Speaking From the Heart…
“There are only two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as though everything is a miracle.” -Albert Einstein
February is rapidly approaching and is Heart Health Awareness Month AND Patient Appreciation Month! As a non-standard healthcare provider, it was distressing to think of writing a heart health post about exercise (boring!). I decided instead to honor this month by speaking truthfully, from the heart.
As described on our “About Us” page, I am very passionate about the reasons for starting this business and the goals we would like to achieve for our patients. Additionally, like most entrepreneurs, I had selfish aspirations: a desire to have more energy for my faith, to have a schedule that honors the life of faith that I want to live. I dreamed up Ally RN as a holistic, faith-based nursing organization. After conversations with various wonderful, smart businesspeople, the message was clear – as a business, you need a lesser focus on faith. But now, after successfully operating this business for a number of months, we want to circle back to what’s important, and say it out loud!
Ally RN is a faith-based nursing organization.
And we are so excited to share our faith with you!
I can hear my colleagues commenting: Why would she do this?! She’s shooting herself in the foot! Well, here is why:
Because nothing brings greater peace.
In my previous experiences in nursing, I have been honored to work closely with death in a variety of settings. Oftentimes in these situations families are distraught and overwhelmed. They go back and forth about whether to call in a chaplain because they are unfamiliar with the process, or about what their loved one might want. I will let you in on a secret: NO ONE ever regrets it. Every single time patients and families come away with a greater sense of peace. You can see the change– the sudden relaxation on people’s faces, the calming of the energy in the room.
I worked once with an amazing nurse who, when speaking to families of a patient on hospice, would talk about the patient’s spirit as if the spirit was as real, tangible, and obvious as you or I standing there. What a gift! How important! To lend acknowledgement to the essence of a person’s being, at a time when believers and non-believers alike sense the leaving of a person’s soul from their body. As a nurse who advocates for holistic wellness, there is no greater gift I can give to my patients and families- peace.
Because nothing brings greater healing.
Nowadays, studies demonstrate correlation between prayer and healing. Prayer has been shown to decrease death from despair (1), to improve coping with stress and decrease depression, anxiety, suicide, and substance use (2), to increase rates of pregnancy (3), and to even improve wound healing in primates, negating the placebo effect (4). There are many accounts of miraculous healings around the world. I was lucky enough to bear witness to one such extraordinary event. Many years ago, I knew a sister who was in end-stage kidney failure. She required dialysis three times per week and was having a torturous time. She prayed and prayed, and one day, she went to her kidney doctor, who told her that suddenly and quite out of nowhere, her labs were NORMAL! She was cured! The only way the doctor could describe it was to call it what it was- a miracle.
And lastly, because nothing in this world is as important, as everlasting, as impactful, as God’s love.
So, what does this mean?
This means that at Ally RN, we take faith seriously. In Matthew 22:34-40, when Jesus was asked what the greatest commandment was, he responded to love the Lord with all your heart, soul, and mind, and to love your neighbor as yourself. This is all to say, that for us at Ally RN, LOVE is the most important practice. We do not intend to insert faith and religion where it is not welcomed, and we will not turn people away who do not believe. No matter who you are, we will love and care for you. But if you DO feel that faith is part of YOU, we want to ensure that that huge part of your person is not left out in your healthcare. We want to speak openly with you about the Lord. We want to pray. We want to conduct targeted healing prayer (it really works!). We want to answer your medical questions with a faith frame of reference. And we want to make sure that you feel confident that the medical decisions you are making align with your spiritual goals. As always, we want to be your ally!
Contact us today to see how we can help you!
“Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that.” -Reverend Martin Luther King Jr.
Many Blessings,
Kathleen Clark, RN, BSN
Founder, CEO, Ally RN, LLC
References
Chen Y, Koh HK, Kawachi I, Botticelli M, VanderWeele TJ. Religious Service Attendance and Deaths Related to Drugs, Alcohol, and Suicide Among US Health Care Professionals. JAMA Psychiatry. 2020;77(7):737–744. doi:10.1001/jamapsychiatry.2020.0175
Koenig HG. Research on religion, spirituality, and mental health: a review. Can J Psychiatry. 2009 May;54(5):283-91. doi: 10.1177/070674370905400502. PMID: 19497160.
Cha KY, Wirth DP. Does prayer influence the success of in vitro fertilization-embryo transfer? Report of a masked, randomized trial. J Reprod Med. 2001 Sep;46(9):781-7. Erratum in: J Reprod Med. 2004 Oct;49(10):100A. Lobo, RA [removed]. PMID: 11584476.
Lesniak KT. The effect of intercessory prayer on wound healing in nonhuman primates. Altern Ther Health Med. 2006 Nov-Dec;12(6):42-8. PMID: 17131981.