CGHealth Ministries
The Health Ministry team can make a difference!
- In the local church by raising awareness of the benefits this ministry can offer to the spiritual, interpersonal, emotional and physical health of members.
- To the pastor by introducing wellness programs in support of the pastor's ministry of spiritual growth in the congregation.
- To the community by collaborating with community health services, offering supportive human care services to the community.
What is Congregational Health Ministries?
The purpose of health ministry is to help the congregation care for one another...to help attain, maintain and/or regain the best possible whole person health - wellness of body, mind, and spirit - that can be experienced. This is done with the help of health professionals and other interested lay members: the ministers of health. These health ministers - forming a health ministry committee or cabinet - combine their knowledge and experience with their willingness to serve to respond to the unique needs of the congregation and the community.
The role may include, Health Educator, Health Counselor, Referral Source, Facilitator, Integrator of Health and Healing Advocate.
Whatever activities are needed in the congregation, the health minister(s) facilitate the use of available resources in the congregation and the community rather than provide directly "hands on" health care services. A thread that runs through the health minister's job description is that he/she does not duplicate other available nursing or medical services, but seeks to creatively bridge the gaps identified in the health education and care delivery system.
What is Parish Nursing?
The Parish nurse is a registered nurse who is committed to this concept of Health Ministries. The Parish Nurse is an integral part of the broader concept of Health Ministries. He/she works with the members of the health ministries committee or health cabinet, in helping and enabling people of the congregation and the community attain, maintain, and/or regain optimal health.
Parish Nursing is a unique blending of professional nursing and spiritual caregiving. Carteret General Hospital provides the parish nurse special training for the program.
A parish nurse is the visible symbol of the congregation's healing and health ministry. Gifted and educated for a health profession, the parish nurse assists members in a local congregation in the care and nurture of the life God has given them. The parish nurse combines knowledge of the body with spiritual motivation to help people toward better health.
The task comes in two parts. Attending to the sick, the nurse in her/his person brings the congregation's concern and care to the sick.
The parish nurse further optimizes the present and future health status of members. Brought forward in the life of the congregation, the promotion of health is recognized as a faith opportunity. Today many voices for health seek attention. The parish nurse helps lay members translate "medicalese" into understandable lay language. Speaking out of the context of the common faith of the congregation, the parish nurse brings a one-of-a-kind motivation of love for God to health enhancement. Heading a planned health ministry, the nurse conveys the congregation's concern and encouragement to the individual.
A health promoter is a congregational member who is not a registered nurse but can assist or provide many of the services. They are part of a health education program designed to address identified health needs.
WILL PARISH NURSING BENEFIT OUR MEMBERS?
- Illness is an isolating experience. A woman confined for eight weeks with pneumonia commented, "No one called. I thought the church had forgotten me." A parish nurse or her volunteer will break that isolation, affirm the church's concern and reconnect the individual and congregation. This is a common experience among the homebound.
- A parish nurse encourages and supports the medical regimen through warm presence, reinforcement of the regimen through explanation of the purpose and expected results and through prayer. This support is often critical to patient participation and eventual healing.
- In the present health-care environment where the individual is increasingly responsible for his or her health, parish nursing connects personal responsibility with spiritual motivation and planned activity. Members neglecting moderation and general stewardship of their physical health are often responsive to the invitation to join others in the Christian community in joint wellness programs.
- Some members--notably the bereaved, single parents, the divorced, the overweight and substance abusers--can profit from joining a support group initiated in the congregation or available elsewhere. A health ministry can facilitate such participation.
- The parish nurse can initiate activities in support of healthy lifestyles, today's key to tomorrow’s health.
For congregation who partner with Carteret General Hospital, we offer:
- Training courses for nurses and health promoters.
- Networking opportunities.
- Support groups.
- Liaison services with Carteret General Hospital and other community organizations.
- Assists congregations with ensuring licensing and other credentialing for members of their professional health team.
- Assists the church in realizing and defining its health ministry by helping the health ministry team in performing an appropriate and reliable congregational health needs assessment.
- Provides health information to churches for copying and distribution to its members.
For more information contact CGHealth Ministries by calling 252.808.6678.