wanted to but cannot find

Yeah, sorry Renerian. Maybe we will hear from some colleagues on this one.

At our LTC facility, we have a wonderful counselor. She uses Spirituality in her methods of treatment and shared with me that one of her life goals is to work as a Parish Counselor.

For me, I am still dreaming of doing this but alas, my financial commitments keep me focused in earning an income. I have not seen, or heard of good earnings first hand, within a Parish Nurse Environment. Again, this is part of my future goals but covering my financial commitments have to come first for now.

I do volunteer work, through the senior center, for chair massage these days. Balancing this, with my new full time job as Resident Care Coordinator has been challenging.

In a recent issue of Nurse Week there was an article on Parish Nursing with interviews with a couple of Parish Nurses.

I just became a Parish Nurse, and like most people, I too have to earn a living so volunteering is out for me. In addition, I'm not affiliated with any church, preferring my own eclectic brand of spirituality to organized religion. So my ministry is where I already am, at the hospital.......I'm not paid extra to provide spiritual care, of course, but I do pray with patients at their request, I sit at the bedside (when I can) and allow them to vent, and I offer referrals to other religious or spiritual resources if the pt. chooses. At this time, it looks like I'm being groomed to replace our Parish Nurse Coordinator when she retires sometime in the next few years, which would be a wonderful position.....I'd still be close to the bedside, but no longer running the floors, plus I'd have the chance to really make a difference in people's lives (and deaths).

I think parish nursing is one of those things where you have to be prepared to use your imagination, and perhaps even create your own position.

I recently appyled for and sadly did not get a paid postion at a local Methodist church. It was a postion with the Southwest Healthcare Ministry Wesley Nurse program. The church also had a soup kitchen so the nurse serves those that come to the kitchen as well as church members. It was a panel interveiw-a doctor 2 nurses and lay persons from the church. So those positions are out there, finding and getting one are not easy. Some examples of questions I was asked are " Define holism,religion and spirituality" and "List the causes of poverty" I am glad I tried. I found out about the job in local newspaper classified ad. I hope this information helps .

I worked as a parish nurse for 2 1/2 years and loved it. However, the pay was TERRIBLE and I finally was enticed back into the hospital by the great pay rates

Why don't u look into Hospice Nursing? Most Hospices have "grieving" specialists, Clergy, RN's, Social Workers, volunteers...doln't know if you need to specialize, but I would think that would be a great area to look into, and becoming a "specialist" is attainable. There is a on-line course from a Universisty where u can get a degree, re:death/dying...don't know that particular name or the school, for I bet u could find it on the web. I was thinking of doing it as well.