Sixteen registered nurses (RN) from across Alabama recently earned nursing pins from the Parish Nurse Project of Alabama during its second graduation.
“These 16 graduates have a unique opportunity to combine their nursing skills with the new skills they have learned, to become a friend, a counselor and a medical advocate for members of the community they serve,” said Barbara Owen, Alabama Woman’s Missionary Union (WMU) consultant and Baptist Nursing Fellowship (BNF) director. “I look forward to hearing about the ministry that will unfold in the local churches and communities represented by these nurses.”
Gretchen McDaniel, parish nursing track coordinator at Samford University’s Ida V. Moffitt School of Nursing, defines parish nurse as one who is “trained to help coordinate a health ministry within a congregation.” Parish nurses, she said, can identify possible health problems and then link the person with a health professional.
Though the American Nursing Association does not yet certify the program, a parish nurse is an RN who has completed 37 hours of training under a leader trained by the International Parish Nurse Resource Center in Chicago (IPNRC). McDaniel was trained by the IPNRC in 1999 through the intensive faculty preparation seminar.
The Alabama BNF through Ala-bama’s WMU assists the Alabama Parish Nurse Project financially and administratively. The project’s first class graduated 34 students early in 2000. They continue to work around the state doing projects such as leading health ministries in church congregations and coordinating health fairs. (Alabama WMU)
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