The practice of medicine is complicated and requires very specific knowledge and skills. However, no matter how much we doctors know, there are things that limit the health and access of patients. The problem is, these things are inglorious and easily overlooked by an already overstressed and understaffed healthcare system.
I’ve learned over the years that there are many patients who simply can’t get to doctor’s appointments, therapy visits, pharmacies or to the hospital to see loved ones. Some of them are old and infirmed, while others are young and mentally delayed. Still others are just poor — and, as such, lack both money and transportation to get the healthcare they need so desperately. No small number can just leave their children, or sick family members, to care for their own health.
We physicians are often out of touch with this reality. We’ll say things like, “Follow up with this specialist,” or “Go get that prescription,” when often those things are nearly impossible for the vulnerable, struggling patients we see.
Attending a Southern Baptist church for years, I’ve learned that if you suggest a ministry idea, you need to be prepared to be in charge of it. As such, I offer this thought with some trepidation, but I think it’s very important.
A very useful ministry for any church would be one that helped people just get to the doctor or get to the pharmacy. Offering money to pay for medical care or medications is a complicated process and often prone to abuses if not managed carefully. But transportation seems to be a fairly simple thing that would lend itself to conversation and connection.
There are churches that have parish nurses who sometimes go with patients to doctors’ offices and hospitals to help interpret the information given to them, and then translate it into the comprehensible speech of everyday life.
In fact, I don’t see why there aren’t more “parish physicians” who offer to answer questions or help alleviate the anxiety of their fellow members, and maybe give guidance in difficult times.
Maybe someday when I retire, I’ll do this, too. But I encourage every church to consider the very real non-medical, but very much medical, needs of their members and neighbors.
This would truly be a mission field of comfort and compassion to so many in a complex and financially difficult world.