News Briefs for June 15, 2018
News reports from: Providence, Rhode Island; Oahu, Hawaii; Brazil; Southern Adventist University; Hermiston, Oregon; Windsor, Ontario; and Denver, Colorado
The roof on a newly-built addition to an Adventist Church in Providence, Rhode Island collapsed on Sunday afternoon. Nobody was in Providence Spanish Seventh-day Adventist Church during the collapse so no injuries took place. Pastor Nestor Ampar told WPRI News that the church had raised $1.4 million to build the addition.
Kathryn Raethel, president and CEO of Adventist Health Castle on Oahu island, Hawaii, was one of five women interviewed for an online Forbes article titled Tips For Women Heading To The Executive Suite. Her advice for women was to take more risks: “Women have a tendency to be self-limiting—we think we can’t do something because we fail to appreciate our abilities. Because of that, we’re sometimes less willing to take risks, step outside of the box, and pursue an opportunity that presents itself.”
The Office of U.S. Foreign Disaster Assistance announced on its Facebook page that it is working with the Adventist Development and Relief Agency to assist Venezuelans who have fled to Brazil. This week, ADRA distributed hygiene supplies, water jugs, footwear, and bedding – to Venezuelans in Brazil’s Roraima State.
Myron Madden, a Southern Adventist University alum as well a writer for Chattanooga’s Times Free Press won a 2nd place Green Eye Shade award for magazine feature writing. According to a June 14 Facebook post by Southern’s School of Journalism and Communication, the award was from America’s oldest regional journalism contest which was sponsored by the Society of Professional Journalists.
A fire that destroyed much of the Hermiston Adventist Church, in Hermiston Oregon is being tied to a lamp that investigators say was too close to a table. Umatilla County Fire District 1 estimated the fire damage to be worth $3 million. According to the East Oregonian, Hermiston Adventist Church hosts an annual Journey to Bethlehem village (a recreation of the Nativity story) an experience for which it is known in the community.
According to the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, a break-in resulted in the loss of televisions, chromebook laptops, projectors and laptops from Windsor Seventh-day Adventist Church in Windsor, Ontario. The church doubles as an elementary school for around 35 children. The church’s community food bank was also ransacked. Const. Andy Drouillard of Windsor Police said that there might be a connection between this crime and similar incidents that took place recently in the area.
According to Denver’s ABC 7 station, more information has emerged about a state report into a sterilization breach at Denver’s Porter Adventist Hospital earlier this year. The Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment’s found 76 instances of contaminated surgical instruments and trays being used at the hospital between Jan. 1, 2017 and April 2, 2018. Investigators found bone fragments, blood, a dead bug, cement, hair and black residue on the instruments. The hospital sent letters to approximately 5,800 patients who had received orthopedic or spinal surgeries at the hospital between July 21, 2016 and April 5, 2018, notifying them that they had been exposed to potential infection due to a problem with the sterilization process of various surgical instruments. For almost a week starting Friday, April 6 this year, surgeries were suspended at Porter due to a residue found on some surgical instruments that was deemed to be the result of a water quality issue. Surgeries restarted at the hospital on a limited schedule on Thursday, April 12.
