Services Offered by Luton and Dunstable Chapel - Essay Example

SHORT PLACEMENT MINISTRY By Location Short Placement Ministry. Luton and Dunstable Chapel The Luton and Dunstable chapel is a chaplaincy service team that provides services to not only the members but all patients besides visitors.in as much as the chapel is based on Roman Catholic denomination; the services they offer are not done on the basis of an individual’s faith. In so doing, they are not discriminatory in term of religion in the services they provide. They offer services to members of any religion and no religion. Luton and Dunstable chapel offers spiritual, religious and pastoral care and are a focus of faith and concern for the culture around them. They come in to assist individuals using material support in case of a tragedy or a time of loss. They as well offer training to their staff members to ensure they remained professionally relevant and updated with the trending issues in the profession thus giving full support to their staff members. (Camphell, 2014, p. 130) Parents and family members who lose their beloved ones when receiving medical attention from the medical services provided by the chapel find both material and moral support. Such families and parents are offered financial support besides counseling and comfort. So as to achieve its missions and objectives of providing high quality healthcare services and access to spiritual, cultural and religious care, the chapel collaborates with the denominations and the local faith communities which communicate the members of the communities the services on offer (Kelly, 1896, p. 430). With that everybody in the society and community as a whole gains quick and reliable access to the services of the chapel anytime they need such services. Luton and Dunstable chapel also works hand in hand with various volunteers who come in to offer support through financial donations for the development of the various services. The volunteer teams also contain an individual who provide comfort and support to the visitors, patients and staff regardless of their religious backgrounds. The volunteer groups include bedside ministers who frequently provide their services especially ministry on Sundays besides other days, ward visitors who pay homage to and support the patients in the chapels hospital and chapel volunteers who make their visits to the wards mainly on Sundays and Saturdays to cross check on which patients would like to attend the spiritual services of the chapel. (Camphell, 2014, p. 149) The chapel volunteers also assist in the organization of the Sunday morning hospital’s services. They bring the hospital patients to attend services at the Chapel. Still other members of the chapel volunteers ensure the chapel is in order in readiness for prayer services. This they do by arranging the flowers, playing the organ and help with the calligraphy. Christian Services offered in Luton and Dunstable Chapel The chapel provides for opportunities for divine intervention following an organized scheme of prayer. The services are categorized into three main sections. There are weekly services, Sunday services and Muslim Friday prayers in the hospital social club. The weekly services include morning prayers from Monday to Friday held at 0830 hours, Wednesday worship at 1230 hours and the Roman Catholic Mass held at 1230 hours on each of the first Friday of a new month. Sunday services take place as from 0930 hours which is accompanied by a holy communion. On such Sunday services, patients who are willing to attend the services from the hospital are brought in by the chapel volunteers in wheelchairs. From 1030 hours, there is a bedside ministry that is always only available on requests made by patients. Such patients are unable to attend the chapel. Such patients also receive Holy Communion from their hospital beds. The Muslim prayers are normally held on Fridays. One of such services is called Friday Jumma prayers held at 1300 hours. Such prayers are always held on special occasions and during certain festivals as dictated and announced by the management of the chapel. Official communications of such festivals are done on the chapel’s noticeboards in the hospital. The prayer services are held in the hospital social club. (Camphell, 2014, p. 136) The chapel provides various opportunities for worship in the chapel. It provides two areas for prayer practices and worshipping activities. The prayer areas are always open and accessible to anybody willing to pray. Their quiet environment is very conducive for prayer and worship for all. The areas dedicated to prayer of one’s religion and worship services are the hospital chapel which is known as the chapel of St. Barnabas located on the second floor of the medical block and the sacred space prayer room which has its location on the ground floor of the surgical block. (Lords, 1852, p. 280) The chapel also provides for opportunities of a visit by a chaplain at particular times which are available on requests. The Work of the Chapel Besides offering opportunities for religious, pastoral and cultural care that are necessary for spiritual nourishment, the chapel also has a hospital which offers numerous different medical services to the visitors and patients. The hospital has highly qualified medical practitioners who are continuously trained by the chapel to ensure they remain to the required standards. Among the medical services provided by the chapel are: Breast Screening Services The chapel’s breast screening service screens women