Yakima man, director of health ministries program, disappears in Kiev

Upper Columbia Conference Health Ministries Director Dr. Jay Sloop disappeared today while walking in Kiev, Ukraine. According to a press release Sloop has been in the Ukraine with a team of health professionals for the past three weeks helping the local Adventist church set up a lifestyle center in Kiev. The 77-year-old Yakima man went for an early-morning walk around 7 a.m., local time. Prior to leaving the hotel where he was staying, he arranged with his roommate to meet back at the hotel for breakfast in about 45 minutes. He did not return from his walk. The Upper Columbia Conference is asking for prayers for Sloop’s safe return as well as prayers for his family. Sloop began directing Upper Columbia’s Health Ministries department after he retired from his medical career in Yakima. From 1969 to 2005 he served the Yakima community in his own private practice, and with inpatient care and teaching at Total Health Lifestyle Center, an inpatient lifestyle change facility, according to the conference. His passion is for teaching lifestyle change programs to communities in the Inland Northwest. According to his biography on the Upper Columbia Conference website, Sloop would like to see all Seventh-day Adventist Churches combine healthy lifestyle programs “with the good news of the Gospel.”