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HealthEnhancementServices.com
"Take-Charge Health"....for
the
Health of your Life
Education, Prevention & Self-Care
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Published by
Christian Word Ministries February
16, 1999
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O my comforter in sorrow, my heart is faint
within me. Listen to the cry of my people
from a land far away: "Is the Lord not
in Zion? Is her King no longer there?"
"Why have they provoked me to anger
with their images, with their worthless foreign
idols?" … Is there no balm in Gilead?
Is there no physician there? Why then is
there no healing for the wound of my people?
Jeremiah 8:18,19,22
(NIV)
Features
Nurses that minister to body and soul
"SEATTLE -- A Christian is facing surgery
and she's afraid. She needs to talk with
someone who knows medicine, and to pray with
someone who knows the Lord. Where does she
turn? Increasingly, the answer is: to a parish
nurse.
A parish nurse
is a trained
medical nurse
who takes care
of the spiritual
and physical
needs of a
church. People
know and trust
her because
ordinarily
she is a member
of
the congregation.
More often
than not she
works as a
part-time volunteer,
although
she may be
on a salary
paid by the
church,
a hospital
or a community
agency.
Parish nurses
do what needs
to be done
to
keep the congregation
healthy physically
and spiritually.
The emphasis
is on caring
and encouragement.
Do members
struggle with
health issues?
The
parish nurse
will talk to
them individually
or offer tips
in the church
newsletter.
She
may administer
blood-pressure
screenings,
train ushers
in CPR, hold
health fairs
and
blood drives,
run support
groups, and
hold
seminars about
stress-management,
mental
health, diabetes
and hypertension.
If the
spouse of an
Alzheimer's
patient needs
a
break, she'll
refer them
to respite
care.
Are congregants
ill and isolated?
The parish
nurse will
send greeting
cards to shut-ins
or hospital
patients, then
follow up with
a phone call
or a visit.
Congregants
may
want to talk
about God,
read the Bible,
and
discuss living
and dying.
What parish
nurses don't
do is provide
"hands-on"
or invasive
treatments,
or do anything
to
cause the church
to be medically
liable.
They are not
home-health
nurses, community
health nurses,
or replacements
for pastoral
care, they
emphasize.
Parish nursing
seems like
an idea whose
time
has come. Several
thousand parish
nurses
are ministering
in many denominations
across
the country,
and their numbers
reportedly
are growing.
That is at
least partially
due
to the increased
cost of health
care and
its curtailed
access, particularly
in rural
areas, observers
say.
The movement
was begun by
Dr. Granger
Westburg,
a hospital
chaplain and
professor.
As a Lutheran
chaplain, he
saw how patients'
physical,
spiritual,
and emotional
needs were
intertwined,
and concluded
that the church
is the ideal
place to promote
health because
it is the
greatest source
of spiritual
support and
growth. Westburg
organized the
first parish
nurse program
in 1985 at
Lutheran General
Hospital in
Park Ridge,
Ill., and wrote
"The
Parish Nurse"
in 1990.
It is only
natural for
the church
to care
for the medical
needs of its
people, parish
nurses say.
"The church
has always
had
this role,
having been
the very origin
for
hospitals,
and sponsoring
health-care
facilities,"
Adella Hansen
Olson, a parish
nurse, told
Religion Today.
"We are
coming 'home'
when we as
the church
become more
active
in this role
again."
Olson and her
husband, who
live in the
Seattle
area, operate
an Internet
site, www.parishnursing.com,
with information
on parish nursing
and links
to related
sites. She
helps churches
set
up parish nursing
programs, speaks
to groups
about parish
nursing and
provides information
about classes
and retreats
for parish
nurses.
Her email address
is PetterWA@aol.com.
Combining faith
with one's
career was
just
what many parish
nurses were
looking for,
they say. "It
fills me with
awe and
wonder that
I can serve
God in this
way,"
Patricia Kellum,
a McClellanville,
S.C.,
parish nurse,
told Religion
Today. Nurses
are taught
not to raise
spiritual issues
with patients,
she said. Kellum
said that
when she discovered
she could combine
the
medical with
the spiritual
in parish nursing:
"It was
so right. I
have three
loves.
God is first,
second is family
and third
is career.
It is awesome
to combine
the first
and third."
"Reprinted with permission from Religion Today"
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"
Reprint Permission
from Christian
Daily News
Christian Daily
News may be
redistributed
in its entirety
for
non-commercial purposes".
(end)
 More" In the News"
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