aged from between 47 and 73 years after a period of every three years and serves a very wide region from Bedfordshire to Hertfordshire and the screening team comprises of highly skilled professionals. There are also mobile screening services in which vans that are conveniently located enhance quick access to patients who may not access the services on time. The department provides a number of outpatient clinic services including family historic clinics, assessment clinics besides symptomatic one-stop clinic. The family historic clinics are a team of family history referrals who are having a one-on-one link with the screening services and information pack relaying information to the GPs. Symptomatic clinic services are in charge of ensuring all the clients are attended to by the recommended and professional team specialized in breast screening. The clients should have access to all the investigations and medical tests as required and the results of the tests revealed to the breast cancer management team. (Kelly, 1896, p. 458) The team comprises of breast cancer nurses, consultants, breast physicians. Imaging Services This department is a highly equipped department that is responsible for the provision of diagnostic and interventional services including Dexa scans, obstetric scans, nuclear medicine scans and x-ray services. The unit is served by a group of radiographers, senior nurses, imaging assistants, porters and sonographers. The team provides patient friendly services with each of the patients assured high-quality medical care. Imaging services requires that the patients are to be given special attention and the diagnosis kept as private and confidential information known only to the patient and the doctor providing the service. To ensure the patients are attended at the right time before it’s too late, the department has reduced the waiting time to as low as lower than the national waiting time target of six weeks. Cardiology These are medical services that diagnose and treat such infections that affect the heart. The Luton and Dunstable chapel provides this service through their cardiology department which comprises seventeen highly qualified nurses and thirteen bed ward that has at least six beds set aside for patients with acute cardiac complications. Within the department is also a cardiac rehabilitation team that is made up of nurses, therapists, physiotherapists besides a dietician in charge of the provision of individual programs pertaining physical exercise and relaxation. The rehabilitation team aims at ensuring quick recovery from cardiac arrests and curbing further risks of attacks. The rehabilitation team also provides moral support by offering pieces of advice to the cardiac patients to restore their confidence. Stroke Services Medical Services The Luten and Dunstable chapel stroke team is spearheaded by two qualified professionals and specialists in the stroke called Dr. Sekaran and Dr. Phiiri. This department receives the largest number of emergency patients and referred patients from various hospitals. The department closely works with the neurosurgical team at Queen’s Square Hospital the provision of medical services to the patients who require neurosurgical medical services and vascular unit in Bedford Hospital in offering neck blood vessels surgery. The Luton and Dunstable chapel has mini-stroke clinic that operates daily in the morning hours serving patients referred from St. Mary’s out-patient department.it is the only hospital recommended to offer treatments for thrombolysis in the region. This is an emergency treatment offered within the first few hours of the occurrence of stroke, mostly the first four hours. Children’s Services These services are also called pediatrics and involve child care and development and the treatment of diseases that affect the child at the childhood stages. Luten and Dunstable chapel provide pediatrics services through the Children’s Outpatient Department, which is made up of staff members that are trained to best suit the comfort and fun of the children. This sees the department very friendly to the parents and their children. Children admitted for surgical operations are assured standard healthcare service as they are provided with specialist surgeons besides maximum care from the team of the department. There are various specialist clinics in the department to attend to children with different medical problems. Such clinics diagnose such ailments as diabetes, asthma, HIV. There are also in-patient services besides the out-patient services. The in-patient unit accommodates 54 beds a 5-bed assessment unit for children not older than sixteen years. The in-patient facilities also include a schoolroom in which the patients have the opportunity to be attended to by a full-time teacher enabling them to continue with their education while in the hospital. Maternity Services Maternity services in Luten and Dunstable chapel are offered by a team of midwives and obstetricians in support of matrons and other specialists. This team ensures they provide the best services for medical care to mothers and various families. The neonatal unit in the hospital ensures maximum care is offered to prematurely born babies and sick newborns. The Luten and Dunstable chapel hospital provides women with opportunities to give birth anywhere of their choices ranging from home births to birthing units and delivery suit. In case of births at home, the chapel provides community midwives who takes care of the mother when in labor and later joined by two