Spending time in hospital can be difficult, stressful and tiring, not just for our patients, but also for those who support them. This is particularly evident in high-stress environments such as our Emergency Room, Intensive Care and Neonatal Intensive Care Units.
Acknowledging people’s particular spiritual needs in such difficult situations, we are planning to create a brand-new service, a Pastoral Care Programme.
We already have a wonderful local Chaplaincy team at the hospital, however, their time to be with patients is very limited due to volunteer numbers. Our planned new Pastoral Care service will complement and support the existing one. We aim to recruit international volunteers who will serve for periods of three months or longer, allowing us to provide a much greater level of spiritual care at our hospital.
Our need is for six international volunteers at any one time. Our focus will be on recruiting a pool of volunteers, as well as establishing partnerships with sending organisations such as churches, mission organisations and ministry training colleges. The Nazareth Trust will provide training prior to placement, as well as on-going volunteer support, supervision and accommodation in Nazareth.
Whether it is 1pm or 1am, Intensive Care or Outpatients Clinics, if someone would like somebody to sit with them and pray, we want to be there. We want to provide a ministry of presence to all those who desire it, to provide a reassuring hand at a difficult time. Often in times of crisis, the offer of prayer can make an enormous difference and we want that option to be available for everyone and anyone.
Please join us in providing this ministry of presence to all who need it.
