The concept of health and healing in faith-based communities

In the current generation of care

In the current generation of care, the concept of health and healing has been a long-standing practice in faith-based communities. Congregational or parochial nursing is another name for faith-based nursing. Faith Community Nursing is a self-contained practice of professional nurses whose goal is to enhance the health and well-being of the community. Professionals work within the context of the client’s beliefs, values, and religious practices. Faith-based nurses ensure a high standard of care, which is one of the key values of nursing practice, by being grounded in the standards and scope of Parish nursing practices (Pappas-Rogich & King, 2014). The combination of faith and community nursing extends to a broader outreach in ministering health within the society. Any ministry entrusted with the provision of healthcare focuses on the healing and the health needs of the members of their respective communities. An example of a collaboration of faith-based and community nurses is the Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center (Patterson & Slutz, 2011).

A key concept to add to the account

A key concept to add to the account is that in faith-based communities, people do find not only healthcare but also encouragement, connectedness, love, and hope (Patterson & Slutz, 2011). Health ministries extend this practice by centering on teaching, listening, and caring presence. Some of the common examples of health ministries are encouraging people to adopt healthy lifestyles such as healthy feeding and regular physical exercise, visiting the sick or the homebound and giving them a message of hope, preventing diseases and promoting health within the community, and not limited to monitoring the needs and concerns of people in the community. A health ministry is any body of the faith community that has the virtue of care. For an extension to qualify as a health ministry, it does not mean that it must have professionals. Even if the volunteers do not have medical backgrounds, the only thing that matters is whether they have what it takes to care. The basic requirements of health ministry include spiritual presence and therapeutic communications, training and time directed towards enhanced listening skills, and a caring heart (Patterson & Slutz, 2011). Community nursing and faith-based nursing normally coexist, and at some point, the faith-based or the parish nurses are the staff persons responsible for the outreach of the congregation in the community.

There are many benefits when the community nurses partner with the parish or the congregational nurses

There are many benefits when the community nurses partner with the parish or the congregational nurses. Many people work to be paid particularly in the field of healthcare. Therefore, it can be a great favor to find dedicated people who are only out to save and promote healthy lives of people without being paid. It is also a big sacrifice to show a community care and compassion through making their lives better. This is one of the key benefits of having the community nurses partner with the faith-based nurses. In the society of today, the quality of care has been perceived to be directly proportional to the financial status of an individual (Patterson & Slutz, 2011). For example, the rich can secure quality treatments because they can afford to pay for their medical insurances and emergency care whereas the poor suffer the burden of illnesses because they cannot access the basic health care.

Regarding the health care disparity

Regarding the health care disparity that has been there for the poor and the rich, it is imperative to acknowledge the charity work that the community nurses have done in partnership with the faith-based nurses. The faith and community partnership have reached to the sick needy in the community who cannot afford to pay for their treatments and offered them primary care. Most people have also failed to get care because of access to the care facilities. However, the collaboration between the community nurses and the parish nurses have ensured that they take the message of wellness, healthy living, and preventive care to them to help them in fighting their chronic conditions and illnesses that degrade their quality of life.

By collaborating with the community caregivers

By collaborating with the community caregivers, the faith-based nurses can establish the best approaches that will work for the community members suffering from various illnesses. Having ideas of the feasible approaches will not only fasten expansion of health care to many poor people in the community but will also help in reducing the average spending on health care. The collaboration also makes it easy for them to determine the groups who need spiritual care (Pappas-Rogich & King, 2014). Finally, yet important, working together will help the faith communities and the members of the community to debunk some of the misconceptions and myths about health care, practices, and taboos that might challenge traditional beliefs.

As professional nurses

As professional nurses, the parish nurses have significant roles to take up in faith-based communities, the primary role being the drivers of disease prevention and promotion. The most economical and effective way of promoting healthy lifestyles and well-being of people in marginalized areas is giving them information. Parish nurses focus on spreading information to the uninformed and the under informed through providing health education and awareness programs (Patterson & Slutz, 2011). Health education is one of the pillars of primary health care that congregational nurses need to spread to prevent diseases in the community. Teaching people on the basic hygiene do not only prevent them from getting communicable diseases but also help them in promoting healthy lifestyles. Other than education, the parish nurses also have a role in empowering the vulnerable people in the community. Empowerment can be through mobilizing people to come together to have a support group that can make them have financial breakthroughs or providing them with the basic amenities that would improve their lives (Pappas-Rogich & King, 2014). As the professionals in the team, the parish nurses have the responsibility of creating awareness and sensitizing the community members on the guidelines to a healthy lifestyle and longer quality of life.

The communities of faith work on a holistic approach

The communities of faith work on a holistic approach. They touch lives from spiritual to physical health. Therefore, faith-based nurses emphasize on healthy feeding programs and physical activity, which is one of the programs for the Healthy People 2020 (Pappas-Rogich & King, 2014). They educate the community on the appropriate diet and at the same time fight issues with obesity, overweight and underweight in the society. The nurses play an integral role in promoting physical exercise as an intervention of fighting lifestyle diseases.

In conclusion

In conclusion, the collaboration between the parish nurses and the community nurses follow the legal, ethical, and financial protocols. When offering care to the patients, the nurses ensure that their services meet the highest professional and ethical standards. In as much as they are doing charity work to improve the lives of the underserved in the society, their programs have to be within the confines of medical laws and procedures. Moreover, it is their responsibility to uphold the dignity of the patients whenever they are handling them at the community.

References

Pappas-Rogich, M., & King, M. (2014). Faith community nursing: Supporting Healthy People 2020 initiatives. Journal of Christian Nursing : A Quarterly Publication of Nurses Christian Fellowship, 31(4), 228–234. https://doi.org/http://dx.doi.org/10.1097/CNJ.0000000000000104

Patterson, D. L., & Slutz, M. (2011). Faith Community/Parish Nursing: What’s in a name? Journal of Christian Nursing, 28(1), 31–33. https://doi.org/10.1097/CNJ.0b013e318200317c