midwives at birth. The birthing unit is an environment in such a way that the woman has an opportunity to make a choice to use water for birth and to relieve the labor pain. The unit is thus comfortable and relaxed facilitating the physiological processes involved in a normal birth. Pathology The Luten and Dunstable chapel hospital has been rated to be providing the best pathology services in the Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire areas. It provides high-quality services for the diagnosis, screening, testing and in the monitoring various diseases in the provision of pathology services. (Lords, 1852, p. 302) Fertility Medical Care Services Under the Department of Luten and Dunstable fertility clinic, fertility services are available to the patients who require them. The department has both males and females who attend to male and female partners respectively to offer varied treatments and medical investigations. This unit ensures neutrality in while providing the parent-focused services to make the best parent out of the patients they are attending to. This department has plans for expanding its scope of operations to incorporate patients who fund themselves, NHS patients and to offer the same services to couples of the same sex. They work hand in hand with the Bourn Hospital based in Cambridge. Dermatology This is the diagnosis and treatment of any skin related diseases. The department of dermatology in the Luten and Dunstable hospital chapel known as the dermatology department is well equipped for this task having a specialist registrar, four consultants, two dermatology doctors who serve on part time and a specialist registrar. The dermatology services are available to the patients in choose and book. (Lords, 1852, p. 304) The team attends to patients with skin diseases such as eczema, psoriasis besides giving immediate concern to skin lesions that are suspected to infected by cancer to prevent such disease from spreading all over the body. In conjunction with plastic surgery team that offers frequent visits to the hospital, the department also offers plastic surgery to patients. Diabetes and Endocrinology Services People of all the ages can be diagnosed and treated for any type of diabetes. With the diabetes specialist nurse and the consultant on diabetes, a wide range of diabetes services is offered in the hospital. (Lords, 1852, p. 307)This department is operation in 24 hours to ensure none of the patients including the emergency patients are attended to. Among the specialist clinics in this department are diabetes in the over 65s,cardiovascular diabetes clinics, insulin pump clinic, diabetic foot clinic and joint diabetes antenatal clinic among other numerous specialist clinic offering various specialist diabetes services. Research and Development Luten and Dunstable hospital has a team of researchers from the clinical trials department. The researchers are ever on their toes doing numerous consultations and investigations on various diseases to come up with the cure of various diseases. The team also does consultations from patients and visitors on how to improve the quality of service they offer. This is achievable by asking the visitors and patients to grade the kinds of services they received in the hospital From the comments and recommendations from the consulted individuals, the team comes up with a frame of the necessary adjustments in the hospital and the chapel as a whole. Through this, the chapel can adjust on the quality of services they offer to the best according to the patients and visitors. Theological reflection of the services work of Luten and Dunstable chapel The humility and care with which the medical professionals at the chapel handle patients speak a lot of the theological aspect of the chapel. Such concern and humility reflects one of the teachings of Jesus Christ that was talking about a reward set aside by the humble and the low in the society. He at one time stated that the low will be uplifted, and the proud downplayed. "Blessed are the humble for they shall see God."(Matt.5:8) Through the medical services offered in the hospital chapel, the medical practitioners show their mercy and also teach the patients to be merciful. The patients get to gain medical care besides Biblical teachings from the doctors. In this way, they preach to the patients the good news of what life a saved person should live. From my experience, while serving in the chapel, I grew so much spiritually. I learned what a Christian life is made of and what approach to give to most of the challenging issues in Christian life. Handling people with concern, care and humility builds on the relationship between us and those people. The manner in which a patient is served determines his consecutive visits and contribution to the hospital. Some of the patients later came to offer to the chapel numerous donations appreciating the manner in which they were handled during critical moments in their lives. Pentecostal Church The Pentecostal church is a new movement in the Christian world that has quite distinct characteristics of worship from other Christian denominations. It has had a great impact due to its unique features sweeping believers from such churches into joining it. The unique features incorporate the worship services that are marked with speaking in tongues, dancing, exuberant singing and continuous raising of the hands. The Pentecostals believe that salvation is simply through accepting God into one’s life and proclaiming a new creature through being