Connecting Columbia Union Seventh-day Adventists

Kettering Health

Kettering Health beginnings stem from the family of Dayton inventor Charles F. Kettering. After his death in 1958, his son and daughter-in-law, Eugene and Virginia, decided to build a hospital as a memorial of his life and work. Impressed by the treatment polio patients received at a hospital operated by Seventh-day Adventists, and believing the Church's philosophy of healing and Christian-based compassion was the perfect foundation for a new community-based hospital, the Ketterings raised $2 million to develop the project. Kettering Memorial Hospital, a 254-bed facility, was officially dedicated in February 1964. Since the Ketterings plan also called for a school, the Adventist Church opened Kettering College of Medical Arts in 1967.

In 1978, Kettering opened Sycamore Hospital to provide medical care in the southwest suburbs. Recognizing the need for care in the southeast region, the organization began construction on what would eventually (1983) become Southview Hospital. In June 1999, the Kettering and Grandview (opened in 1926) hospital systems merged, creating the Kettering Medical Center Network, which operates under the Kettering Adventist HealthCare umbrella.

With five major hospitals, the Network is now the fastest growing healthcare provider in the Dayton area and the third largest employer. A not-for-profit organization, Kettering Adventist HealthCare serves citizens of the greater Dayton area and surrounding communities with 51 facilities, 1,300 physicians, 6,800 employees, and 1,000 volunteers.

Thirty-nine Pathfinder teams from across the Columbia Union Conference are busy studying the book of Exodus for the upcoming Pathfinder Bible Experience (PBE) event March 19. The teams and their sponsors will gather at Allegheny East Conference’s (AEC) Shiloh church in Petersburg, Va., for an afternoon of Bible trivia.

Kettering College’s Campus Corner logo received two awards this year; one from the Healthcare Advertising Awards where they were recognized for a Gold award and a second at the Hermes Award ceremonies where they received a bronze Addy.

Story by Jessica Beans

Kettering College students, faculty, alumni and staff have been working behind the scenes to support federal legislation that would protect funding for nursing schools nationwide. Their grassroots efforts are paying off—as of March 3, legislators from both sides of the aisle have introduced related bills in the United States Senate and House of Representatives.