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On-demand Sunday services are meeting spiritual needs – any day of the week

April 14th, 2021

Churchgoers around the world have been impacted by COVID-19 restrictions on gatherings. The situation has been particularly difficult for residents in senior care homes, who are used to having leaders from various faith traditions visit with their messages and pastoral care. Concern for the situation prompted one Points West Living recreation team to come up with a surprising solution.

Missing a part of themselves

Lisa Smith, Recreation Therapist for Points West Living Stettler, says, “Many residents value their connection to their faith, and being unable to listen to a pastor or minister, they felt like they were missing an integral part of themselves.” So, she and the PWL Stettler recreation team researched solutions.

“We found that streaming church services was not an option for us due to slow internet,” says Lisa, concluding that they needed something they could plug in and play for residents.

Non-denominational church services and hymns

“One day I came across a website called Spiritual Elder Care, where the pastor was creating and posting videos of non-denominational church services specifically to meet the needs of elders, especially those with dementia. She also posted popular hymns displaying the lyrics in large print on the screen. I knew right away that this is what we needed.”

“I contacted the chaplain, Elisa Bosley, and within a day I had permission to copy the services to DVDs, and use them with residents at PWL Stettler.”

With the help of her husband, Wayne Smith, Lisa made up sets of the DVDs, one folder for each cottage. Each folder contains multiple church services and hymns, as well as copies of Connecting Care Virtual Concerts for residents to re-watch.

Soon they were watching any odd day...

“Originally we put up a poster in each cottage asking care partners to play a DVD each Sunday morning for residents to watch,” says Lisa. “However, soon they were putting them on any odd time residents requested them, or the HCAs knew they would enjoy them.”

"It brings me great joy to walk through a cottage and see a church service or hymns playing for residents.” Lisa adds. “Residents are overcoming boredom by watching, singing and being engaged with the content. A basic need has been filled, and it brings much joy to many.”

Photo collage: (Top) Residents in one of the cottages at PWL Stettler watch a Spiritual Elder Care church service; (lower left) the DVD folder for the Pioneer Place cottage; and (lower right), the Good Friday and Easter Sunday services section.

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