How to watch
What: “The Adventists”
When: 11 p.m. today, April 25
Where: Think TV, Channel 16
KETTERING — When documentary film maker Martin Doblmeier learned that Seventh-day Adventists are among the healthiest and longest-living people on the planet, he was intrigued.
His research led him to Kettering’s Seventh-day Adventist Church and the Kettering Health Network. Both are prominently featured in the new documentary, “The Adventists,” slated to air 11 p.m. Sunday, April 25 on Think TV, Channel 16.
“Adventists are a fascinating mix of conservative religion and state-of-the-art health care and healthy living,” said Doblmeier.
There are 19 million Adventists worldwide, including one million in North America. The Dayton metropolitan area has 10 churches with 2,700 members — the largest concentration of Adventist churches in the state of Ohio.
Studies — such as the National Geographic study which became the book, “The Blue Zones,” and the Adventist Health Study funded primarily by the National Institute of Health — have shown that Adventists are living eight to 10 years longer than the average American. They do not smoke or drink, are vegetarians, and promote exercise and Sabbath observance.
Doblmeier believes the religion’s view of hospital and health care as “sacred work” helps bring a fresh, even revolutionary, approach to the current discussions of health care in this country. The Adventists have the second largest Protestant health care system in the world.
“Where so much of our current health care debate is framed around economics, Adventists start from the belief that the body is ‘the temple of God’ and needs to be cared for,” said Doblmeier, who has produced dozens of films for the major networks and specializes in spirituality, history and social issues.
Scenes for the documentary were shot locally at both Kettering and Sycamore medical centers, where both compassionate care and state-of-the-art technology are demonstrated including 3-D medical imaging that allows computer images of the brain to be rotated to detect potential tumors or aneurisms.
The Biblical concept of a day of rest is also explored in the film. Adventists observe Sabbath on Saturday, following Jewish tradition. At church, faith community nurses are on hand to offer blood pressure checks.
“The idea of Sabbath rest is refraining from work and reconnecting with family, our church family, and God,” said Karl Haffner, senior pastor of the Kettering Seventh-day Adventist Church. “We spend an inordinate percent of health care dollars for things that could be prevented had people chosen not to drink, smoke, get proper rest, and less stress.”
Haffner said Kettering hospital doctors are discouraged from performing surgery on Saturdays and Sundays unless it is an emergency. He said they try to make Sabbath a different experience for patients as well.
Dr. Rebekah Wang, medical director for clinical quality at the hospitals, talks about her own Sabbath observance in the documentary.
“I’m tired by the end of the week and so happy that on Sabbath I don’t have to do laundry, or clean my house,” she says. “It’s my day to celebrate with family. We might go bike riding after church or roller-blading.”
Wang said Tucson professor Juan-Carlos Lerman has studied the biological need for rest every seventh day and the energizing effect of rest.
“According to Lerman, failing to rest after six days of work leads to insomnia, hormonal imbalance, irritability and other physical and mental symptoms,” Wong said. “He believes our biological clock runs on a 25 hour cycle, so that because society runs on a 24 hour clock, we need to catch up and rest our bodies longer every seventh day to catch up.”
Director Doblmeier said he has made changes in his own life after spending a year with the Adventists.
“I’m taking the Sabbath very seriously,” he said.
“I think most Christians in this country go to church on Sunday, and then devote the rest of the day to all the busyness of their lives. The idea here is to engage in activities that promote the sacredness of the family.”
One of the those featured in the film is 93-year-old Millie Mills of Washington Twp., who continues to walk three miles a day, drive a car and play the piano.
“I don’t eat anything that has a mother!” she quips.
Doblmeier, who also filmed at hospitals in California and Florida, returned to town in March to preview the film and speak at the church.
“Some of the most articulate people were there in Dayton.”
Contact this reporter at (937) 225-2440 or MMoss@DaytonDailyNews.com.
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