AAFCN newsletter

Hydration: An Important Key to Health It is critical for an individual to stay hydrated, especially during the hot summer months. Drinking water at regular intervals is a healthy habit to adopt. By the time a person feels thirsty they could already be dehydrated, and dehydration can lead to heat exhaustion (CDC, 2024). The intake of water is key to helping a person to maintain hydration. If a person works in the heat or if they engage in recreational exercise, they may sweat, and sweating can result in dehydration. When a person sweats, they are prone [...]

Disaster Preparedness: A Call to Action! September is National Preparedness Month. This is a call to action! A call to Adventist Faith Community Nurses (FCNs) to be prepared to respond when disaster of any kind or any magnitude strikes. What is preparedness? It is a set of actions that are taken as precautionary measures in the face of potential or actual disasters. Being prepared helps to save lives. Our goal is to take a wholistic approach and be adequately positioned to address the physical, emotional, and spiritual needs of those affected by disasters.We must be prepared [...]

Active Shooter… WHERE?! As nurses, we have been told for some time that healthcare workers and nurses in particular are at risk for workplace violence including gun violence.1   We may have nervously watched our employer’s active shooter video clips, or we may have reviewed workplace violence policies and  updated our department’s procedures, or perhaps even participated in or conducted active shooter safety drills on our units. Even if all this generates apprehension at some level, most of us are now quite good at sliding ‘active shooter’ in with other safety issues at work that we’ve dealt [...]

A Journey in Faith-Based Nursing Featured Article, September 2024 As Liaison between the AAFCN Membership and its Board of Directors, I am pleased to share the journey of Adventist Faith Community Nurse Christine Boyd, RN, who was commissioned in Lexington, KY, in Spring 2023. This is her story. I studied hard at all levels of my education. My parents instilled in my siblings and me the belief that God had a plan for our lives. My brother became an SDA pastor, and my sister a church school teacher. Nursing was an easy choice for me, as [...]

Newly-Qualified Faith Community Nurses  Faith Community Nursing (FCN) has also been called Parish Nursing. Faith community nursing involves a wholistic and caring approach that focuses on the care of individuals and groups, usually within a faith-based setting (Clarke & Hunter, 2019). Human beings have several needs that contribute to wholeness, such as physiological, psychological, emotional, and spiritual needs. According to Burkhardt and Nagai-Jacobson (2016) spirituality is a critical dimension of human beings, and just as a person’s physical needs are taken care of, the spiritual needs must also be addressed. Spirituality is a concept that conveys meaning [...]

Embracing Mental Health Awareness: A Guide for Adventist Faith Community Nurses The Month of May has been recognized as Mental Health Awareness month since its inception in 1949. Faith Community Nurses (FCNs) within the Seventh-day Adventist Church are in a unique position to recognize and assist individuals who may be experiencing mental health challenges. We recognize the importance of caring from a wholistic perspective. Individuals and communities can benefit from our knowledge of addressing the physical, mental, and spiritual aspects of health. As we consider our profession, it is incumbent upon us to strategically position ourselves to [...]

Celebrating Nurses' Sabbath Featured Article, June 2024 For over 40 years, the beginning of May has been a time designated for acknowledging nurses. For many workplaces it’s now a week-long celebration concluding on May 12, the birthday of Florence Nightingale, who is long considered to be the founder of modern nursing. This year, the Medford Seventh-day Adventist Church in southern Oregon designated May 4th as “Nurses’ Recognition Sabbath,” an idea strongly supported by church members and leaders alike. In preparation for the special program, organizers were astonished to discover the church had 33 nurses! When including retired [...]

Interview with Katia Reinert Featured Article, March 2024 Ms. Katia, It's my honor to have you share your views with the AAFCN community. On this 10th yr. anniversary, I am excited to hear about the origin, rich history, and progress of the Adventist Association of Faith Community Nursing. “AAFCN” organization. RS: Question #1: What was the origin of the AAFCN organization? Date? KR: The preliminary work for the development of The Adventist Association of Faith Community Nursing (AAFCN) begun in 2011, and it became an official organization in 2013. RS: Question #2: Who were the founding members? [...]

Empowered Nursing Ministry Unveiling the Divine Strategy Featured Article, December 2023 “God is the best strategist!” remarked a friend in our recent conversation as she recounted how she had been recognizing God’s leading in her life during challenging times. That conversation left me thinking about our strategic planning sessions AAFCN leadership held earlier this year. Your AAFCN leaders came away with a similar impression. Yes, God is the best strategist! The vision God placed in our hearts and minds was something I do not think any of us fully anticipated. It was a broader, higher, and [...]

A Friend Indeed Dear Friends, Oil and perfume make the heart glad, and the sweetness of a friend comes from his earnest counsel. Proverb 27:9. ESV As the President of our AAFCN shared at our annual membership meeting on September 19, 2023, we have made significant changes to our membership structure, now offering three categories of membership in our Association. In addition to those who have completed the Foundation Course and are now Faith Community Nurses (FCNs), we are thrilled to announce that our Association (still referred to as the AAFCN) is extending membership to all [...]