Health

The Health theme explores the varying ways that different religions speak about health and wellness as well as end of life concerns.  These videos introduce common concerns shared by many religious groups as well as unique issues raised by specific groups.  Some of the videos also describe how the experiences of some medical practitioners are affected by their religious identities.

The technological advances of the past century tended to change the focus of medicine from a caring, service-oriented model to a technological, cure-oriented model. Technology has led to phenomenal advances in medicine, and has given us the ability to prolong life. However, a growing number of healthcare professionals are advocating for medicine and medical practitioners to reclaim medicine’s more spiritual roots and rediscover the importance of spirituality in patient care. This effort has become a part of the training of the medical students at the University at Buffalo Medical School. Each December, the Network of Religious Communities assists the Medical School in presenting multi-day programs on spirituality and medicine for medical students. Rev. Dr. G. Stanford Bratton, Executive Director, NRC, spoke with the Reverend Amos Acree, Parish Nurse Consultant, the United Church Home Society, and Yvonne Askew, Faith Community Nurse Coordinator for the Catholic Health System, about Spirituality and Medicine Program at the Medical School and their contributions as parish nurses.

Laughter and grief are often seen as contradictory emotions. Yet those who work with grieving know that there is a place for every emotion when grieving. Tears, anger, bitterness, and laughter, are all appropriate emotions. Rabbi Alex Lazarus-Klein, President of the Network of Religious Communities, spoke with Nancy Weil, founder of the Laughter Academy, and the leading authority on the relationships between humor and grief.