River Plate Adventist Hospital

The Sanatorio Adventista del Plata (River Plate Adventist Hospital) as it looks today.

On December 2, 1901, Robert H. Habenicht became the first Adventist physician to arrive to Buenos Aires. His wife, Adela Allen, and their two children accompanied him.

After completing a theology degree at Battle Creek Adventist College, Habenicht had become a preacher in Iowa. He began a medical course in 1893 and by the time he finished he was named director of the area's Adventist sanitarium. In 1901 he was invited to go to Argentina as a missionary physician.

Soon he learned in Buenos Aires that in order to practice medicine he would first have to learn Spanish, not an easy task for Germans in general. His knowledge of the German language was extremely helpful considering that Entre Rios, where the college was located, was colonized by the so-called Volga Germans. These Volga Germans were colonizers of the Volga region of Russia in the days of Czarina Catherine the Great, who was actually German born. The German language was spoken by them in Russia and brought to Entre Rios, only fading in the last few decades. The other hurdle was to obtain a diploma. He had to take all the examinations like any other student of medicine in Argentina. Fortunately he got an authorization from the Province of Entre Rios to practice medicine in the German-speaking areas where there were no other medical facilities for the population.

Right after 1902 he moved to Crespo where the first Adventist church in South America was established, and his prestige among the German settlers and others expanded quickly.

In 1903 he moved to a place close to the college where his activities also expanded: physician, professor, constructor, farmer, pastor, and for a while director of the college, always ready to sacrifice his well-being to help others. When I said "farmer," I meant a skilled farmer who held a fascination for machinery. In fact, in 1906 he fractured a leg working with the wheat harvest, and he himself closed the exposed fracture and prepared the splint. While doing this he also attended another trauma patient. Until a surgical table was available, surgery was performed on their kitchen table. When there were too many "inpatients," the children would sleep on the floor to accommodate patients in their beds. Dr Habenicht would visit severely sick patients in the countryside by horse-drawn "Russian'' wagon, horseback or even on foot, since the roads were often only muddy trails.

In 1906, he passed the proficiency examination to allow him to practice medicine in the province, in locations where there were no other physicians.

In 1907 he built a house on a piece of land he had bought next to the College and bulk an 8-room house which provided comfort for the family of seven and room for the attention of the patients. That was the core of what, after continuous expansion, is still the approximately 180-bed Sanatorio Adventista del Plata, whose facilities also include the Better Living Center.

In 1922 the hospital faced financial difficulties, especially because the church established that the Sanatorio had to help heavily in financing the construction of a new building for the college.

Habenicht resigned and returned to the United States and then returned to South America where he died in 1925 in Brazil.

One thing he mentioned about his practical ministry was that, by the grace of God, he baptized 350 persons uniting them to the Christian family.

Dr. Eloy Schulz, along with being AIMS president, is a professor of radiology at Loma Linda University Medical Center. He enjoys participating in many medical mission projects around the world.