Inspiring presentations, informative workshops and the opening of a lifestyle medicine centre were all part of the fourth ELIA Wellness Summit held at the weekend (March 24-26) at Sydney Adventist Hospital’s Clinical Education Centre.
The new ELIA Lifestyle Medicine Centre is aimed at tackling chronic diseases, including diabetes and cardiovascular disease. General Conference Health Ministries director Dr Peter Landless offered a dedicatory prayer for the new centre before he and Berowra Member of Parliament Julian Leeser unveiled a commemorative plaque to mark the occasion. The plaque acknowledges the late Warwick Bland for his generous donation to establish the centre.
“I’m delighted to be here today as a supporter of the hospital,” said Mr Leeser, who shared positive sentiments about the San, including that his two young children were born at the hospital. “I can only issue lots of encouragement and success with the work that you are doing with ELIA.”
ELIA Lifestyle Medicine Centre medical director Dr Andrea Matthews said patients will have access to lifestyle medicine physicians, dieticians, exercise physiologists, registered nurses, health coaches and psychology care.
“Establishing the centre at the hospital complements the excellent acute-care facility in combatting chronic disease,” Dr Matthews said. “We work in close partnership with the patient’s GPs and specialists, and provide additional expert resources, programs and support to address chronic disease and promote wellness.”
Adventist HealthCare CEO Brett Goods said the centre will provide patients with the tools they need to take control of their health. “This is about empowering patients, placing them at the centre of care, encouraging people to take an active interest in how they can improve their health outcomes, their life journey,” he said.
The ELIA Wellness Summit featured a comprehensive program of presentations, workshops and panel discussions. Attendees came from Fiji, Cook Islands, New Caledonia, Papua New Guinea, New Zealand and various parts of Australia. The theme was “empowering you to whole-person health”.
“It was awesome to have our fourth ELIA Wellness Summit in person so we could learn and be challenged by excellent presentations from top speakers, but also network with passionate health professionals and advocates and hear stories of how the ELIA Wellness Partners, 10,000 Toes Ambassadors and wellness hubs are making a real difference right across Australia, New Zealand and the Pacific,” said Dr Geraldine Przybylko, executive director of ELIA Wellness and South Pacific Division (SPD) health strategy leader.
“Our goal is to have 400 wellness hubs by 2025 transforming lives through whole-person health.”
At the conclusion of the summit, SPD president Pastor Glenn Townend challenged attendees to use what they have learned to make a difference in their own life and in the life of their communities.
“[Lifestyle medicine] is huge in the United States and other parts of the world and it is coming to Australia, and we want to be at the forefront of it,” Pastor Townend said.
Dr Landless said he was inspired by the summit. “It was really good, cutting-edge information that was shared. It was an outstanding conference,” he said.
To find out more about the ELIA Lifestyle Medicine Centre and book an appointment call +61 2 9480 6140 or email clinic@eliawellness.com
