Exciting things are happening in the Portland, Oregon, area. A program started by a group of retired Adventist nurses and their friends at the Village Retirement Center is touching lives in many communities.
It began when I became lifestyle director for the Healthy Heart team. I received permission from the corporate office of a large grocery store chain to do a blood pressure screening once a month at the store near the Sunnyside Adventist Church.
At the first screening in November 2007 we saw 144 people. Greeters, secretaries, and nurses make up the team. Two nurses check blood pressure, and one health educator suggests lifestyle changes to those with elevated blood pressure. Fifty percent of the people we see have elevated blood pressure, and most of them are unaware of it.
With Marge Baker, health educator from the Village Retirement Center in Gresham, we sign people up who want help with lifestyle changes, calling them for follow-up appointments. We see each person once a week, usually for a period of four weeks. We put them on a simple program. Every week we give out health material and check their blood pressure. But it’s really the love we show and our prayers that help them overcome and make changes. God’s power working through us gives them motivation and success.
About the third week we start talking to them about God’s power as a solution to stress. We tell them we are praying for them and give them literature about Jesus. We always tell them we are living at the end of time and Jesus is coming soon. They never seem to resent our efforts to teach them about Jesus.
Mingling: Pastor George Gainer from the Pleasant Valley Seventh-day Adventist Church greets a guest.
Health Matters
Jeff had a hard time accepting the fact that he had high blood pressure. We sent him immediately to a doctor. He called us the next day for an appointment. That was in June 2008. I still see Jeff every two weeks. He has changed his lifestyle, and his blood pressure is down. He likes to study the Bible with me after I check his blood pressure. When we first met, he told me he was an atheist, but I sensed he was just seeking.
Now he’s reading The Desire of Ages. He says he loves that book, and one day he asked, “Does that mean I’m a Christian, Molly?” He also enjoyed reading The Ministry of Healing. He said, “That lady must have been inspired by God to write those books.” He wants to keep Sabbath and pay tithe. He is now looking for an Adventist church to attend.
All our experiences don’t last as long as Jeff’s, but we are grateful for the precious souls God sends to us. Marge and I average 50 follow-up sessions a month.
“Working with these people is not only fun, but very rewarding,” Marge says.
A woman named Thelma told me, “You’re an answer to prayer.”
Janet, a vivacious young woman, came to us with a blood pressure of 142/88—not “bad,” but not quite good, either. She had a family history of diabetes that concerned her. She readily accepted our suggestions for lowering her blood pressure, and two months later her blood pressure was 116/72. She was thrilled with the results from the few simple changes we offered. She now lives a new lifestyle and wants us to share our program with her church family.
After a few months of making connections with our blood pressure screenings, Lee, corporate director of pharmacy operations, said to Molly, “This is a wonderful program. Could you do it for us in more stores?”
Churches in many communities could do this program. It’s simple.
Building Slowly
The first year of the program saw slow growth. Then in April 2009 a group from Gladstone joined the Healthy Heart team. In June the Pleasant Valley group was added. In October the Stonetower group joined our team. In November Meadow Glade had its first screenings, and Rockwood church started in January 2010.
Our Healthy Heart team now has 200 volunteers. Each month we see an average of 1,000 people at our screenings. We have 12 churches involved in nine screenings. Because of corporate policies we cannot work in the supermarkets as a “church program,” so our churches have become “health centers,” and we became the “Health Heart” team. Each team tries different follow-up programs tailored to its community.
Pleasant Valley Health Center had a weekly health class for six weeks. Samantha loves the church and the pastor. She and her daughter, Vanessa, started attending church on Sabbath and are taking Bible studies.
Ministering: Members of the Meadow Glad Seventh-day Adventist Church do a screening in Battle Ground, Washington.
Darlene had very high blood pressure. In six weeks she made changes, her blood pressure came down, and she lost weight. She says she loved the class and the fellowship and would like another class to bring her friends to.
Chris Binder of the Gladstone team says, “My husband and I love this program. We could write a book about our experiences.” Chris and her team teach a monthly cooking class as part of their follow-up.
In September 2010 I went to Grants Pass to train a group in doing blood pressure screening at a large store there. Henry Martin interviewed me on Better Life TV. A month later I received a call from Sherleen Head in Eugene. She had seen me on Better Life Television and wanted information about our screening program. Her pastor, Roger Beltram, asked me to come to the Eugene area to help six churches interested in initiating screenings in three large stores in the area. After I did a training class, the Santa Clara and Veneta churches started screenings in local stores in their communities.
The Stonetower team has a large group of volunteers. They have health lectures and cooking classes one Sunday a month. They put out flyers advertising their class at the screening. Ken Hoffman, the coordinator, says, “Where else could you see 140 people in one day and give them an invitation to a class at your church?” They helped a gentleman lower his blood pressure. He, his wife, and their children are now members of the church.
Earlier this year I spoke to a dozen pastors in Spokane, Washington, where five stores are part of a regional grocery chain. In June we had screenings in the first of those stores.
Our church has successfully used health as an entering wedge in missionary work for many years. This is God’s plan, and the program will grow. When God opens a door, we’ll go through it.
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Molly Geddis is lifestyle director of the Healthy Heart Team. This article was published August 25, 2011.
