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Abstract #158915

Gail Petersen, MS, RN, Academic Nursing Centers, Arizona State University College of Nursing & Healthcare Innovation, 500 N. 3rd Street, Phoenix, AZ 85004, 602-496-0745, gail.petersen@asu.edu

Arizona State University's Breaking the Cycle Community Health Care (BTC) has provided health care to vulnerable populations in churches, schools, and homeless shelters since 1991. This Academic Nursing Center also serves as a clinical site for undergraduate nursing and graduate nurse practitioner students. In 2001 BTC initiated family planning services, as a federal Title X delegate agency, in collaboration with Grace Lutheran Church of Phoenix. BTC is the only federally funded family planning clinic housed in a church in the United States. This collaboration is a model of action based on shared values, putting into practice the conviction that caring for the health of others expresses responsibility for a just society. We provide family planning services and related health care to approximately 1,600 individuals annually. More than 90% of our clients are Hispanic, primarily monolingual, live below federal poverty guidelines, and do not qualify for Medicaid. The services are delivered using the nursing model; providing care for the whole person, attending to the physiological, psychological, socio-cultural, developmental, and spiritual aspects of health. Family planning services improve health for women and birth outcomes, alleviate poverty, and conserve scarce resources. The nursing model, coupled with service to the vulnerable, is consistent with two central areas of Grace's ministry: its concern for the whole person and the whole community, especially for those who often slip through the cracks of the system. Family planning services are best delivered in the context of community, where mission and ministry intersect to build healthier communities.

Learning Objectives:

• Describe how a government entity & faith organization can collaborate to deliver health care at the intersection of mission and ministry.
• Discuss creative strategies to raise the rational religious voice on issues of public health & health disparity.
• Create family planning messages that focus on the positive aspects of reducing barriers to contraception & family planning services to vulnerable populations.

Keywords: Family Planning, Faith Community

Related Web page: nursing.asu.edu/anc/btc/

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Any relevant financial relationships? No
Any institutionally-contracted trials related to this submission?

I agree to comply with the American Public Health Association Conflict of Interest and Commercial Support Guidelines, and to disclose to the participants any off-label or experimental uses of a commercial product or service discussed in my presentation.