Retired Yakima doctor missing in Ukraine
Posted on May 15, 2013
KIEV, UKRAINE -- Dr. Jay Sloop of Yakima disappeared this morning in Kiev, Ukraine, where he was on a medical mission, officials with the Seventh-day Adventist Church said.
The 77-year-old retired obstetrician was last seen about 6:45 a.m. local time after he left a church compound in Kiev for a morning walk, said Jay Wintermeyer, communications director for regional church headquarters in Spokane.
“This is uncharacteristic and unusual,” an emotional-sounding Wintermeyer said 17 hours after Dr. Sloop was last seen.
According to Wintermeyer, Sloop has been in the Ukrainian capital for three weeks, helping set up a lifestyle center there with a team of fellow health professionals.
Wintermeyer said Sloop regularly went for morning walks with other members of the team, but left alone this morning after one of his roommates backed out at the last second.
“He was recorded on video security leaving at 6:45,” Wintermeyer said. “I don’t think the security footage showed which way he went.”
Wintermeyer said Sloop had been in Kiev for about three weeks and was scheduled to return to the United States at the end of the week.
“We just hope he’s found safe and sound,” Wintermeyer said.
Dr. Sloop is a retired obstetrician and gynecologist who had a private practice in Yakima from 1969 to 2005, when he retired and was named health director for the Seventh-day Adventist Upper Columbia Conference in Spokane.
Wintermeyer said Sloop continued to live in Yakima, commuting to Spokane as necessary. He is married and has three sons.
http://www.yakimaherald.com/news/latestn...urch-mission-in See also:
http://www.adventistreview.org/article/6...sing-in-ukraine 
