Shawnee Christian Healthcare Center

Healing the Whole Person

By Lindsay Nelson

A few months ago, Dana came into the clinic for an appointment, but her health insurance had been canceled. I worked with her to get her insurance reinstated and Dana was so relieved that she started to cry. Dana returned a few weeks later for a follow-up visit and this time she had insurance! She told me what a blessing it was to save $25 on the doctor visit. Because we had taken care of insurance, which was her first concern, I then found out that she was worried about her housing. She is on a fixed income and her rent and utilities were very high. She was also concerned about her safety and didn’t have friends or family around to support her. I was able to work with Dana to find age-based housing that was much more affordable for her and in a location where she felt safe. I was with her every step of the way— helping with her housing application, working with the housing facility, and praying with her for safety and guidance. Working with her on these issues let Dana focus on improving her health.

This story from Connie Manley, one of our outreach workers at Shawnee Christian Healthcare Center (SCHC), demonstrates the full scope of services at SCHC and how prayer is integrated into every service we provide.


THE SHAWNEE NEIGHBORHOOD
Residents of the Shawnee neighborhood in West Louisville have some of the lowest incomes in Louisville. Of the 3,600 patients we serve at SCHC, 56% are low-income. On average, residents of the Shawnee neighborhood will die 12 years before their East End counterparts, making the need for neighborhood transformation a matter of life or death.

SCHC seeks to transform the Shawnee neighborhood by sharing the love of Christ in word and deed. We facilitate community development and holistic healthcare by empowering residents of the community. SCHC provides high-quality primary care, dental care, and mental health services in a high-need community.

Our center was born out of an understanding that complex health conditions require a comprehensive, community approach that cannot be accomplished using traditional clinic models. Rather, changing the health care status of a community requires changing the knowledge, behavior, and resources available.


HOLISTIC HEALTH
We believe that if we do not address the total needs of an individual—physical, psychological, social, environmental, and spiritual—we cannot expect to see a change in their overall health. For those reasons, SCHC has implemented a model of community health that strives to address not only health, but also spiritual needs and the social determinants of health and disparities.

One of the most impactful ways we can do this is through prayer. Our staff is available to pray with patients during every step of their appointments, and we have a prayer room where staff or volunteers pray with patients. Patients can also fill out prayer request forms and a volunteer will call them to pray over the phone. So far in 2018, our volunteers and staff have spent more than 50 hours praying with patients to address more than 100 specific prayer requests. Patients are also connected to local churches for support.

By treating the whole person—mind, body, and soul—we hope to see God use SCHC to transform the entire community, one patient at a time.

This article is from the September 2018 issue of  NEXT magazine.