Community Health Ministry

Health Promotion

  • Blood pressure screenings

  • Write articles for the newsletter

  • Display a health bulletin board and pamphlet rack

  • Arrange screenings for diabetes, cancer, strokes, etc.

  • Work with other community agencies to serve as sites for health services

  • Private consultations regarding health issues

  • Group education for various health issues, i.e. support groups: grief, cancer, weight loss

Referral and Advocacy

  • Coordinate plan of care following discharge from hospital/nursing home

  • Contact physician's office for individuals that need assistance

  • Guide persons to use existing community services

  • Act as a spokesperson when an individual cannot act on his/her own behalf

  • Meet with families to plan care of individual or to counsel members

Visitation

  • Make home, hospital, nursing home visits to monitor health status, provide emotional support, encourage compliance with medical treatment, and recommend community

  • bereavement visits by self or with clergy

Facilitate Lay Ministries

  • Coordinate volunteers to assist with various programs and needs of individuals

  • Work with health cabinet to meet the needs of the congregation.

Interpret the relationship Between Faith and Health

  • Assist families in time of crisis

  • Stay with individual during surgery if family is not available

  • Encourage the use of prayer, scripture, and devotional materials as aids to healing

  • Incorporate spiritual values into health education

Communication and Documentation

  • Communicate with clergy, church staff, health cabinet, and volunteers

  • Communicate schedule and activities with church secretary

  • Record pertinent information on the individual's record (Info will remain confidential)

  • Record statistical information to be shared with Clergy, health , and program staff

  • Participate in Health Cabinet meetings

Friend A Senior

This program is intended to be a friendship/buddy program. We want to build relationships and not just give gifts at the holidays. These older adults live in assisted living/skilled nursing facilities and have been identified as not having a strong local support network. Some of them do not have family or friends to visit them or provide necessities or gifts. 


Contact stephaniebelliott@gmail.com if interested. 



Resilience Conference


Lisa Marisiddaiah

Lisa Marisiddaiah has been serving in a Community Health Ministry role since 2008 and considers her calling to faith community nursing an answer to a prayer! She graduated from Saint Joseph College, West Hartford, CT with a Bachelor’s degree in Nursing, and has experience in medical/surgical, medical insurance/clinical

policy, case management, geriatrics (with a focus in Alzheimer’s), and is board certified in faith community nursing. She is a Certified Senior Advisor through the American Society of Aging, and is a Licensed Administrator for Assisted Living Facilities in NC.

 

In 2016, Lisa completed a two year fellowship In FaithHealth at Wake Forest Baptist Health, and also received the honor of being named as a “2016 Great 100 North Carolina Nurse.” She developed the FaithHealth-Gaston program for Gaston County, and is dedicated to addressing social determinants of health in this community, in order to reduce disparities and make healthcare accessible for all.

 

Lisa is the proud mom of two sons, Preston (21) and Harrison (18). She is originally from Connecticut, but has lived in Gastonia since 1995. In her free time, Lisa loves to cook & bake, and also enjoys hiking, running, and gardening! She loves exploring and learning about other cultures, and is always ready for a travel adventure!