Advent Talk
SDA Media & News => SDA News Clips => Topic started by: Gailon Arthur Joy on March 01, 2008, 02:06:52 PM
-
Front Page of the Portland Press Herald- OB Unit closes. On Monday this SDA Hospital will cease being an independent SDA Institution and will merge into Central Maine Medical Center out of Lewiston, sources have told me. Over one third of their staff physicians were Loma Linda Graduates and more than half have SDA heritage. Founded in 1959, the institution was a quintessential SDA Medical provider on a quiet wooded lot in Brunswick, Maine which is bordered by the Brunswick SDA Church, an assisted Living Center and the Northern New England Conference retirement village.
This is the last of four SDA hospitals in New England to close and officially ends the medical work of the SDA Church in the New England / Atlantic Union Conference of Seventh-day Adventists. Beech Hill Substance ABuse Rehab Center of Harrisville, NH
built at cost of over $35MM was sold nearly twenty years ago and is now closed.
Fuller Memorial, an Adventist psychiatric Hospital in Attleboro, Ma was closed nearly a decade ago and the New England Memorial Hospital went bankrupt in 1999 with nearly $60MM of Longterm and short-term debt and was the source of ongoing litigation for years as adversarial claims were brought by providers and secured lenders against the hospital directors in an effort to reach the pockets of the Atlantic Union. New England Memorial was on a site actually selected by Ellen G. White. John Harvey Kellog frequented the institution as a visiting professor and surgeon. When it closed its doors, the SDA Church lost the New England Sanitarium Church and the Greater Boston Academy, which the purchasing developer leveled and transferred to a landfill.
Parkview Memorial has struggled for years and has had legal battles with OB staff that was originally part of Parkview and left to go to work for Brunswick General Hospital, now known as Midcoast, some years ago, takiing a large part of the patient population with them.
Where is our Adventist Hospital and Medical work headed???
A new life marks an end for Parkview
Officials blame the departures of obstetricians, an aging population and the pending base closure.
By DENNIS HOEY, Staff Writer
March 1, 2008
John Ewing/Staff Photographer
David and Christina Clark, with their newborn daughter, Carolyn Grace, leave Parkview Adventist Medical Center in Brunswick on Thursday. She is the last baby to be born at the hospital, which closed its maternity unit on Friday.
BRUNSWICK — The days when lullabies were played over the public address system to announce the arrival of a new baby are over.
Friday marked the end of an era at Parkview Adventist Medical Center, which closed its maternity ward at 5 p.m., amid reports that the hospital could soon see a change in ownership.
Officials at the Brunswick hospital cited the departures of three obstetricians, an aging local population and the pending closure of the Brunswick Naval Air Station as the chief reasons for closing the maternity unit. Since the hospital opened in 1959, more than 23,000 babies have been born at Parkview, on outer Maine Street.
"It's a sad time for us," said Sherri Day-Cienski, director of women's services. "And it's really been hard on the parents. They've come up here to say goodbye."
Parkview's administration and board of directors announced in early February that they would close the hospital's maternity program at the end of the month.
Sheryl S. McWilliams, Parkview's vice president, said closing the maternity unit has no connection to an announcement regarding future ownership of the hospital.
McWilliams said a press conference on that topic will be held Monday morning. She declined to provide additional details.
In a letter to the community, Ted Lewis, Parkview's president and chief executive officer, said two of the three obstetricians who left the hospital last year took jobs at Mid Coast Hosptial in Brunswick -- Parkview's chief competitor -- leading to a loss of patients.
That combined with an aging population and the expected 2011 closure of the nearby Navy base -- a facility that generates about 25 percent of the maternity ward's business -- convinced officials to close the unit.
Parkview, which allows physicians, nurses and staff to pray with patients, is one of four faith-based hospitals in Maine.
"We'll still be doing everything from cradle to grave, except delivering babies," said McWilliams. "Parkview is here not just to stay, but to grow."
In the meantime, however, the 19 nurses and staff assigned to the maternity unit will need to find other jobs.
Those familiar with the services provided by Parkview's maternity unit over the last five decades say the region is losing a program that has touched thousands of lives.
Dr. Alice Cunningham delivered more than 5,000 babies during her career at the hospital. She is retired and living in Brunswick.
"It's very sad," Cunningham said. "I don't want to think about it. But I guess that's life, and life goes on."
All four of Kristin Yeaton's children were born at Parkview. Silas, Oceana, Josiah and Isabelle range in age from 16 months to 8 years old. Her husband Ben, 37, was also born at Parkview.
The Phippsburg family would do it again. Yeaton said she enjoyed the lullabies that were played every time a child was born.
"I like the spiritual part to the hospital. You feel that God's hand is everywhere," she said.
Victoria Emde of Topsham has been a patient at Parkview's maternity ward twice in the past six years.
