By Gary Gunderson
In times of illness, we place our trust in our faith and in those with us. This trust rests on qualities that know no season, that know no accent. The woman who waited by the road for a chance to touch the hem of Jesus’ cloak knew only of his compassion and his reputation for healing with generosity.
We grown-ups constantly seek the life of the people and neighborhoods we love. We move by the light of mature faith and relevant science, knowing that both are constantly moving.
So why does everything in the world of faith and health seem to be in such radical change? The FaithHealthNC strategies you’ll find in Winston-Salem turn everything downside up and outside in.
When we were children, the Apostle Paul noted, we thought and acted like children. But now we are adults, so we must constantly test our best ideas and most well-intentioned efforts. We must ask, “Is this childish or mature, scientific novelty or truly relevant?” In every tradition, mature faith is marked by humility and compassion.
Is this the best we can do?
Truly relevant medical science focuses on the tools and techniques most likely to advance the well-being of the most vulnerable. An academic medical center in tune with the bold vision of its religious founders never quits asking, “Is this the the very best we can do?” Mature faith draws us together and then, hopefully equipped with relevant science, pulls us toward the most vulnerable.
Our medical center has imaging technology that can see diseases at molecular levels. But the most recent wonder is new partnerships in the tough neighborhoods of our home city of Winston-Salem. These partnerships, helping people find care and comfort, may be even more miraculous because they demand going past barriers accumulated over decades.
Street by street
The science most relevant here is found in novel analytics (borrowed from brain science) and mapping of assets (borrowed from Africa) and new models of health workers (borrowed from Latin America). We see vividly the different patterns of disease street by street, so we can get the right people involved in the most vulnerable lives at the right time. On most days, no helicopter is involved. Rather, it is about faithful compassion, delivered door-to-door.
Why this relentless push for new ways to reach out? Martin Luther King Jr. said that all of us can be great because all of us can serve. All of us can heal, too.
That’s why.
