemon water; we had received our instructions at the office. We were to take four ounces of lemon water on the hour, every hour for 10 hours…8am to 5pm….followed by 4 ounces of distilled water on the half hours. We were to stay pretty much in our rooms to conserve our energy, and report to the lab for testing at 10am and 2 pm (urine and saliva samples). That was our program! Luckily, we had brought plenty of reading material which we devoured in between trips to the bathroom! Eighty ounces of liquid can keep anyone busy every half hour!

It was amazing to both of us that we did not feel exceptionally hungry; perhaps, it was because we were getting filled up on liquids. Also, the testing twice a day was interesting to us; we had to walk up to the lab building and give our specimens, but it also gave us an opportunity to talk to the other guests. Since misery loves company, we exchanged a lot of stories with them. We all envied the ones who had completed the fast and were beginning to eat regular meals. One of the most interesting effects of the fast was that almost everyone felt really great at the end of the fasting period; well, maybe that was natural. Who wouldn’t feel good after being denied food for 72 hrs. and then suddenly being allowed to partake of it again.

The three days passed rapidly and we were finally in the dining room for a real meal….well, not much of a meal really; just some very thin oatmeal, a slice of whole grain toast, and a cup of either coffee or tea. Yes, coffee was allowed for the habitual coffee drinkers. To abstain from it entirely would create some serious problems such as really bad headaches, to say nothing of what it would do to my disposition!

The highlight of the week was an evening meeting, which we suggested. All of the guests we had talked to were anxious to share their experiences and the reasons for their coming to Blue Ridge. We arranged to use the dining room after the supper hour. Since there was a piano there, and Betty played, we had a good excuse for a sing-along. Luckily, there were song books there as well. We had a wonderful time of sharing with many of the guests; there were about 40 on the program, most of whom were ambulatory. The stories that some of them told were amazing; how they found out about the program, what their illnesses and disabilities were and, often, that this was the last stop for them. The medical profession had done their best (or their worst!) and they had been given a prognosis that told them to put their affairs in order. Often, it was a very strange set of circumstances that set them on the path to Blue Ridge. They picked up a book and read about it or a friend had experienced great results with the program and shared it with them; it almost seemed that some people were destined to come and go through this simple program. No drugs, no chemical treatments, nothing but a simple test, a fast and a rebuilding regimen that seemed to work wonders. They seemed to gain energy, pain was relieved, and suddenly life took on a new meaning for them. Betty and I recounted our stories and in doing so, counted our blessings.

Many of them were very ill, with cancer, diabetes, heart problems and severe arthritis. All seemed to be upbeat and positive about what was happening to them.
On Saturday evening, we scheduled another meeting since the Wednesday one had been such a great success; by then, Betty and I were nearly ready to go home. We had been there almost 10 days, we both were feeling great and wanted to go home and share our experience with all our friends. How naïve we were at that point in time!

In the midst of our evening session, while we were singing some favorite hymns, lo and behold, Dr Reams came in! He had just flown in from Pennsylvania with his secretary Fern Stansfield (who was to become a lifelong friend.) Doc took over the meeting and we spent a couple of hours listening to him tell stories of how he discovered the way to treat all diseases….the simple solution! He was such an unpretentious person who gave God all the credit for his insights into the human body, we all felt humbled by his dedication and love for mankind.

[Next: Reams says, "I want you!"]