Page 118 - EMCAPP-Journal No. 8

Christian Psychology alive
health and wellbeing. The church is a subsystem
of the community and as such can influence the
community and society (Magezi 2008:273). As
much as the church, a clinic or a hospital must
also be considered as part of the community
and the church (FBCs and FBOs) can make
an important contribution to the function and
impact of these facilities. The church also has
access to and can offer physical and human re-
courses to the community, part of which can be
health related (Magezi 2008:274). The church
provides social and community cohesion and
its leaders can play an important role in societal
and moral transformation (Magezi 2008:274).
Magezi (2012:167) pleads for the repositioning
of churches from the periphery to the centre
in order to make a meaningful contribution to
public healthcare and indicates three areas of
participation: increasing access to primary and
preventive care, improving delivery and qua-
lity of healthcare and improving patients’ self-
management of their disease. FBOs and CBOs
can also play an important role in community
healthcare and primary healthcare. De Gruchy
(2007) has indicated the value that religion can
add to health in the following areas: Religion of- establishment of a Faith-Based organization
fers presence; Religion offers an integration of
tangible and intangible health promoting fac- red as a Non-Profit Organization in 1999. The
tors; Religion offers relationships and networks;
Religion offers an interpretive framework.
What needs to be added is that the faith-based
community also provides context for care, com-
passion and hope. People throughout history
have dealt with illness, loss, suffering, trauma
and pain in spiritual ways. According to Louw
(2008:118-122) illness must be seen as a conflict
and existential crisis. It causes conflict with the
body, the self (identity crisis), the environment,
and a crisis of faith and ultimately an existential
life crisis in which our sense of purposefulness
and direction is questioned. Illness further th-
reatens our will to live, confronts us with our
finites and mortality as well as with our past
actions and its consequences for the future. Re-
presentatives of that community (whether pro-
fessional or volunteer) build a bridge to the faith
community to communicate that we are part of
a bigger group who share in our humanity and
vulnerability. The faith-based community is
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also an important resource to support health-
care workers in their commitment to provide
compassionate care.
It is clear that spirituality, spiritual and pastoral
work and FBCs/FBOs have an essential role to
play in the provision of holistic people-centred
healthcare. This is internationally recognized
and there are already excellent best practice
models available. However, the nature and ex-
tent of this contribution in the South African
context and how it can be enhanced is not easy
to define.
4. HospiVision: A South African case study
Hospivision traces its roots back to a decision
by Christian Doctors and Ministers to build a
chapel in the Pretoria General Hospital during
1945. This chapel was inaugurated in 1956.
From this base “pastoral services” was provi-
ded until 1996, mainly by the Dutch Reformed
Church. By this time the name of the Hospital
was changed to Pretoria Academic Hospital. In
1996 a chaplain’s position, funded by the Dutch
Reformed Church, was discontinued. Churches
in the area become involved and this lead to the
called HospiVision, which was formally registe-
Pretoria Academic Hospital had by then relo-
cated to a new hospital called Steve Biko Aca-
demic Hospital. HospiVision chose to follow an
ecumenical and non-denominational route and
to provide spiritual care to all patients, family
and staff, irrespective of religious orientation.
The organization also set a goal to make spiri-
tual care services available in other hospitals, as
the trend to discontinue formal chaplain’s posi-
tions, continued in other denominations. Cur-
rently HospiVision renders it services in hospi-
tals in Pretoria, Johannesburg and Cape Town.
4.1 The HospiVision model
4.1.1 Organizational identity
Vision: Touching lives. Giving hope.
HospiVision touches the lives of sick and vul-
nerable people and those around them through
spiritual and emotional care, counseling and
physical support, and gives them hope through
developmental empowering programmes.