Two German Adventist Health Institutions Will Link Research with Application

By: Adventistischer Pressedienst, and Adventist Review

Two Adventist institutions, the German Association for Health Care (DVG) and the Waldfriede Health Network in Berlin, want to enhance their partnership cooperation starting on January 1, 2022. Sara Salazar Winter, DVG executive chair; Bernd Quoss, Waldfriede Hospital CEO/president; and South German Union Conference (SGUC) president Werner Dullinger recently made an official announcement, which will be included in the October 2021 issue of Adventisten heute.

According to Dullinger, the idea of closer cooperation between the two Adventist health-care institutions was born at the board meeting of the SGUC. Guidelines for future cooperation were developed in workshops and decided by the members of the board.

“Even though the DVG and Waldfriede Hospital focus on different sectors of the health-care system (preventive versus curative), they share the common philosophy of a wholistic view of the human being and can benefit from each other at specialist and research levels,” Dullinger said.

Sharing New Medical Findings

As the largest Adventist health facility in Europe, Waldfriede Hospital has developed a high medical level, especially in the past seven years, Quoss said. For example, nutritional physiology plays an essential role in the oncology of the hospital. It is the reason the focus has been on nutrition screening and medical nutrition management for years. “It means that for us, nutritional therapy is an integral part of medical care and recovery of patients,” Quoss said. 

According to him, the Waldfriede network would like to pass on these findings in cooperation with the DVG to benefit people, patients, and community members. The advantages of cooperation lie in the cooperative division of labor and networking. The Waldfriede network will mainly provide medical knowledge, while the DVG will share this knowledge in training sessions and courses.

Other Joint Projects Planned

Winter said she is also optimistic about the idea. “We have started cooperation in the field of training and will be able to offer high-quality training in the field of health and prevention starting next year,” she said. Another initiative includes an annual health day, which should serve as a training and meeting day for DVG local groups, health consultants, and people in health professions. Together, leaders will decide whether stronger cooperation is also possible in other areas. According to Winter, the DVG’s educational offer will be expanded thanks to the training of trainers and an online course.

About the Adventist Health-Care Institutions

Since 1899, DVG has been promoting health based on a wholistic view of the human being in the areas of physical health, mental health, social relationships, and spiritual life. On the other hand, Waldfriede Health Network in Berlin includes a hospital founded in 1920, a day clinic, an academy, and the Waldfriede retirement home, among other institutions. It also consists of the Primavita health center and swimming pool, the Nikolasse private clinic, and the Waldfriede Desert Flower Center, which fights against female genital mutilation.

The original version of this story was posted by Adventistischer Pressedienst.