In a 2014 study conducted by the Pew Research Center, responses from younger Americans indicated a trend away from belief in organized religion. Whether these young people will eventually find themselves yearning for the comforts of faith as they grow older has yet to be determined, however, of the baby boomers and Generation Xers surveyed at the time, between 70% and 80% identified themselves as practicing members of the Christian faith. That’s why, according to the staff at HealthKeeperz, a Christian-run home health care provider based in Pembroke, North Carolina, as this segment of the population ages, respecting and uplifting their personal relationships with God continues to be of crucial importance — and especially so when it comes to end-of-life care.
HealthKeeperz on Honoring Lifelong Faith as the End of Life Approaches
The basic tenets of Christianity are rooted in the belief in the death and resurrection of the son of God, Jesus Christ. For anyone who’s been a lifelong member of the Christian faith, receiving end-of-life care that incorporates their true Christian ideals is a blessing that offers comfort, security, a continued sense of community, and ultimately acceptance and peace.
There are some members of the Christian faith who lack a true understanding of what hospice services entail and may wrongly assume that in choosing palliative versus curative care, patients and their families are not allowing God the opportunity to heal a member of his flock. However, in the experience of dedicated caregivers from a Christian-focused home health care provider, such as HealthKeeperz, who have seen firsthand the benefits of spiritual counseling and communal prayer for end-of-life patients and their loved ones, nothing could be further from the truth.
“Some families may face objections from other Christians that, by choosing hospice care based on a doctor’s prognosis, they are not trusting God for healing. Many well-meaning Christians can make this difficult time worse for the patient and family by insisting that God wants to heal and that their choice of hospice care indicates a lack of faith,” notes the Bible resource website, Got Questions.
Got Questions is “a ministry of dedicated and trained servants who have a desire to assist others in their understanding of God, Scripture, salvation, and other spiritual topics,” according to the website. “We are Christian, Protestant, evangelical, theologically conservative, and nondenominational. We view ourselves as a para-church ministry, coming alongside the church to help people find answers to their spiritually related questions.”
Implying that the choice of hospice care is displeasing to the Lord is counterintuitive to the teachings of Jesus. Christian hospice patients and their families should be encouraged and comforted, not criticized for practicing their faith. “Most patients who love the Lord sought His healing long before they chose hospice and have surrendered themselves to his loving care,” Got Questions adds. “Hospice is their way of saying that they are placing themselves in the Lord’s hands to either heal or take them home.”
How Faith-Based End-of-Life Care Uplifts Patients and Their Families
“Perhaps the ultimate act of love is caring for a loved one while they are dying,” notes award-winning medical resource Verywell Health. “It can be a beautiful experience, providing the opportunity to express your love when they need it the most.” For those with deeply held religious beliefs, this expression of ultimate love from family members during a loved one’s final time on Earth is amplified and strengthened by the love of God and through the ministry of Jesus Christ.
“Christian hospices … [are]a wise choice for Christian families in need. Caregivers feel better knowing that the chaplain who is comforting their dying loved one is giving biblical counsel. Terminal patients have many questions about the afterlife, and a Christian counselor can offer reassurances from God’s word or even lead that patient into a saving relationship with Jesus,” explains Got Questions. “Unlike a hospital stay, hospice care can provide the freedom for Christian families to sing, pray, worship, and read Scripture in the familiar surroundings of home, creating a more peaceful environment as their loved one exits this world.”
For those who believe, as it is written in 1 Corinthians 15: 42-45: “So it will be with the resurrection of the dead. The body that is sown is perishable, it is raised imperishable; it is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory; it is sown in weakness, it is raised in power; it is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body,” having the opportunity to worship freely in the knowledge they will be welcomed by the Lord as they transition from this life to the hereafter is a tremendous spiritual boon to Christians in hospice care and their loved ones.
Respected members of the medical community, including those at HealthKeeperz, back up the assertion that in addition to the spiritual benefits, encouraging end-stage patients and their families to engage in faith-based pursuits has profound psychological advantages as well. “Patients who are dying and their families need to have physical, psychological, social, and spiritual needs comprehensively addressed during their final days of life,” concluded Harold G. Koenig MD, MHSc, in an article for The Gerontologist. “When they are addressed in a compassionate, sensitive, and patient-centered way, this increases the likelihood that the dying process will be experienced as both comfortable and meaningful for patient, family, and health care providers.”
Finding Christian-Affiliated Hospice Care That Meets Your Family’s Needs
When researching end-of-life care options, it’s important to note that while certain standards of care are pretty much universal, each hospice is different. Families should determine the criteria, including religious considerations, a prospective provider must meet to ensure the best possible end-of-life experience for a loved one and for themselves in their eventual bereavement.
Due diligence is essential. Hospices that do not provide competent, compassionate, patient-focused care can cause devastating spiritual and emotional consequences. In order to find hospice care that satisfies your Christian beliefs, HealthKeeperz suggests getting answers to some of the following questions prior to making an end-of-life provider selection.
What kind of spiritual guidance do your chaplains offer end-of-life clients? Can the staff help facilitate keeping the patient and family connected to their greater faith community? Is the staff prepared to help plan an appropriate Christian funeral and memorial service? What kind of faith-based bereavement counseling do you offer? These are just some of the considerations HealthKeeperz recommends considering when selecting a caregiver for your loved one.
In the final analysis, each of us has our own relationship with God. The folks at HealthKeeperz believe that people who have led lives honoring the sacrifice of Jesus Christ and following the Lord’s commandments are best served in their final days of care by those whose beliefs are most closely aligned with their own — for as it says in Psalm 73:26, “My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.”
