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Advocate Aurora Health and the State of Illinois have partnered to help people recover from COVID 19 safely at home. The program is available to all residents over 12 months of age with known exposure to COVID 19 or experiencing COVID like symptoms. The program is free and there are no insurance requirements.

Your health and safety is our highest priority. We want you to feel confident that you will be safe when you enter an Advocate Aurora Health site of care. The Advocate Aurora Safe Care promise provides additional measures to protect you and our team members.

Measures include virtual check-in, screening of those who enter, enhanced cleaning and more. See Safe Care Promise video and flyers in English and Spanish.

October is National Domestic Violence Awareness Month, a time set aside to raise awareness of the facts and warning signs of domestic abuse and how to help someone experiencing abuse by a partner, family member or other person else close to them.

The Advocate Trauma Recovery Center is a health care-based violence intervention program that provides quality services and resources to survivors of intentional trauma with compassion, respect and care. Our purpose is to aid individuals who have experienced trauma in rebuilding, restoring and strengthening their sense of safety by ending the cycle of violence. We provide access to trauma-informed care by acknowledging how past and present traumatic experiences and stress may impact the individuals and families we are serving. Our team is specially trained to support the unique needs of survivors and their families to foster hope for a better future.

Advocate Children’s Health Resource Center offers online resources on a wide variety of children’s health topics including violence and adverse childhood experiences (ACEs).

The KidsHealth Online Library offers an array of additional resources.

Domestic Violence Articles from Advocate Aurora health enews

The multi-faith Children’s Sabbath weekend engages places of worship across the country in focusing prayers, worship, education programs and action on learning more about the urgent problems facing our nation’s children. Faith communities do this in a variety of ways, such as:

Some Children’s Sabbath celebrations are community-wide, multi-faith gatherings. Others take place in individual places of worship.

During COVID-19, mental health needs have skyrocketed and our volunteers are not always comfortable and trained in addressing them. In this workshop, we will:

Participants will walk away with practical tips and ideas for how their teams can best serve those within the community who are experiencing mental health issues.

Due to COVID-19, the annual Making Strides Against Breast Cancer walk has gone virtual. You still can support our vision for a world without breast cancer by registering to walk and donating to Team Advocate today! Any registered participant who raises $25 or more qualifies to purchase a Make Healthy Happen t-shirt for an additional $15

Questions? Email Christine Rybicki, Manager, Community Relations, at christine.rybicki@aah.com.

Email ethielen@nicasa.org for more details, or to ask about the sessions we will hold in Spanish.

See flyer.

You can improve health, breathe easier and save money when you overcome nicotine dependence. Learn how by attending Freshstart, a free four-week virtual smoking cessation program. Please note: all participants are encouraged to attend all four sessions. To register, contact Laurie Dlouhy, RN

Tuesdays from 8:30-9:00 a.m.

The Prayer Support Line allows us to come together in unity to release our burdens, receive comfort and express our gratitude to God for holding us close during this pandemic. The Prayer Support Line is a place where we can join with others in prayer for health, healing and spiritual care with the expectation that God will meet us and provide us with encouragement.

The dictionary defines resilience as the ability of something to return to its original size and shape after being bent, compressed or stretched. Resilience also means the ability to recover after experiencing illness, depression, trauma or other adversity.

Join us for “What’s Next?” - a weekly resilience program that uses evidence-based scientific studies, combined with encouragement from faith-based resources, to enlighten us on this important topic.

Together, we will gain the tools to help us:

• build resilience amid the difficulties of life

• learn from our experiences

• use the knowledge we gain to nourish ourselves and the world around us. See flyer.

In recognition of Suicide Prevention Awareness Month, join NCOA for a discussion of community-based strategies to support older adults in managing mental health. This webinar will discuss the prevalence of suicide among older adults as well as the unique risk factors present for an aging population both before and during the COVID-19 pandemic. Speakers will highlight two community-based interventions, including one focused on training meal delivery providers in suicide first aid and another on implementing the evidence-based Program to Encourage Active, Rewarding Lives (PEARLS) in collaboration with clinical partners.

