Health and Safety

Greetings and blessing to you my fellow church members. As a member of your church council, I am told this is my month to write an article for the bulletin and update you on some of the actions and directions of the council.

At our Council meeting in December we discussed the need to address the needs of our members and friends who are especially vulnerable to infection. Out of that, I was appointed to lead a task-force to address these concerns. As I reviewed the available literature on infection control and churches I found a wealth of information and the universality of this problem across religious communities. The following people have agreed to be a part of this committee: Joy Larsen, Sophie Jobe, Judith Steger, Sara Tiller, and Susan Duran. We are working on a number of ideas to include disinfectant hand wash stations, changing the possibilities for the passing of the peace, providing gloves for service in the kitchen, providing masks. We have more work to do and further prayerful discussion to consider all the ways that we can decrease the risk of infection from communicable diseases in church. Some other areas being discussed are evaluating the standards suggested by the CDC and schools, evaluating our cleaning practices, having available pins for members who wish to communicate their vulnerability to disease so we can respect their needs. We have found many handy fliers that can be posted in key areas of the church to remind us of the most important practice which is hand washing. Unfortunately we were unable to meet in February mostly due to my inability to set up an online meeting, so our next meeting will be March 5th. I am so thankful that we are able to address the needs of the most vulnerable in our midst. More to come!!!

Bob Charves, RN and church council member