Norton Healthcare, a not-for-profit organization, demonstrates its ongoing commitment to serve the community by offering a full array of health care services. Norton Healthcare also serves the community through outreach activities provided by Norton Faith & Health Ministries.
The purpose of Norton Faith & Health Ministries is to honor the faith heritage of our founding churches — the Episcopal Church, The United Methodist Church and the United Church of Christ — and the Presbyterian and Roman Catholic churches, which also are part of our faith history. In honoring this heritage, we serve people of all beliefs and build relationships with faith communities to promote the connection between faith, healing and wellness.
A health ministry promotes whole-person health and healing — body, mind and spirit. It includes a wide variety of faith community services. Those can include coordinating blood pressure checks and other health screenings, helping people find health resources and visiting the sick and homebound. A health ministry can be organized in whatever way best meets the health and wellness needs of the congregation and neighborhood it serves.
(Also called health ambassador, congregational health promoter or health advocate)
Health ministries often are led by faith community members who have a deep spiritual calling to serve others through the promotion of health, healing and wholeness. A professional health or ministry background is not required, although some health ministries are led by licensed registered nurses, usually called faith community nurses. Health ministers come from a variety of medical and nonmedical backgrounds and occupations.
Health ministers believe in the importance of whole person health in the role of faith communities and other faith-based agencies. Often, they are part of a health and wellness ministry or team. Some may work alone, while others may work with faith community nurses to organize, plan, and evaluate health ministry activities.
Faith community nurses focus on the intentional care of the spirit as well as the promotion of whole-person health. They aim to prevent or minimize illness within the context of a faith community and the wider community.
The faith community nurse promotes mind, body and spirit health as an educator, health counselor, resource person, facilitator and integrator of health and healing. Those practicing this specialty are governed by the American Nurses Association’s Scope and Standards of Practice for Faith Community Nurses, as well as state nursing regulations.
Roles of the Faith Community Nurse
(Source: WestbergInstitute.org; used with permission)
Programs and activities vary widely depending on community needs, health ministry resources, personnel, volunteer capacity and other factors. This list represents some of the more common activities.
As faith communities work to become centers of whole-person health, people who are passionate about health and healing are answering the call to serve in health ministries. Norton Faith & Health Ministries helps faith communities weave health and faith together. We offer the following:
Email FHM@nortonhealthcare.org or call Norton Faith & Health Ministries at (502) 629-2700 to find out how we may assist you and your faith community.
Norton Faith and Health Ministries Unite Us Partners
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