Tyrone Area Cooperative Ministries will celebrate Pastoral Care Week this week with a special program at the Tyrone Hospital.
Tyrone will join a nationwide effort to celebrate those who are on the front lines of bringing hope to a hurting world during Pastoral Care Week.
A special event is planned for Thursday when representatives of TACM will be on hand at the Tyrone Hospital to thank the doctors, nurses and other staff members. TACM representatives will gather in the main lobby of the hospital from 10:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. as a way of saying “thanks” to these people who care for body, mind and spirit to all who cross the hospital’s threshold.
Pastor TM Talbot-Moses, chairperson of the event explains that the week is observed “to heighten people’s awareness of pastoral caregivers and the importance of spiritual care.”
The local observance is designed to recognize the work done by the area’s healthcare professionals in bringing the spiritual healing resources to our community and to thank them for the services they provide. This is also an opportunity to educate the community in the importance of spiritual care and the role spiritual care plays in the lives of all people. In addition, it brings awareness to the community at large the meaning of pastoral care and counseling.
“In order for pastoral care to reach its maximum import,” Pastor Talbot-Moses explains. “It takes all people working together to be most effective. In the institutional setting of nursing homes and hospitals, pastoral care is part of the inter-disciplinary team that consists of nurses, social workers, dietary and nutrition, activities and pastoral care.
“Pastoral care, along with the disciplines, seeks to maintain balance in a person’s life as we address a persons’ whole being – body, mind and spirit.”
The observance of Pastoral Care Week stresses the importance of all people working together – one disciple cannot get along without all the others.
Traditionally, pastoral caregivers cross institutional, economic, cultural and ecclesiastical boundaries in integrating spirituality into the healing of the whole being. They work around the clock in communities, congregations, hospitals, long-term care facilities, correctional services, mental health systems and many other places where hurting souls are found. They seek to help people of all faiths and those with no formal religious affiliation.
During Pastoral Care Week, Pastor Talbot-Moses urges all of us to “imagine the beauty of our community of diverseness and remember that you are not only a special part of this wonderful community, you further are ‘a child of God,’ fashioned and formed in the image and after the likeness of the creator. Imagine the rich essence of this community of which you are a part – staff and residents together.”
Held first in 1984, Pastoral Care Week is sponsored by the COMISS Network: The Network on Ministry in Specialized Settings, national organization of pastoral care providers, pastoral care professionals and faith group endorsers.
As we join in this nationwide event, it brings together people of all walks of life – those who care for the whole person – and it is Tyrone Area Cooperative Ministries’ way to join hands with the people in our community to “imagine community” together and to thank one another for the role we play in each other’s life.
Interested persons are invited to join TACM as it thanks the health care providers at Tyrone Hospital for the important role they play in our lives and in the life of our Tyrone Community.
For more information, contact Pastor Talbot-Moses at 684-1430.
