Faith Community Nursing 2021 – What’s New?
Faith Community Nurse Kristine Ulit & Spouse
Pastors, could you use some extra help around your church? One with professional expertise in mental, physical and spiritual health? Someone who knows how to ask the right questions to find out what is really going on behind the high blood pressure? Someone who can explain why the Covid vaccine really is safe and effective, or even how to get the vaccine? Maybe your church member has been home alone throughout the Covid pandemic. How do you provide food, medicine, comfort to this person? There are 100 scenarios that you have all heard from your church members. Have you considered adding a Faith Community Nurse to your volunteer pool to help serve your congregation?
Hoag Health Ministries, Parish/Faith Community Nursing, was established at Hoag in 1987. Today we provide programmatic support to volunteer and paid Faith Community Nurses (FCN) at 50 churches, mosques and synagogues throughout Orange Co. Each FCN develops programs unique to the needs of the congregation and within the bounds of her/his time and talent. Services a FCN may provide include offering spiritual support, home & hospital visits, explaining what the doctor really said, reviewing medications, connecting congregants with needed resources, organizing health education presentations, making sure the ushers have taken a CPR class & knowing how to use an AED, coordinating community-based blood drives, providing flu vaccine clinics, leading Caregiver, Grief Share or other support groups and more.
Faith Nurse Training in Progress
Faith Nurses are a diverse and talented group of professionally trained RNs who combine their nursing, public health and background in spirituality to care for those in need. Hoag Health Ministries offers training for the RNs within your congregations who would like to learn more about the FCN specialty. Our staff is available to provide professional guidance for churches who plan to hire a FCN; and is exploring providing limited Hoag staff hours to those churches with the greatest needs.
Hoag is blessed to have the support of our Pastoral Care Dept and the Association of Presbyterian Members as we continue to expand the Health Ministries program. For further information contact [email protected] or https://www.hoag.org/specialties-services/other-programs-services/pastoral-care/health-ministries/.