The Opioid and Substance Abuse Crisis continues to rage, especially in the Context of COVID 19. Overdoses, deaths and addiction related events are on the rise, giving even more urgency to the faith- based community’s response.

The Greater Milwaukee Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America has begun a partnership with “Faith Partners” to join faith leaders with prevention specialists, recovery support specialists and other community stakeholders to identify and develop tailored readiness and recruitment strategies to engage clergy and congregational representatives to respond to behavioral health issues.

Truth, Racial Healing and Transformation is providing opportunities for the greater Chicago community to confront racism and heal from the traumas of racism by participating in racial healing circles.

The racial healing circle experience relies on intentional listening and opening your heart space to unearth truths and conscious and unconscious biases. Participants can raise their awareness, consciousness, compassion, and empathy for others through the process. It’s a tool that can facilitate trust and build authentic relationships among participants and help bridge divides created by real and perceived differences.

Henry Ford Macomb Hospitals will present this webinar that addresses how social determinants impact health and health outcomes. The webinar will:

describe how one's own faith and individually lived experiences mightinfluence one's perception of social determinants of health

outline potential strategies for integrating a social determinant of health perspective into health ministry.

To register, email Madelyn Humbert at Humber1@hfhs.org or Janet Banks-McElrath at jmcelra1@hfhs.org.

Through a series of workshops, we will explore systemic trauma, learn about mental health and emotional well-being, explore the impact of social media on community violence and create an action plan on how to address social justice. We will end this series with a community panel to look at trauma from a different lens and celebrate with a healing circle of different artist performances.

GriefShare is a special weekly seminar and support group designed to help you rebuild your life after losing a loved one. Our group is led by caring people who have experienced grief and want to help you through the difficult days ahead.

To register, call 708-366-6900 or email gracechurch@graceriverforest.org.

Oct. 27-30

The COVID-19 pandemic has brought attention to long-standing problems in our healthcare system which keep the most vulnerable among us from receiving high-quality care. The 2020 Coalition to Transform Advanced Care Summit will offer leaders and advocates the chance to connect and share best practices that they can bring back to their own communities. The Summit will tackle pressing issues in serious illness care through the lens of health equity. Sessions include:

Advocate Aurora Health Faith and Mental Health Quarterly provides updates on mental health resources, events and news to support the well-being of people in your congregation and community.

If you would like to be added to the mailing list, please contact Cindy Novak.

Up to 80 percent of strokes are preventable, and many of the risk factors are controllable. Take Advocate Aurora Health’s online Stroke Risk Assessment to estimate your chance of experiencing one and learn about the ways you could minimize it.

Learn more about the Healthy HotSpot Initiative, led by the Cook County Department of Public Health in collaboration with many partners to build healthy places in suburban Cook County.

Learn how to develop a health ministry in your faith community. If you are interested in starting a health ministry or health council in your congregation, contact Kirsten Peachey, Director of Faith and Health Partnerships for Advocate Aurora Health. She'd love to talk with you about getting started.

To get daily articles on a host of health topics that come to you via email, subscribe to our Health eNews service. 

All Advocate Aurora Hospitals offer classes on health topics. See Illinois classes or events.  Select a Hospital/Medical Center and click on search to see what is being offered in your area.

3-9: Sukkot - Jewish

4: St Francis Day - Catholic Christian

4: Blessing of the Animals - Christian

10: Shemini Atzeret - Jewish

11: Simchat Torah - Jewish

12: Thanksgiving - Canada - Interfaith

17-24: Navaratri - Hindu

18: St. Luke, Apostle & Evangelist - Christian

20: Birth of the Báb - Baha'i

20: Installation of Scriptures as Guru Granth - Sikh

22: Christ the King - Christian

25: Dasara - Hindu

28: Milvian Bridge Day - Christian

29: Mawlid an Nabi - Islam

31: Reformation Day - Protestant Christian

We hope you find this update helpful as you promote the health of your members and community. Please contact Cindy Novak if you have topics you'd like us to address or if you have questions or concerns.

Faith and Health Partnerships | AdvocateAuroraHealth