born again. (Neely, 1993, p. 178) They believe that the salvation gift was given to them by God through the death of Jesus Christ on the cross hence anybody however much sinful can be saved. For those who are saved; it’s their role to proclaim the gospel to those who have not believed yet. Comparison between the Prayer Services of the Chapel and that of the Pentecostal Church Being a group of people that rebelled from the Christian community, the Pentecostal church still holds some similarities in their religious practices and beliefs as those of the Christians amidst the numerous differences that have been noted. Both the Luton and Dunstable chapel and the Pentecostal church believe in the Bible and treat it as a holy book. To them the writings in the Bible were either written by God himself or the writers was inspired by God. (Kelly, 1896, p. 436)The writings in the Bible are thus accepted by the two groups without any alterations and are treated as free from errors and any mistakes. The freedom involved in the process of one becoming saved forms the second similarity between the two churches. In both, salvation is free and democratic, received upon individual acceptance. They both conform to the statement that salvation is a freely God-given gift that finds value in ones life after the person accepts that the death of Jesus Christ on the cross was meant to save him/her from his /her sinful life. (Camphell, 2014, p. 145) Thirdly, both churches accept that God is omnipresent and exists in every part of the world. They appreciate the existence of God from what they can see around them and the experiences they gain in their daily life. Both acknowledge the existence of God through worshipping him and offering sacrifices to him. The mode of worship may differ but still whichever the mode may be they give praise to the same God. Luten and Dunstable chapel and Pentecostal church have a wide range of differences especially in their mode of worship. The preaching in the Pentecostal church is always intense and immense associated with great joy and excitement among the audience. The audience claps their hands, shout amen or even occasionally stand to praise God when the preaching session is on. The preaching session in the Luten and Dunstable chapel are always associated with maximum humility and orderliness with only the preacher standing and the rest of the audience seated listening. The congregation remains calm until the end of the preaching session. Another difference is noted in the giving of offerings, tithes and sacrifices to God. The Luten and Dunstable chapel and affiliate churches have ushers walking among the congregation with the offering pans collecting the offerings whilst in the Pentecostal churches, whoever has an offering to give to God walks straight to the front of the church where the pans are permanently fixed and drop their offerings in those pans. (Reeves, 2009, p. 60) Prayers are approached with humility and lowness in the Luten and Dunstable chapel. This is contrary to the case in the Pentecostal churches where everyone prays loudly at the same time hence the prayer session is accompanied by a lot of noises. Amidst the prayers, the believers get carried away by powers of the Holy Spirit and start speaking in tongues. Prayer services are associated with exuberant songs sung by everyone in the church associated with dances and raising the hands besides frequent and continuous clapping in the Pentecostal church. (Reeves, 2009, p. 62)They also incorporate musical instruments to guide them in their dances. In Luten and Dunstable chapel, singing is done by only a group of believers forming the choir and songs are sung at intervals may be at the end or at the onset of some programs. Clapping of hands and raising hands in the air is a heard of in the chapel. I would wish to make a few recommendations to the Pentecostal church to the Pentecostal church so as to make the services they provide during worship visitor friendly. This doesn’t mean they offer poor services but rather required adjustments. Orderliness during the prayer sessions so as to portray that the God they are serving is supernatural and more powerful than any other creature they might imagine of. The church needs to be a sanctuary with as limited noise as possible. For the purposes of their visitors or those who are attending their services for the first time, the Pentecostal church should have a department that translates the tongues so as to have everyone getting inspired. Most of if not all the visitors lose touch with the touch when the congregation starts speaking in tongues. References Camphell, 2014. Bassantin - Bloemaart, Volume 4. 2nd ed. California: Austrian National Library. Ethnomusicology, M. S. o. M. U. o. H. B. R. L. A. P. o., 2002. Holy Brotherhood: Romani Music in a Hungarian Pentecostal Church: Romani Music in a Hungarian Pentecostal Church. 3rd ed. London: Oxford University Press. Kelly, E. R., 1896. The post office directory of Northamptonshire, Huntingdonshire, Bedfordshire, Buckinghamshire, Berkshire, and Oxfordshire. 4th ed. Gotham City: Oxford University. Lords, G. B. P. H. o., 1852. Journals of the House of Lords, Volume 84. 6th ed. London: H.M. Stationery Office. Neely, T., 1993. Belief, Ritual, and Performance in a Black Pentecostal Church: The Musical Heritage of the Church of God in Christ. 1st ed. New York: Indiana University. Reeves, J. D., 2009. A Historical Survey of the Pentecostal Church of God American Indian Missions Ministry. 1st ed. Kansas: ProQuest. Read More