BY RICHARD HART, chancellor of Loma Linda University

fter months of paperwork, red tape, and much prayer on the part of Loma Linda University (LLU) students and staff, the U.S. federal government transferred ownership of a 42,300 square-foot clinic to the university to be used as an outpatient medical facility that provides health services for minimal fees to homeless and low-income residents of the Loma Linda, California, area. Reviewing how the outpatient clinic has evolved over the years, those involved with the project called Social Action Corps (SAC) describe the acquisition of the new facility as a miracle.

SAC was first organized more than thirty years ago when a small group of staff and students at LLU were struggling with their humanitarian responsibility to the growing number of migrant families and medically underserved living in the communities around Loma Linda. While medical costs were considerably less in those days, many people had no financial resources for or access to health care. The students wanted to provide some basic health services, so they started talking to their faculty and others to find support. Don Bauer, then associate pastor of the University church, agreed to sponsor the group, and a growing number of medical faculty volunteered their time to supervise the proposed clinics.

While the group of involved students kept changing over the years, the gratitude of the many medically underserved was sufficient to keep the spirit of the SAC clinics alive. New students swelled the ranks. On occasion other services were added, such as big brother and big sister tutoring programs and various health education services. Available facilities also changed because of SAC's inability to pay rent and occasional clinic burglaries in some high-crime communities. Finally, the clinics settled into three evenings each week-at Frazee Community Center in west San Bernardino (owned by the United Methodist Church), and in the basement of a Salvation Army church in north Redlands.

For 20 years sophomore medical students with their beginning clinical skills, together with volunteer faculty, saw approximately 3,000 patients each year. Through the years minimal financial support, primarily for supplies, came from various organizations, including the Loma Linda University church, Loma Linda University Medical Center, and the Southeastern California Conference. As SAC's reputation grew, the local United Way organizations stepped in and helped pick up some of the clinic's necessary support.

When the national recession hit California in the late 1980s, the number of patients coming to SAC rose. Patient lines were long, and on numerous occasions clinic hours stretched to 11:00 p.m. Part-time SAC coordinator Janice Maynor Crayk and Preventive Medicine physicians realized larger facilities were needed, but no capital was available to purchase or rent suitable buildings.

Many calls were made to real estate brokers and building owners to request a donated building to provide health care to the poor. Then at a United Way meeting, someone suggested to Crayk that she contact Norton Air Force Base. Norton was closing and converting to civilian use, and there was a clinic that might become available. Norton was located only three miles from Loma Linda, next to a low-income area in east San Bernardino where many SAC patients lived, so even though it seemed like a "long shot" to the SAC group, they decided to investigate. When Crayk and other SAC personnel visited the base, they were given a tour of the clinic by the captain in charge. The fully equipped acre-size building had 40 examination rooms, 20 dental operatories, a clinical laboratory, a radiology department, and considerable office equipment. "It simply seemed more than we could hope for," says Crayk.

As the tour ended, the captain said to the group, "If you are thinking of applying for this building, I can stop shipping equipment out as soon as I have a letter indicating your interest." The captain received the letter that same afternoon.

The next day the long process of applying for the building began. Officially, it needed to be declared surplus property by the Air Force and transferred back to the Department of Defense. It would then be transferred to either the federal Department of Health and Human Services or the Department of Education for determination of its future use. However, the McKinney Act declares that any bona fide organization caring for the homeless has first priority in obtaining surplus government property. While SAC provides health care for the homeless, it is not considered a homeless service organization. And several other community organizations were also interested in acquiring the property. The race was on. Several months went by after the application was submitted with no response. Finally, after more paperwork, SAC received a call from George Hoops, who was responsible for property being transferred from the federal Department of Education. "Everything appears to be in order," Hoops said. "I'll sign the property transfer papers on Monday."

On Tuesday, SAC received tragic news. Hoops had died of a heart attack on Sunday while mowing his front lawn. SAC personnel were saddened by the news, and now the process would need to wait for another review.

After several more months of waiting, the official letter finally arrived giving the property to LLU. Local authorities presented the keys. The building and three associated trailer complexes with an additional 7,000 square feet of space on more than 6.5 acres of land were now owned by the university. The property had a total estimated value of $6 million. The building had been vacant for several years. It needed a thorough cleaning and had to be brought into compliance with local building codes. The months of waiting had been used to raise considerable financial support from interested alumni, local businesses, and several foundations. The LLU councilors had made a five-year commitment of $500,000 to SAC and its sister organization, Students for International Mission Service. The W. K. Kellogg Foundation heard about the plans and donated $552,000 to help establish the clinic. During this time SAC had also been incorporated into a new non-profit organization affiliated with the university-Social Action Community Health System (SACHS).

Nine years after opening SAC Norton, SACHS now has two smaller satellite clinics as well. The patient count is more than 150 people per day, nearly 40,000 annually, with the number still climbing. Services include primary care, dental care, speech therapy, maternal and pregnancy care, mental health and counseling, many health education services, and a variety of preventive programs. While some patients are eligible for various government programs that subsidize health care, more than 60 percent of the patients seen have no insurance or coverage of any kind. Many have minimum wage jobs that provide no possibility of obtaining health coverage.

Many of the working poor and underserved people in the community were familiar with the technological and educational accomplishments of LLU, but they had had very little personal contact with its programs or people. Now they are experiencing the kind of care and concern that the Adventist Church and its people provide around the world, and the students are confronting the challenges of relating with families who literally live on the edge of survival every day. A few months before her death, Sister Teresa was asked by a reporter, Didn't she get tired of always working for the underserved with so little evidence of success? Was it all worth it?

"God did not call me to a mission of success," she said. "God called me to a mission of mercy." Loma Linda's SAC Health System is committed to emulate that model in its service and in the lives of its students.

ISRAEL: First Women's Ministries Retreat Held in Israel
Thirty-four women from Romanian, Russian, English, and Hebrew-speaking churches met in Kibutz Sasa, Northern Galilee, on September 16-18 for the first Adventist women's ministries retreat held in Israel. Organized by Israel Field women's ministries director Nina Usachev, the event featured Trans-European Division women's ministries director Anne-May Wollan as the keynote speaker.

"These retreats are so important for women, especially in areas where women are isolated. They often feel so alone," says GC Women's Ministries director Ardis Stenbakken. "Special presentations at retreats can greatly help their personal and spiritual growth. They help stabilize new members and bring back women who have drifted from the church. I am grateful to the women who work so hard to plan these retreats."

The three-day event included praise and worship celebrations; health checks; seminars; cooking demonstrations; and a tour of Tel Aviv, Bahai, Haifa, Nazareth, and the Sea of Galilee.
                                --Trans-European Division communication/AR

HUNGARY: Church Leaders Meet for Planting/Leadership Training
More than 80 church leaders from 12 countries, including 25 from the United Kingdom, met in Budapest, Hungary, September 12-14, for the third of six church-planting training modules. The event was organized by Peter Roennfeldt, ministerial association secretary for the Trans-European Division, and was attended by officers of unions and conferences and other church leaders across Europe.

During the training attendees learned skills for recruiting and assessing the needs of pastors and members who want to plant new churches, both in areas where there is no Adventist church and in areas that are not effectively reached by traditional evangelistic methods.
                                                                        --BUC News/AR

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