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Parish nursing program gains popularity |
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| Written by Arley Hoskin | |||
| Sunday, 24 May 2009 23:00 | |||
 Liberty Hospital and William Jewell College sponsor a course to teach nurses how to care for church parishioners."Parish nurses do several jobs," said Joyce Bouyear, RN, Liberty Hospital's partners in health services consultant. Bouyear became a parish nurse in 1995 after taking a parish nursing course in Chicago. "I wanted to help the body, mind and spirit needs of my patients," Bouyear said. Parish nurses use their medical knowledge and faith to serve the needs of congregations. "We do mostly education," Bouyear said. "We don't do a lot of hands-on treatment." Bouyear said parish nurses educate on variety of topics from diabetes to depression. "It's just kind of whatever the need is in the church," Bouyear said. "People do so much better when they have support." Parish nurses teach congregants how to develop healthy habits and advocate for themselves. Liberty Hospital has sponsored parish nurse classes since 2000 and offers the course annually. Nurses can receive 32 contact hours for the four-day class. The class costs $75 and draws nurses from rural areas as well as the metro area. This year's course took place May 18-21. "They kept the cost down so we can reach those rural churches," Bouyear said. The course gives nurses an overview of the parish nurse community, discusses holistic health and identifies proper boundaries for integrating faith into the nursing profession. There are about 500 parish nurses in the Kansas City area and more than 150 are involved in the ministry. Parish nurses receive newsletters and volunteer to speak at one another's churches about health issues. Bouyear said most parish nurses volunteer about four hours a week. "Most of our nurses still have another job," she said. Along with bringing health information to the pews, parish nurses also bring their faith into the medical setting. But parish nurses are trained not to proselytize. When they discuss faith with a patient they do so on the patients' terms, Bouyear said. The parish nursing community includes non-nurse health care employees as well. Shirley White, intensive care unit secretary at Liberty Hospital, participates. "I saw a need in our church too for education," White said. White said her church in Parkville has opened its doors to the community for events organized through the parish nurses community. "It opened an avenue for outreach at our church with guest speakers," she said. Bouyear said she hopes participation in the program continues to grow. For more information about the course, call (816) 415-7761 or e-mail This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .
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