The Sharon House 24/7 program

Sharon House exists to support Christian Science nursing and its availability to those relying on Christian Science for healing. In order to meet that goal, for many years Sharon House maintained a fully-staffed facility, with a round-the-clock complement of nurses, plus other required support personnel, to ensure 24/7 availability of facility care.

However, eventually it became evident that this mode of operation was no longer appropriate for our field. The cost to maintain it was about $600,000 per year; the facility was under-utilized, with occasional periods when there were no patients at all; and with nurses being required to fill shifts on site, it reduced their availability to respond to requests for home care. A new solution was clearly needed.

But the dilemma was how to effectively provide 24/7 service to a small field which usually has only a few active nursing cases. When there is a demanding case, it may take up to 6 nurses to provide round-the-clock nursing assistance, depending on the need. But for weeks at a time, there may be much less demand. If there are enough nurses in the field to handle peak demand, the same nurses can be underemployed for extended periods when demand lessens. Some of the nurses may then take part time non-nursing employment to make ends meet financially. Then, it becomes impossible for them to commit to a new 24/7 case on short notice.

To solve this dilemma, Sharon House contracts with several nurses to stand by, paying what is in essence a stipend so they can remain available to respond to calls for nursing help when they do come. Payment under the contract supplements their income sufficiently, that they do not have to commit to non-nursing employment during quiet periods. This way, they remain available for those times when demand is high– even to undertake 24/7 nursing at the Sharon House facility in cooperation with the others when needed.

As an added bonus, those nurses then have time to provide visiting nurse services on an ongoing basis, a need which continues to grow in our field.

To unify the activity, a central telephone number has been established at which a Christian Science nurse can be reached promptly any time of the day or night, every day of the year. You can ask a nurse to visit you, or arrange for care at Sharon House when warranted, either by calling the nurse of your choice directly, or by calling the central number at any time.

SHARON HOUSE 24/7 NURSING LINE
416-237-1276