Adventist University of the Plata

J. W. Westphal, brother to Francisco Westphal and president of the South American Union Conference, wrote to the General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists: " ... Brother Spicer, you have just visited us, and are acquainted with the situation in our Argentine school. You know what buildings we have, their condition, and the great needs. We are limping along as best we can; yet we cannot offer to our students and to the teachers in the matter of room what they ought to have. In the large schoolroom [the chapel] three classes have to recite at the same time, because the class-rooms above are used as living-rooms for the students. One teacher has his class-room in the vestibule [by the stairway] and the others have to help themselves as best they can; and the whole equipment is far from desirable." (p. 5) [13]

In response to Westphal's letter, the General Conference included the Colegio del Plata (School of the Plata) in the fledgling Thirteenth Sabbath Offering plan.[13] This Offering plan began in 1912.[14] In the first quarter of 1912, the first Thirteenth Sabbath Offering helped establish the mission work of G. W. Pettit and J. M. Comer in India. In the second quarter the offering helped build a school in eastern Africa; now the Adventist University of Eastern Africa in Kenya."[14] The fourth quarter of 1912 focused on Colegio Adventista del Plata in Argentina and the Pua Training-school in Chile.[13]

The Thirteenth Sabbath Offering has helped the School of the Plata on at least one other occasion. In the third quarter of 1961, the Thirteenth Sabbath Offering focused on a new Boys' Dormitory for School of the Plata.[15]

Ole Oppegard, Adventist nurse and colporteur, 1895

R. H. Habenicht, Founder of Sanatorium of the Plata, 1908

The close proximity of the Sanatorium of the Plata to the School has benefited the development of the Seventh-Day Adventist Church in South America. Graduates from the Sanatorium's nursing program have served all of South America.

Early Adventists referred to their health activities as Medical Missionary Work. This work began in South America when Ole Oppegard, a nurse trained in Battle Creek Sanatorium, arrived in Argentina as a self-supporting missionary and began preaching the health message with the gospel in 1895.[16]

Dr. Robert Habenicht, the first Adventist doctor to serve in South America, arrived in 1901. He began seeing patients in the neighbourhood of the School. A great share of his time was spent travelling in the horse-drawn carts of the Russian immigrant farmers whose homes were far out in the country in the province of Entre Rios.[16]

Soon the patients began arriving at his house in search of competent medical help. Many times Dr. Habenicht had to perform operations on his kitchen table in order to save the life of a patient. After the surgery, he would put them in the beds of his own children, who then had to sleep on the floor.[16]

Dr. Habenicht founded the Sanatorium of the Plata in 1908, with accommodations for six inpatients. This was the beginning of the first Adventist medical institution in South America.[16]

Photo of the church in front of the Sanatorium of the Plata

Over the years, the sanatorium's fame increased greatly, in part as a result of the efficiency and dedication of missionary doctors Habenicht, Westphal, and Hammerly. Patients then came from far and near, giving foot to the enlarging of the facilities and the addition of young doctors, graduated from universities in South America, and nurses, graduated from the School of the Plata nursing program.[16]

N. Z. Town,

Arthur Fulton,

Dr. R. H. Habenicht,

Walton C. John, 1909 [12]

Dr. H. U. Stevens,

Jess S. Marshall,

J. M. Howell,

J. T. Thompson,

Ellis R. Maas,

Dr. Thomas W. Steen,

Fernando Chaij.

(Up to 1949) [17]