Churches Helping with Health Care Crisis

Churches in America are very concerned with the health crisis in the country. So much so that a majority of them offer health care ministries. This is the result of a survey of more than 6,000 American congregations, called the Congregational Health Ministry Survey and conducted by the National Council of Churches USA (NCC) with support from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation,

There are close to 47 million people in the United States who are uninsured. The congregations are supplying health education and direct health care services and are becoming advocates for public policy that is related to health care.

The survey shows that close to 70% of the churches who responded provide direst health services, with 65% of them offering health education programs in their respective communities. In the scope of the survey, direct services are described as providing medical care to individuals by trained health care professionals.

The leaders of the NCC say that results of the survey will be used to provide important information for the different denominational structures as well as ecumenical agencies, health officials and national policy makers.

Some of the facts pointed out in the survey are that the congregations that responded each have an average
of 13.07 health-related activities. All toled, the total number of programs in all of the 6,037 congregations comes to 78,907.

Most of the congregations provide health care to members and non members alike.

Also, 51% of the congregations offer direct financial support to those in need of help paying medical bills. .

Public policy advocacy such as preaching, group discussions, voter education, communications with government and health care providers is provided by 35% of the congregations.

Some of the direct services that the congregations reported offering include counseling, 12-Step Programs, emergency medical funding, mental health counseling, and even a parish nurse or health minister.

Some of the education programs offered include how to prevent disease, senior citizen health, medical programs and ways to overcome practically everything from obesity to HIV/AIDS.

The National Council of Churches USA is made up from 35 of America's Protestant, Anglican, Orthodox, historic African American and traditional peace churches. The total membership is 45 million faithful Christians in 100,000 congregations in all 50 states.

The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation is concerned with the health and health care issues facing our country. They are the sponsor fo Cover the Uninsured which is the largest mobilization ever that is designed to create awareness of the need for action on the issue of the uninsured.

Source: National Council of Churches http://www.ncccusa.org/