News Briefs for January 25, 2019
News reports from Jamaica, Washington, D.C., Sydney and ADRA International.
The Adventist Church in Jamaica is asking local congregations to “Adopt-a-Clinic” and collaborate with one of the government’s 100 community clinics nearby in a new public health initiative that focuses on exercise, healthy diet and a healthy lifestyle. “We welcome the efforts of the Ministry of Health, said Pastor Everett Brown, president of the Seventh-day Adventist Church in Jamaica, pledging to help “improve the lives of our fellow citizens.” He encouraged local church leaders to visit their local clinic and identify opportunities to support the health professionals. Brown suggested organizing volunteers to improve facilities by repainting, repairs and providing necessary equipment. There are more than 300,000 Adventists among the 3 million population in the Caribbean island nation.
From the Columbia Union Conference Visitor – The federal government shutdown at the end of 2018-early 2019 stopped the paychecks of 800,000 federal government employees.Seventh-day Adventists in the Washington metro region are working to lessen the impact by sharing food and trying to do their part to keep public parks clean.
A Sydney Adventist Hospital (San) surgeon has been announced as a finalist in the 2019 New South Wales (NSW) Women of the Year Awards in Australia.
Ear, nose, and throat surgeon Payal Mukherjee is one of four finalists for the NSW Premier’s Woman of the Year, an award that recognizes an exceptional achiever who has made a significant contribution to NSW and is a strong role model for other women.
Professor Mukherjee is the deputy chair of the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons (RACS) NSW State Committee, the ENT Research lead at the Institute of Academic Surgery at Royal Prince Alfred Hospital, and a member of the Meniere’s Research Fund (Sydney Medical School).
As a clinical associate professor at the University of Sydney and an adjunct professor at the University of Wollongong, Mukherjee places particular importance on research and teaching. She has also been a strong advocate in promoting surgical innovation and in gender equity in surgery, as well as calling attention to domestic violence affecting patients and health-care workers.
Mukherjee is at the forefront of using new technologies, including augmented reality, virtual reality, and 3D printing, to transform the health care system.
As a mother to a young daughter, she is passionate about education and literacy development. She is committed to inspiring young women to pursue STEMM (science, technology, engineering, mathematics, and medicine) careers in surgery and medical technology.
The 2019 NSW Women of the Year Awards will be presented at a ceremony in Sydney on the eve of International Women’s Day, Thursday, March 7.
This is not the first time a woman working at the Seventh-day Adventist health care institution located in Wahroonga, NSW, has been shortlisted for the award. In 2017, the San’s surgeon Catherine Birman was honored with the Woman of the Year Award by NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian.
According to the San’s sources, associate professor Birman is one of the most experienced cochlear implant surgeons in the world. As of early 2017 she had performed more than a thousand cochlear implant procedures, including more than 200 at the Adventist hospital.
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