Adventist Church Assists Thousands of Venezuelan Immigrants; and other world news

This week on ANN. Thousands of Venezuelans have migrated to Colombia because of the economic and political situation. Many in Venezuela have no safe place to live and no money to buy food or health care. The Adventist Development and Relief Agency (ADRA) in Colombia and the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) have partnered since 2018 to offer services to migrant families. Its latest partnership project, coined as SHAWA, which stands for Actividades Optimizas de Salud y Wash (Optimized Health and Wash Activities), for migrants in Colombia, has been offering primary health services. More than 114,000 persons have benefitted from the ADRA Colombia and USAID partnership through health services. Two people from East Taraka Seventh-day Adventist Church in Papua New Guinea have been confirmed dead. Others are in ICU after being involved in two separate motor vehicle accidents on the way to a Pathfinder Camp in Lae, Morobe Province. According to a Facebook post, the first accident involved a Pathfinder director driving a group of young Pathfinders to a camp organized by the Morobe Mission youth department. Sadly, the Pathfinder director died, and many of the Pathfinders are currently in ICU at Lae’s Angau Memorial Hospital. After the accident occurred, a parent was notified and decided to travel to the accident site but was killed in a separate accident along the journey. Adventist Record will provide updates. Loma Linda University (LLU) Children’s Hospital has been recognized as a recipient of the Gold Level ELSO Award for Excellence in Life Support from the Extracorporeal Life Support Organization for 2021. The Excellence in Life Support Award recognizes centers that demonstrate an exceptional commitment to evidence-based processes, quality measures, staff training, continuing education, patient satisfaction, and ongoing clinical care. LLU Children’s Hospital was selected as a Center of Excellence for demonstrating extraordinary achievement in the following three categories: (a) Excellence in promoting the mission activities and vision of ELSO, (b) Excellence in patient care by using the highest quality measures, processes, and structures based upon evidence, and (c) Excellence in training, education, collaboration, and communication supporting ELSO guidelines that contribute to a healing environment for families, patients, and staff. The La Soufiére volcano erupted for the first time after 40 years, sending an ash plume 6.2 miles high into the sky and reaching as far as to affect Barbados, Grenada, and Saint Lucia. The resulting ashfall was very heavy in the surrounding areas, reaching nearby islands and halting air traffic. An estimated 23,400 people were displaced to the southern end of St. Vincent Island and some neighboring countries. According to its global emergency response mechanisms, ADRA declared an emergency category two response and rapidly provided food assistance to displaced people at nine shelters. ADRA has already distributed more than 87,000 hot meals. In Panama, a small congregation of Seventh-day Adventists recently launched a community-wide impact initiative across the financial district of Panama City, a metropolitan area still dealing with the challenges brought on by the pandemic. The activity, coined as “Be a Hero, Save Lives,” was organized by the Bella Vista Adventist Church and featured a blood drive and free medical check-ups. Dozens of persons in the community were assisted when preventive health care can make a difference in their lives. ADRA in Bulgaria is responding to the continued COVID-19 crisis through a series of projects that will target thousands of Roma, homeless, and socially vulnerable persons in Bulgaria. Health indicators show Bulgaria falls behind most countries in the European Union in economics and life expectancy. The rate of adult smoking and alcohol consumption is also the highest in the EU, with more than one in four adults smoking daily. Local reports indicate the general population opposes being vaccinated and dismisses federal mandates to keep safe, such as wearing a mask and keeping six feet apart. According to official findings published in February, only 10 percent of Bulgarians are willing to be vaccinated compared to 52 percent who have refused. Adventist HealthCare recently earned a spot on the Washington Post’s Top Workplaces 2021 in the Washington, D.C., United States. Advent Healthcare was the only provider of medical services on the list of 200 employers from public and private industries, non-profits, and government agencies. Adventist HealthCare was one of only 12 organizations that The Post honored in the “Largest Companies” category. For more Adventist news and current events, go to Adventist News Network. Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kbk1fYr4CJo