Her daughters, Ella and Madeline, 2 and 6, were born there and her husband, Jeff, spent the night both times in a chair that folds down into a bed.
"It's going to be a big loss for this community," Emde said.
According to records kept by Parkview, Elaine Joy Laigle was the first baby born at Parkview. Her birth date was July 13, 1959.
Carolyn Grace Clark became part of hospital history on Tuesday as the last baby born at Parkview.
The newborn, with tiny tufts of dark brown hair and rosy cheeks, left the hospital Thursday afternoon with her parents, Christina and David Clark of Lisbon, after they were treated to the ward's traditional celebration of life meal.
Clark, a Navy flight engineer at Brunswick Naval Air Station, is among those servicemen who will be leaving the area as the base begins to move its squadrons to Jacksonville, Fla.
Christina Clark said she asked for her labor to be induced Sunday night because she did not want to give birth at another hospital.
Parkview's birthing rooms, which feature rocking chairs, curtains and wallpaper, were too inviting.
"I loved that Parkview was small and charming. We found that Mid Coast Hospital was more up-to-date with all the new technology, but it didn't have that human touch that Parkview does," Christina Clark said. "This feels like home."
Staff Writer Dennis Hoey can be reached at 386-0320 or at:
dhoey@pressherald.com
Copyright © 2008 Blethen Maine Newspapers
-
I'm confused. :dunno:
The Dennis Hoey story only mentions the closure of the maternity unit, not the merging of the while hospital with Central Maine Medical Center.
-
Our sources were "rest of the story". And today we have "the rest of the story":
Central Maine to acquire Brunswick hospital
By Ann S. Kim Portland Press Herald Staff Writer
March 03, 2008 11:37 AM
1:43 PM-BRUNSWICK — The owner of Central Maine Medical Center plans to acquire Parkview Adventist Medical Center, officials from both organizations announced Monday.
The organizations have signed a letter of intent to enter into a corporate affiliation agreement. Parkview would become a wholly owned subsidiary of Centeral Maine Healthcare, which owns Rumford Hospital and Bridgton Hospital in addition to the Lewiston medical center.
The details of the agreement, including the price, will be worked out in the coming months. It’s expected that the deal with be completed by the end of the summer, said Sheryl McWilliams, vice president of Parkview.
Gailon Arthur Joy
-
Oh my - how very sad. I was born at Parkview back in .... ahem....never mind... :(
-
My first paycheck was from Parkview.....I washed pot's, Pans and dishes in the cafeteria ;D
The sad thing is the sacrifice that Dr.'s Bettle, Weaver, Westermire and Clark made to developed Parkview.......When they started Parkview, 50 years ago, there wasn’t even a Brunswick church..... we rented the local Congregational church building! Now they have a large, more then 400 member beautiful church on the grounds of Parkview.......I just hope that the NNEC separated the real property for the Church, separate from the real property of the hospital.....so the church building isn't lost, like the Stoneham Church, and Greater Boston Academy were....when "The San" (New England Memorial Hospital) in Stoneham, MA., went bankrupt!
Like Snoopy....I feel sad,. I have a lot of good memories and friends in Brunswick and also of nearby Freeport, and of Pine Tree Academy, where I was an original student of that school when it opened in 1961.
-
Good grief, you sound like tru blue Mainers, even born here. Born to have an impact!!! The Mainer's call to duty only dies when the Mainer dies!!!
So let's work toward cleaning up the mess!!!
Gailon Arthur Joy
-
Actually Gailon.....someone from Maine, is not called a "Mainer"...but a "Maniac!" :ROFL:
-
Actually Gailon.....someone from Maine, is not called a "Mainer"...but a "Maniac!" :ROFL:
Are you kidding?
-
Naw....it's the truth, I swear!
J.R. a former Maniac! ;D
-
Mainiac is a common acronym, as distasteful as it would seem. It matches the common
acronym, "Moosequito's", for the infamous Maine mosquito. Black flies are simply referred to as the black swarm, usually quite active in May to early June, and come in such large swarms, it is said they can carry away a grown man!!! Sometimes they just suck you dry and leave the shrivelled body for the bruins. Maine bruins are known to be manhunters anyway...and when they are not manhunting they are competing for the Atlantic Salmon and you really don't want to get in the way!!! And now you know why they call us mainiacs???
And we have the mainiac of mainiacs, Stephen King!!!
The rest of you can eat your heart out with jealousy that you are not a part of this very elite group of survivors!!!
Gailon Arthur Joy
-
A true Adventist "Mainiac," has to have attended "Camp Lawroweld" "http://lawroweld.org/yearround.html" in Weld Me. Climbed Mt. Tumbledown whilst at said camp. And gone canoeing and waterskiing in Webb Lake!
