Nurses
Amid the stresses of caring for people with COVID-19, nurses report they are routinely subject to violence from patients. (Photo by Günter Valda on Unsplash)
A United Methodist Insight Column
Here’s something I learned this week from the Texas Tribune: health care workers routinely face workplace violence from their patients.
Even as we’ve been hailing nurses and other health care workers as the heroes of the coronavirus epidemic, they’ve still been enduring physical attacks and verbal abuse from their patients. In Texas, fully half of the state’s nurses report being scratched, bitten, or verbally abused during their careers, according to Texas Tribune reporters Shannon Najmabadi and Neelam Bohra.
Imagine going to work having to prepare yourself for the possibility of being physical or mentally assaulted on top of all the other stresses of dealing with the coronavirus pandemic. This news certainly brings another opportunity for people of faith to find ways to support our health care workers. I suggest we start with prayer for their safety, and then find out what our local health facilities most need to care for the many who care for us and our families.
Congolese bishop, wife stricken
From the West Ohio Conference newsletter:
“Pray for Bishop Ntambo and Mama Shimba. Mama Shimba and Bishop Ntambo are both hospitalized in the DR Congo with multiple medical complications. The doctors do not fully know what is happening. Bishop Ntambo and his wife are spiritual giants. He has been recognized internationally for his peacemaking abilities between warring factions. Through his leadership, the hungry have been fed, children educated, clean water extended to many villages, health care made accessible, women invited into leadership roles, and the love of Jesus shared. And it was his wife, Mama Shimba, who said that the church needed to care for the orphans who appeared in Kamina after the war. Please hold them and their family in prayer.”
Worship, Webinar with Church and Society
Join Church and Society for a time of worship and reflection at the start of the Lenten Season February 17 12 noon ET. Rev. Dr. Susan Henry-Crowe, preaching. Ash Wednesday Worship
Also, register for the Zoom webinar Church & Society will hold Feb. 24 at 4 p.m. ET to look ahead at the peace and justice challenges facing us in 2021 and how we can respond to them. A Look Ahead to 2021 at Church and Society
Media Mentions as of Feb. 9, 2021
Make houses of worship the center of vaccine rollout – Religion News Service
Asbury United Methodist Church To Become COVID-19 Vaccination Site – News On 6
Youth groups to hold socially distanced food drive – Morganton News Herald
Area United Methodist Churches Receive Grants to Help Establish Online Worship During COVID-19 – Clarksville Online
Faith-based refugee resettlement groups describe what it will take to rebuild program after Trump ... – Religion News Service
Supreme Court Rules Against Calif., Doubles Down On Religious Rights Amid Pandemic – NPR
Religious blindness of support for Trump – Crossville Chronicle
Guilt-stricken evangelical confesses his rhetoric contributed to Capitol assault – Raw Story
Some La Jolla churches welcome chance to resume indoor services while others don't after ... – La Jolla Light
Reader's View: Believing QAnon like believing religion – Duluth News Tribune
Capitol siege puts spotlight on Christian nationalists – Minneapolis Star Tribune
US Supreme Court Lifts Ban On Indoor Church Services In California – Deadline
The Supreme Court stands up again for worship during the pandemic – National Review *
A century ago, White Protestant extremism marched on Washington – The New York Times *
Henry Louis Gates’ new book and TV series distills centuries of Black church history – Religion News Service
How one Supreme Court decision increased discrimination against LGBTQ couples – The Atlantic *
The death penalty is in the death throes – The Washington Post *We’re being too Protestant about the vaccine rollout – America
* Paid subscription required
Cynthia B. Astle serves as Editor of United Methodist Insight, which she founded in 2011.