Parish nursing improves quality of life by bring together body, mind, and spirit
Visiting a church member who recently returned home from the hospital, making a safety presentation at Sunday school, coordinating a grief support group, writing a health article for the church newsletter, calling a recently widowed woman just to see how she's doing, praying with someone ... all describe the life of a parish nurse.
"I have two goals," says Cheryl Hovland, parish nurse at Zion Lutheran Church in Pelican Rapids, Minn. "As a nurse, I'm there for people's physical needs, but as a representative of the church, I bring the spiritual aspect, too."
Last spring, MeritCare and several churches partnered to support parish nurses in six area communities. (Parish nurses are registered nurses who have gone on to complete parish-nurse training.) While parish nursing is not a new concept, MeritCare's program takes it a step further. The project strives to fulfill the mission of the church while also meeting MeritCare's mission, to improve health and quality of life.
"As the project leader I provide support and resources for the parish nurses. I work with the nurses to assess the spiritual and health needs of their parishioners and develop programming approaches that meet those needs. We support these efforts and evaluate them to make sure we're doing the best job we can," says Janet Drechsel, MeritCare parish nurse project leader. "MeritCare's commitment has made it possible to continue the educational and networking opportunities for the nurses. Doing this helps ensure they have the tools necessary to succeed. Meeting the needs of the parishioners — this is what parish nursing is really all about."
Healing is more than physical
Lois Kicker, Pelican Rapids, learned firsthand the value of a parish nurse. Last May, she became aware of a problem that could have been a symptom of breast cancer. (Later tests proved it was not.) She called her doctor and tests were scheduled. But in the meantime, she was anxious. "Even though I knew I was on the right track medically, it was comforting to talk with Cheryl," she says. "I think what helped most was before I left her office that day, she prayed with me. After that, I felt everything was going to be alright."
"As a nurse I'm there for
people's physical needs,
but as a representative
of the Church, I bring the
spiritual aspect, too."
-Cheryl Hovland, parish nurse
Hovland often prays with people. She prays for healing, realizing healing is not always physical. "People can be made whole in spite of their physical problems," she says. "Simply by receiving God's grace and love, they can experience a certain peace, a certain tranquillity. That just may be as important as being physically well."
Serving in many — and unique — ways
While some church members benefit most from the spiritual aspect of parish nursing, others may benefit more from the physical. Hovland recalls a home visit to an older woman who had been dealing with many health problems. It didn't take long for Hovland to realize the woman needed more care than she could offer. Within minutes, they were on their way to the woman's doctor.
Besides meeting the needs of individual church members, parish nurses get to know the needs of their congregations. If there's an interest in learning more about certain topics such as advance directives, for example, they can present an educational forum. If there's an interest in learning more about healthy lifestyle, they might coordinate a health fair.
And at times, parish nurses might even discover a more unusual — yet practical — need, as Hovland did. "For older people who live at home, foot care can be a real problem," she says. That's why she recently began a free foot-care clinic. "It might sound like an odd thing to do, but there are definite health benefits in good foot care, especially for people who have diabetes," Hovland says. "And the conversation that results is important, too."
Pastor Dale Wolf of Atonement Lutheran Church in Fargo says the Parish Nurse project, though young, has already had a positive impact in his church. "Barb [Hanson, the parish nurse at Atonement] has established a number of programs in the short time she's been with us. She's raised health awareness and prevention issues. Apart from the health benefits, she also has served the congregations well from a pastoral angle. She consults and prays with people who are ill, and a number of people search Barb out which I find absolutely wonderful."
Return to Front Page of Valley Health Journal.
Do you have comments or suggestions for Valley Health Journal? Email us