This week I heard someone speak about the importance for everyone to have the opportunity to be part of a community. I am part of many communities: my family, my work teams, my neighborhood, the virtual e-patient community, this blog community, nurse communities, music communities. My neighbor, an amateur photographer, invited us to her first show of her work. I was tired. Long day at work. I just wanted to vegetate. But I told my family at dinner about the community capital presentation. We all decided to go to the photo show and support our neighbor. The look on her face when we appeared was priceless.
Best health depends on communities. I’m struck by the impact of aloneness – the opposite of community. For some, like me, its occasional-brief and unsettling. Moving, losing a job, my illness, loved ones’ deaths. For some it’s constant – debilitating chronic illness, disability, uprooted, homeless, or persecuted. A key to spiritual health is finding community and connecting or reconnecting. A solid investment – community capital. Wish someone could write a prescription for community – powerful with limited side effects. I’m intrigued by the frame of community capital to guide us in the various health journeys we’re on. Focus on the physical, yes – activities of daily living, pain management, etc. But also leave room for the investment in community capital. Be the prescription this week.
Yes! Another good one, thanks Danny! Sue