A strong foundation: How prayer is part of the culture at Peachtree Christian Health
A strong foundation: How prayer is part of the culture at Peachtree Christian Health
Prayer and faith in God have always been a part of both Stephanie Gloeckner’s personal life and professional life as a nurse.
“I’ve always started my day praying that I’m able to be compassionate and that I will be the hands and feet of Christ,” she said. “I always pray that I’m able to take care of my patients in the way they need. I can’t imagine trying to be a caregiver and a nurse without having that support and faith to carry me through.”
Stephanie worked as a medical-surgical nurse in a hospital for nine years before taking a career break to homeschool her eight children. She came back to work as a hospice nurse. She loved the role, but the travel it required was getting to be too much. So when she learned there was an opening at Peachtree Christian Health in Duluth, Georgia, she took it.
Today, Stephanie is the director of Peachtree Christian Health, an adult day care facility for people who have physical, mental or cognitive decline.
“We give them a place to be socially engaged and to be active,” she said. “It gives caregivers support. They have somewhere safe and engaging for their loved one to be. They know their loved one is cared for so they can go to work, have respite or get things done.”
It’s also a place where prayer isn’t just part of Stephanie’s personal routine, it’s also a part of the center’s culture.
“Faith is such a part of our day,” she said. “We have prayer for our staff meetings. We say a prayer to help us to get through the day, to help us care for our participants in a loving and compassionate way, to see them as a whole person and to just help us to be patient with each other.”
For participants – whom the staff calls friends – there’s a daily devotion led by a staff member. Most of the friends participate, singing hymns and during prayer time.
“It’s so wonderful to be here and just hear them when they’re singing the hymns and when they’re reading,” Stephanie said. “Our participants will lead the prayer. They’re all engaged in praying for each other. They’re praying for their loved ones. They’re praying for each other. They’ll ask for prayers themselves. And they’ll have prayers of thanksgiving and praise. That’s something we’re surrounded by every day.”
Stephanie said prayer is the reason Peachtree Christian Health is still around.
A month after she became the center’s director, they had to shut down because of the Covid pandemic. At first they weren’t sure they could reopen, but they slowly started bringing people back a few at a time starting in August 2020.
Then, in early November 2022, leadership announced they had to close the center at the end of the month. They hadn’t been able to fully financially recover from the pandemic and not enough money was coming in to keep the doors open.
“That’s when the families came to us and said, ‘Please, you can’t close,’” Stephanie said. “We told them we needed a half a million dollars to stay open, and they raised all that on their own. That was through prayer. We had caregivers praying for us. We had the staff praying for us. We had the community at-large praying. We were able to raise all that money in two weeks.”
Peachtree Christian Health was going to stay open.
Then a potentially crippling tragedy struck again on that Christmas Eve. A water pipe burst and every inch of the 25,000 square-foot building flooded. The center relocated to a temporary facility for four months as the team discussed what to do next. By seeking God’s will through prayer, they decided to sell the building and move to a new location to have peace of mind that they could continue serving their friends.
“It seemed like so many times that maybe Satan was trying to close us down, or we felt like there were all these things against us,” Stephanie said. “But we knew that all the things we’ve been through, that if it’s meant to be, if God wants us to be open, we will be.”
In their new facility, Peachtree Christian Health is thriving just like the friends they serve. And at the heart of all they do is daily prayer to discern what God is calling them to do.
“We feel like we’re doing God’s work,” Stephanie said. “Our mission is to to help the caregiver in their journey of caring for their loved one. And our faith is very important. It’s a calling.”
To support PCH and their work please visit: https://cfneg.fcsuite.com/erp/donate/create/fund?funit_id=4598
A strong foundation: How prayer is part of the culture at Peachtree Christian Health
A strong foundation: How prayer is part of the culture at Peachtree Christian Health
Prayer and faith in God have always been a part of both Stephanie Gloeckner’s personal life and professional life as a nurse.
“I’ve always started my day praying that I’m able to be compassionate and that I will be the hands and feet of Christ,” she said. “I always pray that I’m able to take care of my patients in the way they need. I can’t imagine trying to be a caregiver and a nurse without having that support and faith to carry me through.”
Stephanie worked as a medical-surgical nurse in a hospital for nine years before taking a career break to homeschool her eight children. She came back to work as a hospice nurse. She loved the role, but the travel it required was getting to be too much. So when she learned there was an opening at Peachtree Christian Health in Duluth, Georgia, she took it.
Today, Stephanie is the director of Peachtree Christian Health, an adult day care facility for people who have physical, mental or cognitive decline.
“We give them a place to be socially engaged and to be active,” she said. “It gives caregivers support. They have somewhere safe and engaging for their loved one to be. They know their loved one is cared for so they can go to work, have respite or get things done.”
It’s also a place where prayer isn’t just part of Stephanie’s personal routine, it’s also a part of the center’s culture.
“Faith is such a part of our day,” she said. “We have prayer for our staff meetings. We say a prayer to help us to get through the day, to help us care for our participants in a loving and compassionate way, to see them as a whole person and to just help us to be patient with each other.”
For participants – whom the staff calls friends – there’s a daily devotion led by a staff member. Most of the friends participate, singing hymns and during prayer time.
“It’s so wonderful to be here and just hear them when they’re singing the hymns and when they’re reading,” Stephanie said. “Our participants will lead the prayer. They’re all engaged in praying for each other. They’re praying for their loved ones. They’re praying for each other. They’ll ask for prayers themselves. And they’ll have prayers of thanksgiving and praise. That’s something we’re surrounded by every day.”
Stephanie said prayer is the reason Peachtree Christian Health is still around.
A month after she became the center’s director, they had to shut down because of the Covid pandemic. At first they weren’t sure they could reopen, but they slowly started bringing people back a few at a time starting in August 2020.
Then, in early November 2022, leadership announced they had to close the center at the end of the month. They hadn’t been able to fully financially recover from the pandemic and not enough money was coming in to keep the doors open.
“That’s when the families came to us and said, ‘Please, you can’t close,’” Stephanie said. “We told them we needed a half a million dollars to stay open, and they raised all that on their own. That was through prayer. We had caregivers praying for us. We had the staff praying for us. We had the community at-large praying. We were able to raise all that money in two weeks.”
Peachtree Christian Health was going to stay open.
Then a potentially crippling tragedy struck again on that Christmas Eve. A water pipe burst and every inch of the 25,000 square-foot building flooded. The center relocated to a temporary facility for four months as the team discussed what to do next. By seeking God’s will through prayer, they decided to sell the building and move to a new location to have peace of mind that they could continue serving their friends.
“It seemed like so many times that maybe Satan was trying to close us down, or we felt like there were all these things against us,” Stephanie said. “But we knew that all the things we’ve been through, that if it’s meant to be, if God wants us to be open, we will be.”
In their new facility, Peachtree Christian Health is thriving just like the friends they serve. And at the heart of all they do is daily prayer to discern what God is calling them to do.
“We feel like we’re doing God’s work,” Stephanie said. “Our mission is to to help the caregiver in their journey of caring for their loved one. And our faith is very important. It’s a calling.”
To support PCH and their work please visit: https://cfneg.fcsuite.com/erp/donate/create/fund?funit_id=4598