Actually my brother onced went to Camp Lawroweld, then came down with rheumatic fever and spend 2 weeks in Parkview Adventist Hospital. (just keeping the thread on track :o) I think that was back in 1960. Parkview was real new back then.
-
And this is all true, but you put "Tumble-down" ahead of "Blueberry" and every Sabbath afternoon requires a "Blueberry" Hike.
Lawroweld was a major beneficiary of the Physicians of Parkview who probably have more money invested there than the rest of the NNEC combined. Although, the extremely unique "Lawroweld Experience" should be mandatory for every you man and lady in the North American Division. It is where insanity meets sanity and you have two great weeks in "God's Country" to bring you back to reality of God's creation.
Not exactly the Ritz Carlton, but in my best opinion the closest one can get to God on this pathetic earth.
Just an aside, I remember finally convincing my lovely, less than camping type wife (who was brought up Catholic in the home of the Monsignors' personal secretary prior to meeting me and converting to adventism) that our ten year old son should have the Lawroweld Experience. Year one she packed as if he was going to Cologne for a year.
Clean clothes for every day, clean change of sheets for Sunday, rain gear, snow gear, summer gear, Sabbath Clothes, knapsack, sleeping bag, binoculars, camera, film and diary. This was all packed nice and neatly into a "trunk" and duffel bag. When we arrived and received the cabin assignment, he was off and gone on a two week toot and my wife made up his bed to military standards with the sleeping bag neatly wrapped at the foot of the bunk and the trunk nicely parked at the foot on the floor and the duffel bag neatly tucked under the head. She very reluctantly left her little boy to the care, custody and control of a teenage counsellor.
The first night we did get a courtesy call with a single request, lots of skittles...they were the camp commodity and worth their weight in gold and the camp store was "out".
UPS delivered two large bags to enhance the camping experience. Turns out they bribed the "skittle loving" counsellor with the skittles.
Two weeks later we went back to pick up the stranger that they claimed was our son. I swear he still had the same clothes on he had the day we left. The counsellor mentioned in passing they had a hard time getting him to break for meals, let alone a shower, and that was clearly the case. The only bath this boy got was in Weld Lake every day. The
trunk had been tucked under the bunk and never opened to the best of investigative skills and my son had stripped off the sheets, stuffed them into the duffel and slept in only the sleeping bag the entire week. He had slimmed down and was as tanned as a native American. We discovered we owed the counsellor another bag of skittles.
I thought our son looked great; my wife was horrified, but reluctantly nonplussed as our son confessed his entire two week history (no camp diary) on the four hour trip home.
The great news is that we did not have much laundry and he was all set for at least two weeks!!! And as for our son, well he could not wait to get there the following year and onward.
Unfortunately, my little princess daughter refused the opportunity in favor of the far more civilized SNEC camp. A major disappointment to me as I have always wondered what it would be like to see her get her nails dirty and climb a real mountain.
Yes, I believe in the Lawroweld Experience and am very thankful for the personal sacrifice that so many Parkview Physicians made to make Laureled the fun and sun camp that it was for so many children and so many generations.
Gailon Arthur Joy
-
Gailon, your story is priceless. ;D
Thanks for sharing. :TY:
-
Well I never attended Camp Winnakeg in Mass (the SNEC camp) but my wife did.....in fact she took her kitty cat with her! The one time I got to Winnikeg was that Elder Donald Lake.....got a few of us guys at SLA excused for a day from school ......to go to Winnakeg and close up the Camp for the winter.
The wierdest thing....was that after we worked all day...we got to go water skiing....and up showed a brand new car from NY.....HA, it was my mom from NYC....touring around with her sister and BIL from California..... They come up to visit me at SLA...and that was the one day I wasn't there! (didn't know my dad would split for a new Chev' and didn't know that my aunt and uncle were visiting.......actually they'd met in New London Conn. .....during WW-II)
I did do a summer as a "counselor" at Camp Laroweld.....FWIW....the lake's name is Webb Lake, not Weld lake! But then I spent 2 1/2 summers on the "staff" at Camp Berkshire, in the GNY Conf. Would have spent another summer, if someone hadn't reported my indiscretions ;D I was such a sinful kid as a teenager!
-
Well, apparently I am NOT a true "Mainiac"...but you all have made me wish I'd had a chance to have a "Lawroweld Experience"!! As I spent all of three days in Maine I guess I missed out on a great opportunity!
Although, J.R., I can relate to the teenage sins...but mine seem to have followed me past those impressionable teenage years!!
I'm still of the mind that Mrs. Joy must be a saint...!! Thanks for that great story, Gailon!!
