History

A TRADITION OF GOOD HEALTH
As Seventh-day Adventist Christians, we believe a wholesome lifestyle contributes to good physical health and enhances a person's mental and spiritual potential. Recognizing the importance of whole-person health and the relationship of physical well-being with emotional and spiritual well-being, the founders of the Seventh-day Adventist Church opened a new kind of health center in Battle Creek, Michigan in 1866.

During a time when many medical treatments were as harmful as the diseases they were supposed to cure, the new revolutionary healthcare center not only treated disease, but also taught people how to prevent disease through good nutrition, exercise and sanitation. It was a place where each person was valued as a creation of God and where caregivers created a positive healing environment by providing extraordinary patient care.

Within years, the institution and its famous physician and health educator, John Harvey Kellogg, M.D., gained international recognition. Clientele included the likes of J.C. Penney, Thomas Edison, Henry Ford, Amelia Earhart, Lowell Thomas, William Jennings Bryan, Dale Carnegie, C.W. Post and John D. Rockefeller.

Around the world, the church operates more than 500 healthcare facilities dedicated to helping people achieve physical, mental and spiritual wholeness. These include approximately 160 hospitals in addition to nursing homes, dispensaries, and clinics.

Today, Adventist Health System, is one of the largest Protestant not-for-profit healthcare systems in the United States and remains true to its Adventist heritage by providing quality whole-person care.