Good Done By The Paradise Valley Hospital Money
by Atoday News Team
The following is an opinion piece on the initial purchase of Paradise Valley Hospital by Adventists and its sale, over 100 years later…Eds.
Posted: Sunday, September 11, 2011 10:00 am
By Dylan Mann
In 1888, Dr. Anna Potts built a long-term healthcare center on a hill in National City where recuperating tuberculosis patients could rest, eat healthy food, and enjoy the majestic ocean view and Southern California sunshine. The area's lack of rainfall and other sources of potable water forced her to shutter the Potts Sanitarium just two years later.
The facility sat idle until a devout Seventh Day Adventist named Ellen White purchased it in 1904, talking Dr. Potts down from the $20,000 asking price and taking the liability off her hands for a mere $4,000. White felt that God directed her actions and believe the hospital would be hydrated through divine intervention. Perhaps that is what happened when volunteers dug exploratory wells and unearthed a substantial artesian aquifer 80 feet below the hospital grounds. With that discovery, Paradise Valley Hospital was born.
Various parties from the Seventh Day Adventist Church operated Paradise Valley Hospital (PVH) as a nonprofit from 1904 to 2006. The Adventists ultimately fell on tough times, as the hospital recorded losses ranging between $2 million to $7 million annually from 2000 to 2006.
