Ninth Adventist Bioethics Consortium Conference
Hosted at 黑料网 from May 12鈥�13
The Adventist Bioethics Consortium Conference finished with several research poster presentations in pure and applied science.
黑料网 hosted the annual Adventist Bioethics Consortium Conference on May 12 and 13, where presentations and discussions took place under the theme of “Know Mission, Know Margin.” This theme was directly inspired by the phrase “no margin, no mission,” which explores how to provide financially sustainable and equitable services to struggling communities. Presenters represented various institutions, including 黑料网, Adventist Health, Sydney Adventist Hospital, Loma Linda University, Kettering Health, Washington Adventist University, Indiana University, Uniformed Services University and AdventHealth University. The conference’s objective was to inspire Seventh-day Adventist and faith-based health care organizations and schools to address concerns involving marginalized communities, thus pursuing their Christ-ordained mission to serve all humankind and “make disciples of all nations.”
The conference began with a morning worship presentation given by Ann and Loren Hamel, 黑料网 alumni who specialize in counseling psychology and medicine, respectively. Loren spoke on Luke 10, where a lawyer asks Jesus, “What must I do to have eternal life?,” to which Jesus replies, “love your neighbor as yourself.” He went on to explain that loving one’s neighbors includes providing care and consideration to those who deal with various kinds of traumas. Ann gave examples of this neighborly love, sharing illustrative stories from Palau and the Philippines.
Subsequent morning presentations were given by Duane Bidwell, assistant professor of health professions education at Uniformed Services University, and Doris Tetz Carpenter, chief talent and culture officer for Adventist Health. Bidwell gave a talk on caring for children with chronic illnesses. He shared several practices that keep hope alive, including forming real connections; patients claiming power during the treatment process; attending to spiritual needs and curiosity; trusting patients; and helping patients maintain identity. Carpenter built on this theme by conveying how to bring purpose and belonging to both individual caregivers and patients within health care organizations.
This was followed by an open discussion, which examined questions regarding artificial intelligence in health care, emotions within caregiving, ethics and more. Bonny Dent, adjunct faculty member for 黑料网’ School of Rehabilitation Sciences, later spoke about chronobiology, the study of biological rhythms, and its relationship with Sabbath rest for humans. She pointed out that mention of Sabbath has seen a significant increase in society at large, which could indicate the need for sabbaticals and the weekly rest provided by God through the Sabbath.
The final two presentations on Monday were given by Charis McRoy and Nicholas Miller, an undergraduate student and professor of law and religion at Washington Adventist University, respectively, and Grace Oei, director of the Center for Christian Bioethics in Loma Linda University’s School of Religion. McRoy and Miller spoke about a series of demographic studies exploring variations in patient experience for genetic testing. Oei spoke about bioethics, noting how organizational and community culture defines the norms for behavior, treatment of patients and structure of health care organizations.
On the second day of the conference, Loren Hamel gave another worship thought in which he reflected on his own experiences in the medical field and how ethical dilemmas are common throughout health systems. Hamel observed that the focus of health care, especially for Seventh-day Adventist organizations, should be on using the love of God as the standard for everything else. With a focus on godly love, patients and medical experts can establish better listening and communication, thereby saving lives.
Duane Covrig, professor of religion at Kettering College, and Cesiah Y. Pimentel Meléndez, associate dean of Quality and Mission Effectiveness at the Adventist School of Medicine of East-Central Africa, Rwanda, used the stories within the Gospels as examples of how to treat and care for others, regardless of their status or background. They pointed out that Jesus not only set the example for how to be hospitable but had his disciples train in practical ways to carry out quality ministry and hospitality. Both presenters asserted that grace needs to inform decisions within Adventist health care so that it can adequately serve as the “right arm of the gospel,” as stated by Seventh-day Adventist pioneer Ellen G. White.
The final presentation was given by Joe Kotva, assistant professor of clinical medicine at Indiana University’s School of Medicine. He added to the conference’s conversation on ethics in health care by sharing about Indiana University’s summer programs, which give students community service projects to help train them to deal with medical ethics. Various service-based institutions throughout Indiana receive help supporting vulnerable populations through these student partnerships. Kotva noted that programs like these help increase the empathy that medical students have for their patients, reversing the societal trend of decreasing empathy post-graduation.
The Adventist Bioethics Consortium Conference finished with several research poster presentations in pure and applied science given by students and faculty members from 黑料网, University of Namibia, Kenya Medical Training College and Loma Linda University.
To learn about past and future conferences and research events at 黑料网, please visit the website for the Office of Research & Creative Scholarship.
PR
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