Healthier congregations through parish nursing

UU World: The Magazine of the Unitarian Universalist Association, Mar/Apr 2004 by Skinner, Donald E

FOR FORTY YEARS PATTY HARDING HAS ATTENDed the Unitarian Universalist Church of Akron, Ohio, for her spiritual health. These days she goes for her physical well-being too. She gets her soul fed from 10:30 to 11:30 A.M. and then, right after the benediction, registered nurse Sunny Aldridge whips out her blood pressure cuff and reads Harding's blood pressure.

If it's okay, Harding gets to skip a visit to her doctor. And that's a big deal because the trip can take two to three hours. Not only is his office across town, but Harding, who uses a wheelchair because of childhood polio, has to have her husband Howard help her in and out of the couple's van.

"Having Sunny check my blood pressure monthly on Sundays may seem like a small thing, but it's been immensely helpful to me," says Harding. "It saves me a lot of time and effort."

Akron is one of at least ten Unitarian Universalist congregations to have joined the growing parish nurse phenomenon. Such programs are becoming more common as the health system in the United States covers fewer and fewer people and gets more and more complex for those with insurance, and as many faith traditions discover the ministry of tending to congregants' physical well-being in addition to their spiritual lives. Several other denominations are farther along with congregational nursing programs, but interest is growing among UU churches.

Typically, the program consists of a nurse who volunteers to minister to the physical needs of congregants. Generally this means answering questions about health issues on Sundays and at other times, providing information about prevention and treatment of common medical conditions, doing simple procedures such as blood pressure checks, and inviting in outside medical personnel for such things as cholesterol and prostate screenings.

Congregational nurses don't change dressings or countermand a doctor's orders. "The only time we touch someone is to take their blood pressure or their pulse," says Aldridge. "Or to hold their hand."

Aldridge learned about the parish nurse program at General Assembly 2000 in Cleveland, Ohio. Retired and on disability, she liked the idea of combining her life's work with her spiritual life. "It's been a phenomenal blessing for me," she says. She counsels members on health issues and does blood pressure checks monthly. Last fall she coordinated a flu shot clinic, and this spring she's planning a public health fair and classes on stress management. In addition, she produces a quarterly newsletter, UUCA Health Connections. As nurse-coordinator of the congregation's Nursing and Health Ministry, Aldridge is supported by seven other nurses who also attend the 277-member congregation. She will present a workshop at General Assembly in June in Long Beach, California, on developing parish nurse programs.

If someone needs help finding a doctor, parish nurses may do that also. One woman at Akron needed a doctor but was intimidated by the health care system. Aldridge helped her find a doctor, then went with her for three visits and helped her understand what the doctor was saying. "For me, it was life-changing to have her help me in this way," the woman says. "This is a really important program."

The Rev. Mary Moore, a UU parish minister who is currently a medical center chaplain in Peoria, Illinois, worked to create an organization to support parish nurses in churches from several denominations when she was a chaplain in Springfield, Illinois. "It's a social justice issue," she said, "because many people don't have access to medical care."

ADAIR SMALL IS CONGREGATIONAL NURSE AT Orange Coast Unitarian Universalist Church in Costa Mesa, California. A regional medical center sponsors the program at the church and at twenty-two non-UU congregations in the area. It also provides continuing education for the nurses, flu vaccines, and sends personnel to teach CPR and first aid. Each church pays the center $50 a month.

Small, who has been a public health nurse, says that before she began the program people at her 240-member church would approach her apologetically to ask about a medical concern. "Now all that's changed. I have forty to sixty contacts a month with members about health issues." They range from questions on the coffee patio after church to nursing home visits. Small also keeps a list of medical equipment that various members have and are willing to lend to others.

The program plays to the strengths of nurses, she said. "Nurses want to help people any way they can. Here we get to educate and nurture people in ways we couldn't always do in our careers." She also said the nursing program has helped build the church community. "When we did our flu vaccination session it was like a party."

Orange Coast director of religious education JoAnne Weber-Baligad called Small from a hospital about midnight when her doctor was urging her to have a C-section even though he acknowledged there was no immediate crisis. "Adair told me to listen to my inner voice," says the mother-to-be, who left the hospital and came back a week later for the operation. "Adair was a middle voice between us and the doctors."