Timothy Moss (center right) was part of an Indiana University Health System program that matches hospital patients with “connectors” who help meet support needs, including spiritual needs, in the patient’s life.
Ben Thorp/WFYI
hide caption
toggle caption
Ben Thorp/WFYI
When you think about your health, you probably wonder if you’ve gotten enough exercise, what your diet is like, or if you remembered to take your medication this morning.
But some hospitals have begun to adopt programs focused on spiritual support in addition to physical care. These programs are supported by a growing body of research on the health benefits of spiritual practice.
One such program is part of the Indiana University Health System, which connects discharged patients with individuals called “connectors” if the patient does not have their own support network. community.
Timothy Moss joined the program after struggling with feelings of extreme loneliness. At age 59, he was forced to retire from his job teaching gifted students at a school in Terre Haute, Indiana, due to health problems.
Moss gets emotional when talking about this change in his life.
“I had to take early retirement, so I had to stop teaching, and that was the love of my life,” he said. “I loved it. It was my hobby. It was all my friendships.”
Moss suffers from various physical illnesses, including diabetes, neuropathy, heart problems and vision problems. These problems forced him to retire, especially since it became too difficult for him to read aloud to his students.
Moss, who said he spent much of his life in school, found himself cut off from that world and the teachers he had been close to.
“I lost my social group, and you know, they’re all busy working and doing things,” he said. “And so it was just a new chapter where my life changed abruptly.”
More recently, Moss’s brother died, further cutting him off from his social connections.
“When you’re in your later years, you’re kind of forgotten, you know, because things change in your life, and you feel like, oh my God, yeah, you don’t have the purpose that you had anymore ,” he said.
Timothy Moss has worked with the Congregational Care Network at Indiana University and says the program has benefited him.
Ben Thorp/WFYI
hide caption
toggle caption
Ben Thorp/WFYI
A new health model
After Moss’s difficulties were identified by his doctor, he was connected to a unique program within the Indiana University Health System called Congregational Care Network. This program pairs patients with members of local faith groups who spend time with patients over a 12-week period.
“Patients will say the most important part of their health journey is their provider, and the second most important part is their faith,” said Jay Foster, vice president of spiritual care at IU.
Foster pointed out a recent report from the McKinsey Health Institute which found that “meaning in life” was associated with good mental, physical and social health.
“There is a positive correlation between those who say spirituality is important to them and good health in general,” he said. “It’s not just a nice addition to answer the health question. It’s a consequence of health.”
The UI program begins with a doctor asking patients a series of “spiritual assessment” questions aimed at determining whether they need anything beyond their immediate physical care.
“All human beings need meaning and purpose,” Foster said. “When someone suffers from an illness, that sense of meaning and purpose is impinged, and having a caring partner can help people cope with that illness.”
To start this conversation, doctors will ask a series of questions ranging from “How lonely are you?” to “Is your faith an important resource in times of illness?” »
Foster is quick to explain that spirituality is not exclusive to religious groups, but that religious groups often have built-in social networks that individuals and health systems can tap for support.
“With the ultimate goal of helping individuals find a community they care about,” he said. “So that they’re not just patients, but members of the community, they’re not just receiving care, they’re actually contributing to it.”
While most hospitals in the United States have chaplaincy programs and interact in some way with local religious congregations, proponents of this new approach say only a few hospital systems do this type of work. in depth.
Many hospitals provide health education through faith communities, but the Congregational Care Network model relies on parishes to help provide care and support to individuals, Foster said.
Kathy Rhyne is a connector with Indiana University Health, part of a program that aims to improve the spiritual health of patients..
Ben Thorp/WFYI
hide caption
toggle caption
Ben Thorp/WFYI
A Quaker connector
One of the churches working with the IU health system is Indianapolis First Friends, a Quaker meeting.
Kathy Rhyne is a member who contacted a woman in palliative care through the hospital.
“We talked about everything our whole lives and became fast friends,” Rhyne said. “And now she calls me and I call her, and we’re like sisters.”
Rhyne comes from a different religious tradition than the patient she is in contact with, who was raised Jewish. But for Rhyne, these differences don’t matter.
“For Quakers, everyone is welcome, and that’s really important,” she said. “I think the more we reach out, the greater the chance that someone will find a community and feel loved and cared for.”
Ryne’s relationship with her patient extended beyond the first 12 weeks allotted to the program. She said once they got closer, it was like there was no reason to stop talking. It’s an experience that program administrators say is not uncommon.
“I think she just knows there’s someone she could call…if she was scared, that meant everything,” Rhyne said. “It means the world. It means the world to me and it means the world to her, and it goes both ways.”
Congregational Care Network Director Shadreck Kamwendo (left) and Jay Foster (right).
Ben Thorp/WFYI
hide caption
toggle caption
Ben Thorp/WFYI
Can this program spread?
Health experts say the IU Health program is part of an effort to better integrate so-called spiritual care into the care of patients struggling with illness or loneliness. And it starts at the hospital.
Daniel Sulmasy is director of the Kennedy School of Ethics at Georgetown University. He said asking questions about a patient’s spirituality can be uncomfortable.
“We were able to overcome the taboos and talk about the patients, their sexual activities, their drug use, but somehow we were not able to ask them about their own beliefs and spiritual practices which can really impact their own care,” he said. .
Sulmasy said programs like IU’s are still rare, but may represent early efforts to bring spiritual care or, as he describes it, “whole person care” back into the doctor’s office.
There are signs that these conversations are happening.
At the last annual meeting of the American Medical Association, delegates adopted a resolution promoting both medical education on spiritual health and facilitate patient access to spiritual care services.
Sulmasy said doctors are still reluctant to ask patients about their spiritual needs.
“I don’t want to advocate that doctors become their patients’ spiritual friends or chaplain, but many times they are the only ones who actually ask the question,” he said.
Skeptics say programs like Indiana University Health’s require investments in preventive care that aren’t normally covered by hospital systems.
“We invest in acute and specialty care because that’s what makes money,” said David Craig, a professor of religious studies at Indiana University in Indianapolis.
Craig said the faith-based approach is similar to preventative care — an area where hospitals haven’t traditionally invested as much. He said long-term partnerships between faith groups and hospital systems will require serious investments.
“It’s very difficult to do because you need professional staff, people working in anchor institutions to help connect people to these resources,” he said.
But advocates say incorporating spiritual issues increases patient satisfaction with their health care experience.
Timothy Moss, after discussing the program with his doctor, was matched with a member of a Methodist church in Bloomington, about 40 miles away.
The retired teacher said he still has problems with his overall health and his health is not improving as he wanted. But conversations with his interlocutor, Janet, helped him cope.
“What I’ve found, you know, is times when I talk with Janet, and she helps me through things that I’m trying to deal with, as well as my health issues. It’s just nice to ‘to have someone to talk to and share with.’
Like connector Kathy Rhyne, Moss said her time in the program with Janet had already lasted the required twelve weeks.
But, he said, they still talk regularly.
This story comes from Side Effects Public Media, a health reporting collaborative based at WFYI in Indianapolis. We partner with NPR stations in and around the Midwest, including KBIA and KCUR in Missouri, Iowa Public Radio, Ideastream in Ohio and WFPL in Kentucky.