How Do You Help In Your Community?
Community Resources:
Break Down Language Barriers in Health Care – Learn common phrases and medical terms in Spanish in order to help those in your community.
Be a FAN for your Church’s Health! Do you what to help your congregation become healthier? Faith, Activity, and Nutrition (FAN) training is now available online. Click here to read more about it, and click here for the flyer.
USDA Farmers to Families Food Box
As part of the CARES act, USDA will purchase and distribute up to $3 billion of agricultural products to those in need. USDA will partner with regional and local distributors, whose workforce has been significantly impacted by the closure of many restaurants, hotels, and other food service entities, to purchase fresh produce, dairy, and meat.Non-profit and faith-based organizations may apply to be distributors – or may consider partnering with contracted entities which participate. Helpful information includes the Farmers to Families Food Box Program FAQs and How to Become a USDA Vendor. Also informational webinars are posted here.
Lessons from the Flowers Devotion by Marilyn Harris, MSN, RN, NEA-BC, FAAN
Community Ideas – What are you doing?
• In 1967 my father was a minister in California where he maintained a Dial-a-Prayer. I recently found a notebook of them dated Feb 1967 – Aug 1968. I started a blog page where I slowly adding each one. It is there for people to go back to each day, read and feel inspired. Click here to go to the blog.
• Care and Connection Team – “Our small Lutheran congregation quickly made a call tree of home-bound, singles and potentially ‘high risk’ individuals that we wanted to keep within our care. The group was identified by staff and several individuals who serve with the faith community nurse as a “Care and Connection Team.” The FCN and Care team divided the group amidst themselves and began making phone calls, sharing of online worship resources, a new daily devotional that was obtainable through the church’s phone line and asked how to meet tangible needs of the individuals. The groups were then ‘reassigned’ to another individual (of the Care/connection team) the following week with a similar rotation to be continued until we are able to once again resume meeting together as a congregation, in person. The contacts have been extremely positive, with a renewed sense of church family taking place as people reach out to one and other.”
• Buddy System – “Our church is staying connected in a variety of ways. We have a live streaming worship service that people can view and then it goes on to our website so that they can watch it at another time. We have our missions board looking serving our refugees and homeless, continuing to provide meals on Saturdays outdoors. I, as the Faith Community Nurse, reached out to all my clients, checked in with them and asked if they would like to be included in a Buddy System. A script was created to help the Buddy to ask pertinent questions regarding health, food/supplies, anxiety, tech support etc. Then a spreadsheet was created that includes the person’s name, their buddy, date of the call and answers to the questions. I go in daily to check the intake spreadsheet for needs that must be addressed. It is a very flexible system that is growing every day. I also provide short weekly videos that cover a current topic around the pandemic. Our church is quite literally, “all in this together.””