Starting a Church Based Nursing Home Ministry

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Starting a Church based Nursing Home Ministry

While the major thrust of this manual is to help Christians in a nursing home ministry, this final part enlarges the scope a bit to help churches organize to meet the needs of elderly people both inside and outside of nursing homes.

This part is adapted from “Developing Programs for Senior Citizens—A Handbook for churches,” produced by the Delaware County of (PA) Services for the Aging, and is included here with their permission. We gratefully acknowledge the editors: Judy Oerkvitz, Louis Colbert, Norma Thomas and Verne Dalton.

INTRODUCTION

Churches have historically sought to minister to the special needs of widows, orphans and the aged. Today many churches are reexamining their efforts along these lines in light of the changing cultural and social situation. As concern for the plight of the aged has increased, so too have the resources available to the church. Health systems, social agencies and informational services all stand ready to provide support to churches taking on new projects or otherwise strengthening their ministry with the aging.

The purpose of this section is threefold:

1. To provide general guidelines as to how a church can plan a program to serve and involve the older adult.

2. To offer some suggestions about how to plan, organize and maintain an effective volunteer program.

3. To suggest ideas for the kinds of programs that churches can undertake to help alleviate problems faced by senior citizens.

This section has been designed to provide an overview of the major elements of program development. Detailed instructions have necessarily been omitted due to the fact that program development and implementation will vary according to the particular situation of a given church.

HOW TO PLAN YOUR PROGRAM

Develop a Planning Committee

Organize a committee responsible for looking into program ideas and developing a plan to extend the church's ministry to/with the aging. Ideally, this committee should consist of the pastor, one or more members of the church's governing body and several members of the congregation. It is recommended that older people themselves be recruited for this committee. The responsibility of the committee will be to survey the needs and resources, define the problems, develop plans for problem resolution, work to initiate programs, review t...

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...financial base.

Rotating Fund

It is inevitable, given our busy pace of life, that not all members of a church will be willing or able to volunteer time to extend the church's ministry to the aging. However, there may be some individuals who are willing to contribute funds, others who will work on fund-raising projects. These funds may be used to support programs described above by paying for salaries, rent, equipment or volunteer expenses; or they may be combined to form a Rotating Fund to meet special needs of elderly citizens. Here are some ideas for how the money could be used:

To install a telephone and pay the monthly bills for a senior citizen to allow him or her to participate in the Telephone Reassurance Program.

To extend low-interest loans to older people for home repairs.

To assist older people in paying fuel bills incurred during extremely cold winters.

To assist an older person in paying for dialysis needed on a regular basis.

To build a ramp or install a chair lift for a person who becomes disabled (to allow him or her to continue living at home).

To provide glasses, a hearing aid or dentures for a needy person.

To stock an emergency food closet.

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