The 2015 Presidents’ Council of the Adventist Health Care Association (AHCA) of the Northern Asia-Pacific Division (NSD) was held from September 21 to 25, 2015, in Hong Kong. More than 30 hospital administrators plus the guest speaker, division president and union presidents representing 11 member hospitals from the NSD and one associate member hospital joined the Council. Participants came from Hong Kong, Japan, Korea, Taiwan, Malaysia and USA.
The Presidents’ Council is an annual event for hospital administrators to meet and have fellowship with each other for spiritual enrichment, networking and continuing education. The guest speaker for this year’s council was Dr. Lowell Cooper, the recently retired general vice president of the General Conference. He continues to serve as chair for the boards at Loma Linda University Health – an academic medical center comprised of an eight-school university and sixhospitals.
Dr. Cooper gave presentations during two morning sessions, stressing the importance of governance for the healthcare institutions, their mission and ministry and their structural relationship to the Church. Participants were divided into different language groups for discussion and interaction. Reports were given to the whole group.
On the first day, the morning devotional was given by NSD president Jairyong Lee who challenged the administrators that healthcare institutions should be mission-oriented, extending the healing ministry of Jesus.
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On the second day, the morning devotional was presented by Dr. James Wu, vice president for lifestyle and spiritual affairs at Hong Kong Adventist Hospital. He reminded the healthcare institution leaders to see their patients/customers from a holistic perspective, with the mission to make a person whole.
On September 22 and 23, the participants went on a tour of Hong Kong Adventist Hospital in Tsuen Wan, the Union Hospital, a private-for-profit hospital, and Hong Kong Adventist Hospital at Stubbs Road. The participants were impressed by the high-tech medical equipment and efficient management system.
The business session of AHCA was conducted on September 22 in the afternoon. Dr. Toshihiro Nishino, AHCA president, presided over the business session which dealt with routine agenda items, such as reports from member hospitals, review of AHCA bylaws and the financial report. This year, the Council voted to record the report from AHCA officers on the recent development of forming a Health System within the NSD territory and requested a special steering committee to continue to explore and study various types of health systems that may fit the needs of our healthcare institutions in the territory.
The Council also re-elected Dr. Toshihiro Nishino, president of Tokyo Adventist Hospital, to continue to serve as AHCA president for the next two years (2016-2017). The newly-elected AHCA secretary/treasurer is Dr. Huang Hui-Ting, president of Taiwan Adventist Hospital.
AHCA is the umbrella organization over all the Adventist healthcare institutions within the NSD territory. The purpose of AHCA is to provide coordination, services, advice and networking among the hospital administrators.
Stanley Ng, Advisor, NSD AHCA