AAFCN newsletter

Finding Peace in Hospice and Palliative Care  I will keep them in perfect peace whose minds are stayed on thee (emphasis supplied).  Isaiah 26:3  When we think of Hospice and Palliative care our minds immediately revert to fear, worry, anxiety and hopelessness.  This is true, however, there are some unique individuals and unique situations that transcend circumstances such as the one described in the following story:   I once encountered a man who had brain cancer.  He was placed on hospice care, but refused to lie down in bed and wait for death.  He instead was up [...]

Peace In the Night Season It’s almost Christmas. The daylight hours have shortened, and the nights have grown longer.  Here in North America, darkness now absorbs more than half of the 24 hours that comprise our day.     One dark evening last week I was visiting my son and his family.  My son asked his 7-year-old and almost-4-year-old to escort their little friend back to his house, which was two doors down.  The three children set out.  Not one minute later, the front door flies open and little Everett, my almost 4-year-old grandson runs in red-faced [...]

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 [...]