By Richard H. Hart ’70
For this AIMS Report, we invited Dr. Hart and the Adventist Health International (AHI) office to highlight the four Loma Linda University Health (LLUH) Global Campuses. These campuses are located at a limited number of LLUH’s international partner sites to help strengthen health care within the countries and surrounding regions and to serve as hubs to concentrate LLUH service and global outreach activities. Several School of Medicine alumni currently serve at these locations.
In retrospect, the first half of the last century was an incredible time of growth for health care in the Seventh-day Adventist (SDA) Church. Around 100 hospitals, two per year, were established between 1900–1950, most by Loma Linda University graduates as they answered the call to service. The next 50 years saw some of these hospitals flourish, while many others suffered from decaying buildings, broken equipment, and difficulty recruiting professional staff. In response to this situation, Adventist Health International (AHI) was created to reverse these trends and provide a continuing opportunity for our graduates to fulfill their dream of service abroad.
AHI now works with over 40 mission hospitals around the world, repairing and replacing equipment, upgrading staff, strengthening finances, and supporting all the other requirements for institutional survival. Over the past decade, it has become clear that the SDA Church would be greatly benefited by having a few larger hospitals to serve as educational and referral centers on each continent. Malamulo Adventist Hospital in Malawi was chosen as the first institution to become a Global Campus for Loma Linda University Health. This has worked very well, with a growing list of specialty services provided there, along with a residency program in surgery, with others planned.Â
Now, three additional sites are being upgraded to Global Campus status: Haiti Adventist Hospital in Haiti, for the Americas; Scheer Memorial Adventist Hospital in Nepal, for Asia; and Béré Adventist Hospital in Chad, to serve French-speaking Africa. This endeavor will require considerable financial support to replace old buildings and expand clinical services. This process has begun with some major financial commitments to each site. These institutions, in turn, can provide training options for physicians and other staff from adjoining countries.
Elements of a Global Campus
- A Global Campus should have the capability to model new techniques, participate in research protocols, provide quality training for both local and international personnel, and demonstrate best practices in management, clinical care, and community engagement.Â
- A Global Campus should possess these elements:Â
- It should be a mutually beneficial partnership, with stakeholder interest and support from both the international site and LLUH.
- It should support interdisciplinary activities which include education, health care, and research components.
- Activities should include broad involvement from LLUH, including collaboration with one or more schools, hospitals, and/or entities.
- It should have a range of practice settings, including hospital, school, and/or satellite clinics.
- Other considerations include: physical accessibility, political stability, inviting culture, openness to new ideas, capacity for growth, multiple donor agencies, diverse expertise, research capacity, broad spectrum of diseases, educational programs, and supportive government and church system.
Malamulo Adventist Hospital
Malamulo Adventist Hospital was recognized as the first Global Campus of LLUH in 2012. It is a 275-bed hospital in the rural location of Makwasa, in Southern Thyolo District of Malawi. The Malamulo Mission was founded in 1902. The hospital started as a clinic in 1915, then as a leprosarium in 1925, and developed into a referral hospital by 1953. The hospital is a surgery residency training site through the Pan-African Academy of Christian Surgeons.
Haiti Adventist Hospital
Haiti Adventist Hospital is an urban 70-bed facility. What began in 1968 as an outpatient clinic has since expanded into a full-scale multi-specialty hospital. Haiti Adventist Hospital is able to offer accredited rotations to medical students as well as residency/fellowship level training in orthopedics, advanced limb-lengthening, and reconstructive surgery. As of 2022, it is officially recognized as a LLUH Global Campus.
Scheer Memorial Adventist Hospital
Scheer Memorial Adventist Hospital is situated in the semi-urban setting of Banepa, Nepal. Established in 1960 by the first Seventh-day Adventist missionaries in Nepal, Stanley G. Sturges ’55 and his wife, Raylene, Scheer Memorial Adventist Hospital began as a modest 20-bed hospital. Today it is a 150-bed facility offering a range of specialties to the severely medically underserved region. As of 2022, it is officially recognized as a LLUH Global Campus.
Béré Adventist Hospital
Béré Adventist Hospital (BAH) is a rural, 70-bed institution that was established in 1980. This site currently hosts the most deferred mission appointees from Loma Linda University and offers surgical, OB-GYN, family medicine, and emergency medicine services. BAH regularly hosts a variety of different student and resident rotations. This hospital is in the beginning stages of building a new surgical block and is working toward becoming a Pan African Academy of Christian Surgeons training site in the future. As of 2022, it is officially recognized as a LLUH Global Campus.
Dr. Hart serves as president of LLUH. In addition to his medical degree, he holds a doctor of public health degree in international health from Johns Hopkins University. Dr. Hart is board-certified in preventive medicine.