Coordinator Appointed for Adventist Response to Ebola Outbreak
From ANN, Dec. 23, 2014: Elizabeth Foulkes has been appointed coordinator of the Adventist response to the deadly Ebola disease around the world. The Adventist Development and Relief Agency (ADRA) will take the lead as the global denomination and its numerous entities respond to the current Ebola outbreak in West Africa and possible future crises. The agency last week hired Foulkes, who previously worked on the international health team at World Vision, the largest Christian multi-denominational humanitarian organization.
Foulkes earned a master’s degree in global health from the School of Public Health at Loma Linda University. She will coordinate the Ebola activities of the denomination’s health ministries department, Adventist Health International, Loma Linda University, ADRA International, and the ADRA offices throughout West Africa. “We want to have a united approach, especially in terms of utilizing the church’s networks in the affected countries,” said David Holdsworth of ADRA’s Emergency Management Unit.
Foulkes said she entered the field of global health because she wanted to be involved in Adventist health ministries worldwide. She told ANN that she has previously worked to pull organizations together, and this new position allows her to do similar work on a larger scale. “This is a really interesting situation that no agency, including ADRA, has ever faced before,” Foulkes said. “It’s both a learning opportunity as a recent graduate as well as an opportunity to pull different Adventist entities together to work as a team. … There are a lot of people working on this, the General Conference and union and local conferences and universities, and I’m really just helping to facilitate all of those efforts,” she added.
The Ebola outbreak this year has infected nearly 18,600 people and taken the lives of more than 6,900 people, according to a report last week from the World Health Organization (WHO). Most victims live in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone.
Ebola is spread through direct contact with bodily fluids and tissue of an infected person. Those most at risk are health care workers and family members caring for someone infected with the virus, according to the WHO. Case fatalities range from 25 percent to 90 percent depending on the amount of treatment available.
Foulkes said the people affected by the virus are not only those infected with it. Ebola also affects citizens who have less access to health care and food. One of ADRA’s primary responses to the crisis so far has been providing emergency food rations to those affected. ADRA is coordinating with the United Nations Food Programme and seeking educational grants from several governments, including the United States, Germany and Denmark.
Adventist organizations have already responded to the crisis with hundreds of thousands of dollars in supplies and equipment. Donn Gaede, secretary of Adventist Health International, commended ADRA for funding the new position. “This new hire is another one of ADRA’s contribution’s to the overall effort,” Gaede said.
Dr. Peter Landless, health ministries director for the denomination, said, “I’m delighted that ADRA has not succumbed to Ebola fatigue. Adventist [organizations] have continued tirelessly to address at least some of the needs in the wake of this huge humanitarian disaster.”
Much of the denomination’s support has focused on two Adventist hospitals in the region; Cooper Adventist Hospital in Liberia and Waterloo Adventist Hospital in Sierra Leone. Both hospitals were closed temporarily for a quarantine period at various times over the past few months after several Ebola-related deaths. Cooper has reopened and is operating and treating non-Ebola cases. At Waterloo, the Sierra Leone government made renovations and will soon begin operating the facility as an Ebola treatment center.
The current Ebola outbreak is the largest in the virus’ 40-year history, health officials have said. Adventist health ministry leaders in August urged denominational leaders and members in West Africa not to travel and refrain from large public gatherings and personal affections such as hugging. The measures were “stringent but necessary,” Landless said.
The Adventist News Network (ANN) is the official news service of the Adventist denomination. Angela Taipe contributed to the reporting on which this story is based.
It’s my understanding that most SDA physicians who opted for a life of selfish indulgence instead of sacrificial service are going to burn in hell. The actual number of LLU graduates who go into bona fide mission service is negligible if even worth counting.
I may end up in hell myself but it won’t be for neglecting to employ my intellect and special skills in the service of the gospel.
A few years ago I read about a physician who had married a Chinese woman in the States. She wanted to return to China so he opened a practice in Beijing. I don’t know that he was SDA or even Christian but if can open a clinic in China,I’d like to know why others can’t aside from family responsibilities, business obligations, a lack of interest or [your favorite excuse].
So all you SDA physicians who took advantage of a school God developed to train missionaries and didn’t become one, perhaps there will be a special place for you in hell. Maybe I’ll be in a circle of hell nearby especially if LGT is an accurate Bible doctrine.
