GREENFIELD — A hospital program working to facilitate local church parishioners as a link between hospital patients and faith communities is growing in its third year.
Hancock Health’s Congregational Network finds volunteers from local congregations and empowers them to educate their fellow parishioners about preventive health, as well as using these volunteers as an extra layer of caring and support for people who are in the hospital. The program was started in 2016 by hospital chaplaincy services director Russel Jarvis, and Laura Baker took over as the congregational network navigator in October. The network is part of the hospital’s population health effort, which works to pair preventive health with follow-up care to prevent hospital re-admission, Baker said.
Baker has grown the network of volunteers, even finding a group of people willing to step up and support hospital patients who don’t have a church family, said Amanda Everidge, healthy community coordinator.
The program connects the hospital and area churches to ensure their congregations are cared for spiritually and practically, as well as medically, when members are admitted to the hospital, Everidge said. In 2017, 10 area churches had selected and trained liaisons to care for hospitalized parishioners, which starts with a phone call, perhaps a prayer, and can extend to whatever the church is able to provide. Some examples of extra help or care include making sure pets are fed while the patient is still in the hospital, or providing meals when they return home, Baker said.
She called the effort an “extra layer of love” for patients, who are often overwhelmed with information at the hospital.
“Everyone needs to know they matter,” she said. “Sometimes people get home, and they have extra needs, but they don’t want to bother anyone at their church.”
The bottom line is it’s no bother, but a privilege to be able to make sure members of the community feel loved and cared for while they’re in the hospital and when they’re recovering, she said.
Baker, who previously worked as a social worker for Healthy Families, said she was surprised to learn about the congregational network program at Hancock Health, because most hospitals that have such programs are faith-based.
She praised hospital leaders, whose motto is “What a privilege it is to work at a place where we love people for a living.”
Everidge said Baker has excelled at building connections since joining Hancock Health.
“She is really making an impact,” Everidge said.
She described one situation in which both husband and wife ended up at the hospital — the husband for a planned procedure and the wife for an emergency. Baker worked with their church family to make sure someone was checking on their teenagers at home, bringing meals, praying and providing reassurance throughout.
“Without that network, we would have supported them from a health-care standpoint the best we could have, but we wouldn’t have known all the little pieces of the story,” Everidge said. “Because Laura and their church were there, it felt smooth. We’re starting to see things like that because that extra layer of love and support is more easily available.”
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Hancock Health’s congregational network pairs volunteers from area churches with hospital patients who are fellow parishioners, to make sure those patients get the care and support they need during and after their hospital stay.
To volunteer, contact network navigator Laura Baker at [email protected] or 317-468-4142.
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