News Briefs for April 6, 2018
News reports from Dade City, Florida; Walla Walla, Washington; Indonesia; Haiti; Loma Linda University; Littleton, Colorado; and Malawi
The Tampa Bay Business Journal reports that Adventist Health System, has acquired the 120-bed Bayfront Health Dade City Hospital in Dade City, Florida. Adventist Health is integrating Bayfront Health Dade City into its system as well as its physician clinic operations and outpatient services. It has been renamed Florida Hospital Dade City. Adventist Health System now has 27 hospital campuses in Florida.
Providence Health & Services -Washington has bought four vacant buildings that belonged to Walla Walla General Hospital until it closed last year. The purchase will allow Providence to provide more access to primary care and outpatient surgical care in Walla Walla, Washington. The former Walla Walla General Hospital building is included in the acquisition.
AdventistMission.org claims to have found a Seventh-day Adventist dog. Dolby, the “best hunting dog in Suminka village in Papua, Indonesia” reportedly refuses to hunt on Saturdays and will not eat pork. Villagers were intrigued by the dog’s behavior, especially as it coincided with the end of some public meetings by an Adventist evangelist. The dog’s conversion reportedly convinced some villagers to become Adventist as well.
Haiti Libre reported that “Transform Me”, a large series of evangelistic meetings organized by the Adventist denomination’s Inter-American Division will end April 7. The series will culminate at the country’s Sylvio Cator Stadium where 15,000 members will witness a further 20,000 people being baptized in pools that will be installed on the lawn of the stadium.
Lifestyle site LiveKindly reported that a new study published in the International Journal of Epidemiology found that a meat-heavy diet is associated with a sharply increased risk of heart disease. Consumption of plant-based protein sources such as nuts and seeds was associated with a dramatically lowered risk of heart disease. Researchers at Loma Linda University Adventist Health Sciences Center in California, France’s AgroParisTech as well as France’s Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique collaborated on the research.
Elbert County News reports that Dr. David VanSickle, a neurologist at Littleton Adventist Hospital in Littleton Colorado, has developed a new surgical technique to significantly improve the quality of life for sufferers of several neurologic diseases including Parkinson’s. The procedure called deep brain stimulation uses a robot which places a pair of electrodes in the patient’s brain and can set back Parkinson’s symptoms by nearly a decade. Earlier versions of the surgery required the patient to lie awake during the procedure and took several hours. VanSickle’s innovation allows patients to sleep while a robot allows for precision placement of the electrodes.
The Malawi News Agency reports that five governmental organizations (NGOs) including the Adventist Development and Relief Agency (ADRA) have collaborated to train farmers in Malawi how to succeed in crop production that is being threatened by pests and fluctuating weather conditions. The project titled Better Extension Training Transforming Economic Returns (BETTER) will run until 2023 and will cost approximately USD 2.8 million. ADRA is teaming up with Action Aid, Evangelical Association of Malawi (EAM), Safe help Africa and Plan Malawi for the effort.
From Adventist News Network (ANN): Berni Fallery Kunu, a 24-year-old health worker, serving as part of a two-man team in a remote area of the Star Mountain regency in Papua, Indonesia, was killed on March 29, 2018. Kunu was a medical missionary serving with Adventist Aviation Indonesia (AAI), a service of the Southern Asia-Pacific Division of the Adventist Church (SSD). It is believed that he was violently attacked by a group from an area more than three days’ walk away, and possibly targeted in mistaken identity. Kunu’s body was found in a shallow grave near a river where he may have been bathing when assailed. The case is under investigation.