A totally unfair comment if ever there was one.
I know many LLU grads. Some indeed have shown little interest in medical missionary work. But plenty of others engage in full-time or avocational missionary work. The LLU grad who is closest to me (married to one of my sons) just set-up a Dermatology telemedicine service for Adventist hospitals in third-word countries. This will allow them to have remote access to a specialty that they cannot source locally.
This is but one of numerous examples where LLU grads individually and/or working in concert with that enterprise, do many things to push the best of medical services into other parts of the world.
I have a (Royal Rife Digital) machine that claims to get rid of ebola in two days:I have no way of knowing if that is true but I can say it will sure get rid of a sore throat and a cold in short order: The fastest I have got rid of a sore throat is thirty minutes:
Congratulations for sharing a possible solution to the Ebola crisis. Starting to research, RRD machine is under vicious attack by AMA and others. Being an advocate of natural alternatives this comes as no surprise. I hope others will research for truth and realize, modern medicine is profit driven and has very little to do with the well being of humanity, mission service or otherwise.
Jim, 2009, showed a total of 23 physicians and 10 dentists who graduated from LLU serving overseas (data from the Office of Archives and Statistics). That’s the entire world field and LLU graduates from numerous graduating classes
And how many LLU alumni and staff are engaged in many overseas outreach projects that do not involve full-time overseas service?
Jim, a 2 week holiday isn’t mission service. I would guess that very few give any serious effort to world service. Scripture calls us to present ourselves as living sacrifices, not part time holiday goers. Same is true for the church at large; however, I guess that physicians who used LLU to get a profession which would enable them to live deliciously while ignoring the foundational principles of that institution are going to have a serious accounting to give
Jim, Another way of looking at this question is in terms of $$$, apart from mission service or LLU graduation. Scripture says that those who will be rich fall into temptation and a snare, into divers and deceitful lusts which drown men in destruction and perdition. Jesus said it is difficult for a rich man to get into heaven.
How many “poor” physicians do you know? A board certified physician in practice his first year can earn ~$200,000. I don’t want to take food out of their mouths, not one morsel. How can one read a book like “Medical Ministry” and somehow think his medical license absolves him from responsibility to his fellow man. Sr. White says [really] a physician should have no higher salary than a pastor.
Sure, some have debt but some have physician parents or did military service in exchange for tuition. They leave school debt free so no excuse there.
If a physician is actually an Adventist atheist or simply an atheist who goes to a UC medial school and works at Kaiser, perhaps he will be measured by another standard that the recording angel keeps for special cases. That’s outside my expertise.
WE ALSO HERE ARE KIND OF TRAINED IN DISASTERS AND WOULD WISH TO BE INVOLVED IN THIS CAUSE.
Ssimon k mureu.
chaplain in EMERGENCIES
I implore you to research Silver Sol 10 PPM scientifically researched and proven to be a inhibitor of the Ebola virus, as commented below.
Living in the Philippines, SS10PPM is not available. My choice of virus killer is kefir water, also known as a powerful fortifier of your own bodies immune system and has been around for ages. Research of this remedy, along with kefir milk, will restore knowledge forsaken by modern medicine.
I make kefir water in my kitchen, and have been establishing a growing interest in my home community. Using nature is a Godly way and is free of corrupt drugs, medicines, vaccines, or whatever hits the market for profit, and has many side effects.
Checked back and was hoping for a reply.
The detailed conversation not heard hear or in the MSM, is description of the remedies/cures used for the recent Ebola crisis or whatever it truly is. One known cure to the US Gov’t and military, NGO’s, and suppliers is Silver Sol 10 PPM.
SS10PPM according to released unclassified documents has been researched since 2009 by gov’t and military agencies and even earlier in Africa. Anyone interested in knowing facts I give permission for my website to be published, visited, comment and email me. Only truth will stop Ebola. There is plenty of factual documentation, this is not an unproven claim but a sharing of facts.
So if we can pause on whose going to heaven or hell, and get a discussion on a remedy, I will gladly respond. Lives are being sacrificed and the motivation behind this present Ebola crisis has political and financial pollutions attached.
We need to ask, “Is there no balm in Gilead,and why are not My people healed”? I beg a response, please!