Prayer Shawl Ministry

 

April of 08 was our unofficial beginning of the Prayer Shawl Ministry at Kenton Church. We began with a month of classes held each Saturday morning from 9 to 12 with Rita Majors lending her expertise as instructor for knitting and crocheting. After the classes ended several people began crocheting and knitting prayer shawls. Several shawls were blessed and given to individuals suffering loss of family member or suffering illness and were well appreciated.

January 23^rd of 09 was the first blessing of prayer shawls during the worship service. This coincided with the commissioning of our parish nurse and Health Ministry Cabinet. Since that time we have had several other prolific crotchetiers contribute their labors to the ministry for which I am very grateful. At this time we have distributed many prayer shawls and received numerous positive comments regarding the impact of the prayer shawls on peoples lives.

When prayer shawls are being made the one making the shawl is praying for the individual to receive the shawl usually it is unknown who will receive the shawl though sometimes they are special made for an individual with a specific prayer concern. The shawl is then washed with hypoallergenic detergent and dried with hypoallergenic fabric softener sheet to avoid static. The shawl is then sealed up in a bag a placed in a basket at the church along with the gift bags prepared with a sheet of cardstock containing the history of prayer shawls one side and scripture readings for different prayer concerns on the other side. Enclosed also is the Pastors card as well as the Parish Nurse’s card with numbers to contact with concerns and needs.

Blood Pressure Screening

Today was our first official blood pressure screening as a health ministries cabinet event.   About a dozen people volunteered to have their BP (blood pressure) checked.   A graph was started for each person for them to take home and bring back each month to track their BP readings.   Those with borderline high BP were given information regarding hypertension and ways to lower BP.   Anyone needing follow up was advised to see a cardiologist regarding related problems.   Overall the process went well with Cabinet members escorting those getting BP checked into office while I, as the Parish Nurse was able to privately assess BP and talk to each person.   Thank you Cabinet Members.

SECOND BLOOD PRESSURE SCREENING

Our second blood pressures screening took place on July 12, 2009 with 17 people participating I had help with the screening Leanna Mendenhall, a recent graduate from Polytech‘s medical assisting program performed blood pressure screenings along with myself making the process go smoothly. The members of The Health Ministries Cabinet provided support and guidance directing those wanting their blood pressure checked into the office where Leanna and I were assessing blood pressures. Thank you everyone for your participation and for your assistance.

Women of Faith Luncheon

Feb 21, 2009 ,  the Parish Nurse, Health Ministry Cabinet coordinated with the Women of Faith Ministry of Kenton Church to present a program regarding heart health for women.   The luncheon was well planned and coordinated by Joyce Webber.   The Health Ministries Cabinet was able to provide a speaker for the event with power point presentation by The American Heart Association with handouts and questions and answers.   The event was well received by the group of about 30 women from our congregation.

First Meeting!

We met with Lavaida White, MSN, RN, Faith Community Nurse on February 12 for an orientation. She began the meeting with an introduction of herself and her role in Community Health Ministry through Christiana Care and Community Health Nursing through her church. She presented power points on the role of health ministries in local churches and communities, the role of the health ministry cabinet, and how to get a health ministry program started, as well as an explanation of the role of a Parish Nurse and the qualifications required. Afterward, she showed a video related to health ministries.

Commissioning Ceremony

January 25th, we held our Commissioning Service, and the Parish Nurse and the Health Ministries Cabinet (Beth Bantom, Leanna Mendenhall, Ann Ulrich, and Joyce Webber) were commissioned at that time. My instructor from Christiana Care Health System’s Basic Health Ministries Parish Nurse Preparation Program, Lavaida White, MSN, RN, Faith Community Nurse for Christiana Care was present. Each person was annointed by Pastor Scot McClymont, and the congregation accepted us as Parish Nurse and Cabinet members.

During the same service, we held a blessing of 11 prayer shawls for our Prayer Shawl Ministry.