White Memorial Hospital

January 14 brought together the members of the Operating Board of the Ellen G. White Memorial Hospital located in the heart of East Los Angeles.

Along with the other board members, I was pleased to be present to honor a pioneer of Adventist hospital work in the Pacific Union--Mr. Frank Duper. Since 1974, Mr. Duper has been a member of this Board as well as serving as President of Adventist Health from 1981 to 1998. It was the passing of an era, really, to see Frank Duper humbly accept the tokens of esteem from the Board as he retired from its service on this day. He shared a heart-felt testimony to the Lord's leading in "The White's" history and left each of us with a sense of the struggles and victories that came through his experience as a praying president.



Our discussions also were framed around the realities written in the January 14, 2009 LA Times which included the following:

• "Hospitals across California and the country are reeling from the effects of the economic downturn and the troubled financial markets.


• Two-thirds of hospitals nationwide report experiencing a decline since July (2008) in elective procedures, which tend to be profit centers...Overall admissions also are down at more than a third of hospitals, reversing a long upward trend.


• With mounting job losses, more people without insurance are going without regular medical care until crises hit. That's adding to emergency room demand. In California, a third of hospitals report experiencing a rise in the number of uninsured patients in emergency rooms since the downturn began."

A related report from the California Hospital Association on January 7, 2009 shows a 73% increase in consumers having difficulty paying their out-of-pocket health care costs, and a 33% increase in uninsured patients visiting hospital emergency rooms.

This is the challenging environment that the church--both in its health care institutions and its local congregations--finds itself as we seek to bring the love and healing of Jesus amid difficult times.