-
Well it had something to do, with that 6 pack I bought down at the corner store......It took a whole year for that escapade to filter up to Elder Reilly (Conf. pres) and Elder LeRoy Taylor (youth director)........So I then joined the army, and went to Vietnam instead of driving from Indiana in my '55 Olds which had those two objects on the front bumper (had a 4bbl, 400 plus CI....gas guzzler.....) .....which looked like they came from Victoria's Secret...or out of Madonna's wardrobe ....picking up Donna Johnson in Ohio....and going to Camp Berkshire. Oh heck...she got holy and married a preacher! :thumbsup:
Anyway....Camp Lauroweld has an interesting history. Elder David Shaw was the Youth director who purchased Camp Lauroweld from a wealthy NYC businessman for the NNEC. The original "Lodge" has a massive fireplace (for 6 foot logs!) and is the type of log construction you find at Yellowstone NP. In the 60's when I was a kid in the NNEC, .....Elder Shaw was Simi retired....had one church on "Sustentation" and came to camp every year. He was a master story teller....and could keep us enthralled at the fire pit each evening....as he told the story of Donn Fendler, a 13 year old boy scout, who was lost on Mt. Katahdin in Baxter State Park....in the 30's for 13 days and survived! Besides that, Elder David Shaw...was an wonderful Christian.....too bad that we don't have many "pastors" like him now a days!
It was a privilege and a blessing to have known him
FWIW Mt. Katahdin in Baxter State Park is the beginning of and the northern most place on the Appalachian Trail. My crazy 3rd sister, the ”holier then thou” one, and I climbed it onced, when I was about 13 or 14,..... But she got me hacked off, because she was carrying the candy bars...and she wouldn’t give me one, till we reached the top! I still don't think I've forgiven her for that one!
-
OK J.R.!!! I thought I had good teenage stories, but I think you have me beat!! And I would certainly hold on to the candy bar grudge!!!
-
Yes, Mrs Joy is, and and her mother was, a saint. Frankly, after meeting her mother at dinner one Sunday, I decided Mrs Joy was definitely worth the risk!!!
Much to Mrs Joy's chagrin!!!
Gailon Arthur Joy
-
Actually my first "camp" was at Pinecrest in the Northern California Conf....I couldn't have been older then 5 or 6, but my dad, who was the Assistant Publishing Director....had taken our horses for the summer to Pinecrest (including my precious Welsh pony!).....(I believe that he was probably responsible for the first of ANY Adventist Summer Camp having horses!) My oldest sister was all of 14, but since her "Black Beauty" was the lead horse, along with "Scout" (a totally unmanageable horse...except for her) ....along with the several other horses my dad borrowed to take to Pinecrest....she was the "Wrangler" on the staff and not a "camper." There I think she met a couple of "Uncle Authors" son's who were on the staff. (dang...they sold "Pinecrest" and bought a place called LaLonie Medows....but my brother in the last year...stopped by Pinecrest and said it's still OK)
My actual first "summer camp" was at the Northern Lights camp at Lake Metigoshi, North Dakota.....Can't specifically recall, but I think that's were I had my first boat ride and went water skiing. My young memory....is that that was the first time I was allowed a Soda! (my parents were EXTREMUS EGW adherents to "no sugar. (we used honey…or brown sugar")......but my mom bought an Orange Crush...froze it....and it was my drink on the bus ride from Jamestown N.D. to camp. I remember North Star Camp in Minnesota more favorably......as we went there two years in a row....when my dad took his Student Colporteurs there for a week at the end of the summer, before they returned to Union College. It was on Rice Lake....part of the beginnings of the Mississippi River....in Brainerd MN. I was fishing and caught a huge Northern Pike off the dock!.......So our host....the Union Publishing Director who was Norwegian....his wife cooked my "pike". I ate it! Much to the disgust of my family who were absolute vegetarians....but what could my dad say.....his boss enjoyed my "pike" too. ROFL....I guess I was always a rebel.
There was a little side pond at North Star Camp.....with a little channel to the lake. I remember a German Student "Colporteur" of my dad’s, who overturned his canoe in the pond and panic'd Hey, he had on a life preserver, he was in no danger (but he didn't know how to swim) .....as a kid, I thought it was funny.....it probably wasn't to him.
My best "Summer Camp" experience...was going on the Canoe Trip.....from Camp Berkshire......in the Lake Saranac Region of NY. I had these two little kids who were the children of a popular NYC disk jockey....who's mom was an Adventist, in my charge.....the first week of "camping" I was their Archery Instructor....then the next week we went on the Canoe trip. As I'd been trained in Maine, at Camp Lauroweld....on proper Canoe "Technique".(the J stroke) ....by an experienced Boy Scout instructor....I guess I was pretty proficient. And I was pretty good at reading maps too.....So I led the canoe trip....down through 3 lakes (Upper, Middle and Lower Saranac Lake….in the Adirondack State Park (we stopped for a few moments at Camp Cherokee...the New York Conference Camp.......where my niece was a camper...then a counselor years later!) Then portaged right down the main street in Saranac Lake to continue on the river for another 10 miles ….It was a nice trip….