HEALTH & WELLNESS COMMITTEE

 The Health and Wellness Committee organizes blood drives; organizes CPR/AED/First Aid training classes; maintains eight first aid kits and two AED units which are located throughout the church property. 

The committee continued to sponsor four scheduled Red Cross blood drives this year. At the end of March St. Mark was approached by the Red Cross to sponsor more blood drives due to the closing of other venues and the severe shortage of blood. Session gave permission to add seven more blood drives to our annual schedule. Out of eleven blood drives, a total of 326 donors sign up; 57 first time donors signed up and 309 units of blood were collected. Revised guidelines for holding blood drives were implemented at our first blood drive on March 1. 

In January the committee met with the Director of St. Mark Pre-School about sharing resources to hold CPR/AED classes for their teachers, our Elders, Deacons and Officers of the Church. Due to the pandemic, this venture has been put on hold until 2021. 

Two new HeartSine Samaritan AEDs (Automatic External Defibrillators) were registered and activated. One AED remains in the Narthex; the second AED was placed in the basement above the water fountain. Next to each AED two new signs were hung: “DO NOT BLOCK AED” and “FIRST CALL 911”. 

After extensive research a standard, uniform list of first aid kit supplies was implemented. A new mini-first aid kit was placed in the Nursery. The church now has seven first aid kits within the church and one first aid kit in the van. First aid kit guidelines were revised and implemented in January. 

The Committee worked with St. Mark’s office manager on the placement of five framed church floor plans. The location of the seven interior first aid kits (designated by red squares) and two AEDs (designated by green squares) are shown. The word “VAN” is highlighted in red and is shown outside the church. 

On Friday, July 31 a walking group named “Spiritual Sunrise Stroll” was started. Guidelines for this group were: utilize parking lot space to walk; walk its perimeter of 1/3 mile as many times as possible in a fifty minute period; always open the walk with a devotional and end with a prayer and encourage members to continue their walk after the official designated time is complete. The last “stroll” was October 30th. We met for 15 weeks. In Spring of 2021 church member interest in restarting this activity will be evaluated.

- Linda Smith, Valery Steiner – Co-Chairs