Programs

Annual checkups open a child’s world to the lifetime of possibilities that come with good health. But those yearly well-checks are not a given for children in some countries. After seeing the struggles of Haitian orphanages to get essential health care services for children after the 2010 earthquake, we created Operation Sunshine.

Partnering with the Florida-based non-profit My Neighbor’s Children, Operation Sunshine sends AdventHealth volunteers on medical relief missions to Haiti to conduct annual pediatric checkups for kids living in orphanages and children’s homes. When children are sick, Operation Sunshine ensures they receive care at Haiti Adventist Hospital. There, they can access services like physician consultations, laboratory tests, medications and hospital stays, if needed.

In the Amazonian rain forest of Peru, access to health care is extremely limited. Without regular visits to a primary health care provider, preventable illnesses such as dysentery and anemia become public health threats. Proper nutrition and personal hygiene practices, such as hand washing, are critical to survival. However, villages continue to struggle with these simple life-changing tasks. At the same time, villages face behavioral health challenges such as alcoholism, domestic violence and the devastating psychological impact of COVID-19. Without access to providers, villagers are at much higher risk for long-term health complications.

Thanks to the Total Health program, or Salud Total as it is known in Peru, AdventHealth Global Missions is working to change this norm. In partnership with the Universidad Peruana Unión, Clinica Adventista Ana Stahl in Iquitos, Clinica Adventista Americana in Juliaca and Productos Union, this program focuses on educating the public through supervised student health interns. The interns immerse themselves in the communities, spending one year offering nursing, psychology and nutrition education. They are embedded in a village, where they work directly with individuals and families — empowering them with the skills and knowledge to take charge of their health. Two villages have benefited from the Total Health program and the goal is to expand the program to more communities, if funds permit.

Education is a powerful way we enhance whole-person care and the AdventHealth mission of extending the healing ministry of Christ.

Global Nursing Conference

Our annual global nursing conference brings together nurses from around the world. This three-day event is an opportunity to focus on nursing excellence, connect with colleagues and expand clinical knowledge. During the COVID-19 pandemic this conference has been conducted virtually.

Leadership Conferences

AdventHealth Global Missions organizes leadership conferences in different countries to support the development of health care leaders. These conferences bring together administrative, clinical and spiritual leaders to share, learn and grow.

Simulation Training

Working with our footprint locations and affiliated nursing schools, we strive to enhance simulation learning and training. Donations of mannequins and other simulation materials help strengthen these programs.

The Helping Mothers and Babies Survive (HMBS) programs equip healthcare workers with the expertise and confidence to provide life-saving care to mothers and newborns during childbirth.

The programs use a hands-on, team-oriented, and facility-based approach to learning. Our training materials are designed for small group instruction, ensuring personalized attention and a greater impact on skill acquisition and retention. The educational principles promote continuous learning through:

• Short, focused exercises using realistic simulators for practical skill-building.
• Encouraging collaboration and effective communication within healthcare teams.
• Individualized support with one facilitator for every 2-6 healthcare workers.
• Regular follow-up sessions at the facilities reinforce and sustain the skills learned.

Chair the Love and First Sight are organizations that Global Missions has partnered with to further help our Mission Partners provide care to their communities.

Chair the Love

Imagine not being able to leave your home, visit your church, go to work, attend school or engage in your community. Through the generosity of our donors, we have impacted thousands of individuals giving them the gift of mobility so they can participate in and strengthen their community.

First Sight

First Sight delivers immediate impact, offering vision screenings on the spot, anywhere, and enables recipients to walk away with customized eyeglasses within just 10 minutes! Transforming the lives of millions, empowering children to attend school and adults to lead productive and healthy lives, all through the simple gift of improved eyesight.
First Sight created a low-tech, fool proof, practical and affordable solution to provide eyeglasses to those in need, and more importantly one that did not need trained healthcare professionals. First Sight, LLC was established, driven by a mission to offer a straightforward, low-tech, cost-effective process that can be used in any venue, and which needs no training of personnel or electricity for eye examinations and customized prescription eyeglasses, benefiting millions of children and adults afflicted by poor vision.