Parish Nurse Ministry

[MAMom]

We have a new pastor who came to my parish Nov 1st. He is great and has done a lot in 2 1/2 months he has been here. He just made an announcement today that he wants to start a Parish Nurses Ministry. I would consist of volunteer nurses who would run blood drives, give flu shots, have a blood pressure clinic, maybe give some lectures during the year.

As an RN I am very excited about this and I am planning on giving Father a call tomorrow.

Does anyone else have this kind of ministry in his or her parish? I don’t know any other parish that does, although I did read about a nurse working for a parish a few years ago in a professional magazine, and it did intrigue me at the time.

MAMom

 

[SeekerJen]

Our parish has one! They’ve been a fairly active group, organizing blood drives, offering free health screenings, starting fitness clubs, etc. I think it’s a really great way for nurses to use their special skills to serve their parishes.

 

[puzzleannie]

yes we did at our old parish as we had a substantial population of seniors. BP, sugar, cholesterol, weight etc. checks once a month (they found my HBP, by the way, and sent me to my family doctor). They also worked to bring in the blood drive 4X a year, city-wide health fair once a year, parenting classes on nutrition, exercise etc. All volunteer, but now they have a PT nurse on staff, who coordinates these and other programs. They are in a rural area where there is not good access to community or hospital based programs. The services offered are partly paid for by Catholic Charities and serve the entire town, not just the parish. It was not specified in the original plan, but it has turned out due to their demographics that they do a fair amount of crisis pregnancy intervention and referrals to safe reliable clinics and ministries.