Spirituality
The role of faith-based organizations
The United States has a long tradition of faith-based organizations providing health and social services. Today's secularized health care system was born out of religious organizations. In response to mandates care for the sick and poor and widowed, faith-based organizations have long met many of the needs of disadvantaged populations. In recent years there has been increased focus on the role of the faith community in the provision of social services as a result of initiatives promoted by President George W. Bush.
While there are many questions and issues being debated related to use of faith-based organizations to provide health and social services, creating closer ties would seem to have the potential for helping respond to the needs of a rapidly growing older population. For example, as discussed in the Caregiving section of Aging Texas Well, informal support networks, often supported by religious organizations, are a critical component of the system of providing long-term care services. Others have suggested that faith-based organizations are better able to deal with issues of "service reach" - that is, addressing factors such as location, trust, cultural sensitivity, and motivation. These are all difficult issues in reaching out to provide services to seniors, and ones that faith-based organizations may be well-suited to address.
Even if faith-based organizations do not increase their role in direct provision of services, the links between positive health and religion would suggest that "there needs to be a growing recognition by the health care systems and by religious communities that cooperation is needed." Each institution needs to learn to value the contribution of the other and develop new models for working together.
Updated: November 2, 2007
