A Comprehensive Approach to Wholistic Health Care

Abstract by Ted Hamilton and Carla Park

This presentation explores how one faith-based health care company developed a wholeness framework built on theological and theoretical concepts to guide company aspirations, as well as operations. Keeping in mind the various and multiple definitions for whole, whole-person care and wholeness, this framework shows the relation, as well as the distinction, between the terms and how they are used. This framework also begins to suggest four pathways for wholeness, with each pathway informed by actions, avenues through which those actions can be accomplished, and outcomes that can be measured. Through the discussion of this one framework, we will not only explore one comprehensive approach to understanding several related concepts, but we will also discuss several innovative applications of the framework that are possible in a variety of settings. At the center of this discussion is what it means to “Extend the healing ministry of Christ” and what it means for a faith community, church body or church-affiliated organization, to live more abundantly, serve more effectively, and witness more compellingly, through experiencing and sharing a life of wholeness.