parish nursing

We have begun a parish nursing/health ministries program in a small Lutheran (ELCA) church in CT. We are nine nurses and function as a committee of the whole. We are linked with a local VNA, Health District and hospital for referrals, health education materials and consultants. We hope to include other churches in our community as time goes on--mostly to work with nurses from different parishes and share talent. We meet each month for discussion and planning. Our assessment indicated interests in blood pressure checks, cholesteral screens, discussions about grandparents understanding grandchildren, medication information, supplemental insurance, living wills, advance directives, etc. We plan to do occasional blood pressure checks so that does not become the program. Each month a "health tips from the parish nurses" is in the newsletter and nurses volunteer to write them. Along with that we try to have a handout in the narthex for people to pick up if they are interested. We think of our model as a public health one; referral and support existing services in the community. The notes I read are so helpful and informative so I thought I would share a little of our experience.