I
asked God why I wasn't rich.
He showed me a man with the wealth
of a thousand kings,
who was lonely, and had no one to share
it with.
I asked God why I wasn't beautiful.
He showed me a woman more beautiful
than any other, who was ugly because of her vanity.
I asked God why He'd allowed me to
become old.
He showed me a boy of 16, who lay dead
at the scene of a car accident.
I asked God why I didn't have a bigger
house.
He showed me a family of six,
who had just been evicted from their tiny shack,
and were forced, to live on the street.
I asked God why I had to work.
He showed me a man, who couldn't find
a decent job, because he'd never learned to read.
I asked God why I wasn't more popular.
He showed me a socialite with a thousand
friends,
who all left the moment the money and parties were no longer there.
I asked God why I wasn't smarter.
He showed me a natural born genius,
serving life in prison for making ill use of his knowledge.
I asked God why He put up with a thankless
sinner like me.
He
showed me His Word.
He
showed me His Son
who took my place at the judgment.
I
knew then how much He loved me.
CHURCH-BASED
NURSING
As
a medium sized organization we have managed, through the grace of
God, to make a difference in people’s lives for the past 18
years and we foresee continuing doing so for many more years.
Church-based nursing/caring (Nurse lead whole person health care
through local churches) has been formally adopted by the Trustees
at our meeting of 11 January 2011. This is an exciting development
as this is an extension of a basic concept that has always been
part of Robin Trust’s activities.
The following
is an abstract on church-based nursing as compiled by our Founder
Trustee, Leslie Macleod-Downes.
More detailed information on this will be communicated as the process
unfolds.
* * * * * * * * * * * *
PARISH
NURSING (ALSO KNOWN AS CHURCH-BASED NURSING)
Rev Granger Westberg was the pioneer of Parish Nursing
1. Westberg, a Lutheran Clergyman,
understood the value of providing health care meeting the needs
of body, mind and spirit. He first tested his ideas within holistic
health care centres but as costs were prohibitive he took what he
had learnt and transferred it to nurses working from churches in
the community. Westberg observed the nurse was the bridge between
those providing spiritual care and the medical doctors 2.
The initial pilot scheme comprised six churches with six nurses
working from them addressing health care needs from a preventative
health perspective. The nurses worked within the context of a congregation
and were members of the pastoral staff. The nurses jointly met weekly
with a teaching chaplain, nurse educator and family practice physician.
Through these sessions it was identified the parish nurse had five
roles, namely health educator, personal health counsellor, referral
agent, coordinator of volunteers and as developer of support groups.
Through the process there was awareness that the church is an ideal
leader for preventative medicine and needs to be an integral component
of the health care service. A key role of the nurse was coordination
– linking health care services and religious institutions
supporting the delivery of holistic care 3.
Through the collaborative learning Westberg identified the church
as a natural setting for parish nurses as they are spread throughout
communities, have a long history of serving communities, are a reservoir
of dedicated volunteers and have “an appreciation of the need
to model, in their own church buildings, the need for cooperation
between scientific medicine and religious faith”4
. Importantly parish nursing provides an opportunity for the church
to be relevant. It enables members to take action by addressing
health in the same way Jesus did 5
thereby promoting a healthier society.
While Westberg’s work has led to the development of Parish
Nursing – a movement starting in the 1990’s with its
historical roots intertwined with those of deacons & deaconesses,
monks & nuns, church nursing and the nursing profession itself.
Today there are other faith based movements using similar terms
and following allied ideas such as faith community nursing, congregational
nursing, church nursing etc spread over many countries
and denominations. In the UK a national charity Parish Nursing Ministries
UK has been established and is lead by Helen Wandsworth.
While in a country such as the UK with the NHS the nurse works to
supplement not compete with the NHS so work primarily in the field
of preventative and promotive health this is not so for less developed
nations. In South Africa for example there is a reliance on faith
based (as well as secular) charities to provide health care. Therefore
the role of parish nursing can be seen to begin in the church, ripple
out to the wide community and when appropriate to extend to a mission
activity 6.
The parish nurse as a registered nurse shares the rights and responsibilities
linked to their registration. The parish nurse needs to maintain
registration with the appropriate body and can only practice within
the scope of registration. Therefore parish nurses will reflect
this diversity of practice. The elements of the registered nurse
role namely clinical practice, administration, education and research
apply to parish nurses 7. Liaison
or coordination is particularly emphasised although also an activity
in common with many registered nurses. The specialist role arises
out of the focus on meeting spiritual needs integrated with physical,
emotional and social care. Nurses working in other settings also
provide spiritual care and these nurses may be Christian, of other
faiths or none. Parish nursing however is based on Christian understanding
of health, healing, illness and wholeness it is delivered from a
church and rippled out into the community offering a nursing service
to people of all faiths and of no faith. Within the church community
the parish nurse should aim to equip the congregation to assist
one another and the local community as an act of service. The service
is always offered without pressure on the beneficiary to attend
the church or convert 8. To be an
accredited parish nursing requires training although there are nurses
within congregations without the specialist training fulfilling
a similar role. In the USA these nurses are described as parish
nurse associates 9.
A unique feature of parish nursing is the combining of nursing and
collaborative Christian ministry 10.
In Westerberg’s model of parish nursing the parish nurse is
part of the congregational leadership and ministry team as well
as a facilitator of a health care service. This trend continues
today so parish nursing provides the opportunity for service and
ministry.
1 His pioneering actions
are described in the book edited by Solari-Twadell & McDermott
(Solari-Twadell & McDermott, 2006: 3-10).
2 He said
they “translated” the language of both these groups
(Solari-Twadell & McDermott, 2006). This aspect of the role
of the parish nurse, referred to as an integrator of faith and health
underpins all the other activities (PNMUK, 2010:14)
3 Care meeting the needs of body, mind and spirit.
4 Solari-Twadell & McDermott, 2006:9
5 Jesus always dealth with people as whole persons –
body, mind and spirit.
6 Perkin, K. (2007). Parish Nursing and Hospitals.
7 Solari-Twadell & McDermott (2006).
8 PNMUK, 2010:16
9 Mosack, Medvene & Wescott, 2006:347
10 Solari-Twadell & McDermott, 2006:65-80.
References
Mosack, V., Medvene, L.J. & Wescott,
J. (2006). Differences between Parish Nurses and Parish Nurse Associates:
Results of a State-wide Survey of an Ecumenical Network. Public
Health Nursing, 23(4): 343 Parish Nursing Ministries UK (PNMUK).
(2010). Introductory Handbook: Whole Person Health Care Through
the Local Church.
Solari-Twadell, P.A. & McDermott, M.A. (Ed). (2006). Parish
Nursing: Development, Education and Administration.
