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Hoosier United Methodist News Archives
| Hoosier United Methodists together |
February 2007 |
Lafayette church, Purdue, community team together for infants
By Matthew Oates
"We are going to help our infants." - Jacob Williams |
LAFAYETTE, Ind. - Next to the grand and stately sanctuary building of Trinity United Methodist Church in downtown Lafayette sits a humble, one-floor bright yellow stucco house with a banner that flaps from the porch.
The banner proclaims to the community the new life that the house is and brings: the Trinity Nursing Center for Infant Health.
The center, which opened on April 30, 2006, is a collaborative effort between Trinity UMC and Purdue University's School of Nursing to provide health care to infants in the Centennial neighborhood and other downtown neighborhoods where lower income and often uninsured families reside.
"We are carrying on a legacy at Trinity. We have been instrumental in outreach," said the Rev. Dr. Jacob Williams during the opening service. "We continue the legacy of helping others. In this endeavor, we are going to help our infants. There is no illegitimate child."
Dr. Julie Novak, head of Purdue's School of Nursing, and a member of Trinity, said the collaboration is natural after reviewing Tippecanoe County's health care needs. A group of the three area nursing schools - Purdue, Ivy Tech and St. Elizabeth - met and found that infant care was most needed in the downtown Lafayette-Wabash River corridor, where Trinity is located.
"We recognized a problem in this community," said Novak. "We definitely wanted to take the care to them. Most of the patients are from that neighborhood."
Lilies of the Field
The building used for the clinic is the church's Lilies of the Field house, which housed families who were seeking refuge from a variety of life's struggles. After the church discussed transitioning to a new ministry, the house was given a new lease on life.
Trinity members and others of the Lafayette area donated more than $25,000 in goods and services to remodel the house. Volunteers scraped floors, repainted rooms, rewired the house and did other renovations. Greater Lafayette Health Services, which operates Home Hospital and St. Elizabeth Medical Center, donated car seats, medical equipment and supplies. Dr. Jim Bien, a pediatrician at Arnett Clinic, serves as the collaborating physician.
Trinity donated supplies and more than 100 blankets for babies and the clinic; some were handmade. "The blankets started coming," said Sonja Wise, Trinity council chairwoman. "The blankets will keep coming."
The clinic has seen its outreach grow as it opened on Tuesdays and Fridays at first before adding days throughout this past fall. The clinic is staffed by certified pediatric nurse practitioners, certified family nurse practitioners, instructors, nursing students and community volunteers and provides exams, assessments, parental counseling and coaching.
Significant support
"There's been significant intent and support by various agencies who work with families in need," said Novak. "They are very excited about having another source of referral. We provide a mosaic of support for families so they know where to go for additional support."
"Sometimes the world is not kind. Hopefully when people walk through this door that for a few moments the world may go away," said Wise. "Here is the touch of love. Here is the touch of Jesus."
For more information about the clinic, contact Trinity UMC in Lafayette at 765-742-1288.
Matt Oates serves as a correspondent for Indiana Area Communications and a member of Trinity UMC in Lafayette, Ind.
Last updated on 25 Apr 2008