The Power of Partnership

In my last blog, I noted the Australian who found large dead zones in the huge Pacific ocean that was very alarming to him a veteran sailor.  We are all aware of the rapid melting of glaciers all over the world and the melting of Artic ice.  Maybe even more alarming is the melting of the Artic tundra which is releasing methane gas which is about 20 times as bad a greenhouse gas as is carbon.   This combination is extremely bad news about climate change.

But now some good news from Memphis reported in the August 2013 Sojourners magazine; see "The Power of Partnership," by Bob Smietana.

The Congregational Health Network began with a simple request from the largest hospital network in Memphis to a group of local pastors: Help us take better care of your people.  Ten years ago, officials at Methodist Le Bonheur Healthcare were worried that chronic diseases such as hypertension, diabetes, and obesity were threatening the well-being of local residents and sending health-care costs through the roof.. . . . Hospital officials knew something had to change.  They wanted to focus on preventive health care---getting people in to see their doctor long before they were in crisis.  So in Memphis, a city where faith remains a powerful force and more than 60 percent of the population has ties to a religious group, they turned to churches for help. . . .

It begins with preventive measures, such as healthy eating, and goes all the way through to aftercare.  Church members who leave the hospital are tied into a support network when they get back home. . . .

He believes hospital officials now have a better understanding of how other factors, such as crime, unemployment and lack of access to good food, also affect a community's well-being [shalom]. . . .

Mortality in the network went down by half, . . . .Network members also averaged about $8,700 less in hospital costs. . . .

When they sign the covenant to join the network, pastors promise to model good health to their parishioners.

How about church suppers also modeling good nutrition---not high fat, high sugar---in their meals together.