As I look back over this year—my first—as president of Adventist Health, I am struck by the vast talent in our company. From our rural facilities like Tillamook County General Hospital to our largest urban hospitals such as Adventist Medical Center in Portland, Oregon, we have excellent people on staff. And they're not all doctors, nurses and vice presidents. Many of our best and brightest come from areas you'd never think twice about.
Take Plant Services, for example. The men and women of this department have a thankless, yet vital job. With skill and dedication, they keep our hospitals clean, beautiful and safely running 24 hours a day.
It's the same story with our volunteers. These devoted helpers give time, talent and expertise—for free. With their dedication, we are able to extend our mission throughout the halls of our hospitals and into the homes of our community.
Alongside them are our hospitalists. A relatively new physician specialty, these inpatient experts work hard to streamline the patient care experience.
Supporting all of these departments is our innovative Information Technology team. With boundless technological savvy, these professionals are pioneering systems to improve patient care—and everything else—within Adventist Health.
You'll read all about these extraordinary people and departments in this Adventist Health special edition of the GLEANER.
But why does it matter if we have the best technologists, the most dedicated volunteers or the most talented plant services personnel? It matters because everything they do enables Adventist Health to carry out its mission—to share God's love.
As 19th century English clergyman Dean Stanley said, "The true call of a Christian is not to do extraordinary things, but to do ordinary things in an extraordinary way." So I invite you to read about our system and our employees, and how they take the most ordinary tasks and make them extraordinary.
I hope you enjoy this spotlight on Adventist Health. If you wish to know more about us, please visit www.adventisthealth.org.
Side bar:
Facts about Adventist Health:
Headquartered in Roseville, California
18 hospitals in California, Hawaii, Oregon and Washington
23 rural health clinics
15 home care agencies offering home health, hospice, personal care, medical equipment and infusion therapy services
Three joint-venture retirement centers, with a fourth on the way
Approximately 18,000 employees
More than 2,800 beds
110,188 admissions in 2007
392,495 emergency room visits in 2007
1,969,779 outpatient visits in 2007
216,492 home care visits in 2007
92,202 hospice days in 2007
491,991 rural health visits in 2007
Adventist Health provided more than $2.5 million in free and low-cost services to our communities in 2007.
Bob Carmen
Author
