Profile:
Ella Garner Jackson,
R.N.
Bishop Ronnie C. Crudup, Sr. |
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When a church community joins together to make a difference, the results can be powerful. When that community focuses its efforts on diabetes health, the results can be life changing. Just ask the members of the New Horizon Church International (NHCI) in Jackson, Mississippi — a state that ranks among the highest in the nation for the prevalence of diabetes.
“NHCI takes a holistic approach to health through our Health and Wellness Ministry,” says Ella Garner Jackson. She has been leader of the ministry since 1997. “The ministry keeps health in the front of people’s minds in our community. It helps our members change their lives by improving their health literacy. It gives them information they may never have received otherwise.”
The ministry’s success comes from applying culturally sensitive health programs, such as the American Diabetes Association’s (ADA) Project POWER workshops. This is a faith-based program that uses scripture to teach about diabetes and its complications. The workshops help people gain power over diabetes.
ADA provides NHCI with all the materials and support it needs to run these workshops. All materials are written on a sixth-grade level. They explain the link between diabetes, exercise and diet. They also use culturally competent information to help prevent, manage and control diabetes. For example, the program helps church members understand the ABCs of diabetes (knowing their A1C, Blood Pressure and Cholesterol numbers). The goal is to help them avoid and/or delay complications such as heart disease, blindness, nerve damage and kidney failure.
Since becoming more focused on diabetes health, NHCI has seen a decrease in its members’ personal risk factors. There is more participation in health care events, and more church members are getting routine recommended screenings and finding medical facilities.
“All of our efforts have been really well received,” says NHCI’s Bishop Ronnie Crudup, Sr. “I think our church is known in the community as a really healthy church — on all levels. We are truly learning to live in health in every aspect of our lives.”
In addition to the ADA partnership, NHCI hosts regular health screenings for blood pressure, prostate cancer, cholesterol, glucose levels and more. It runs educational programs on topics such as diabetes, heart disease,
obesity and women’s health. Each year the church holds a large “family fun and fitness” health fair, with activities for the whole family.
“We try to motivate people to apply their knowledge by tying it into their faith. God has given us the knowledge to stay healthy. We have to stay fit for the Master’s work,” says Jackson.
Jackson believes that health is a natural focus for a church community. “Both faith and health are extremely important to me,” she says. “I believe Our Father has called upon us to be good stewards of our bodies. We have a responsibility to take care of ourselves and others.”
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