Category Archives: Health Ministry

Parish Nursing (14 February 2016)

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What follows is a summary of information shared in a presentation at the Cathedral on the morning of 14 February 2016.

At present we do not have a Parish Nurse practicing at the Cathedral. Isabel Cutler held this role, and calling for the last 11 years, and she retired in December of 2015.

 

 

What the Parish Nurse does for our Cathedral Congregation (In-reach)

The Parish Nurse

  • ministers to us at a grass roots level on a daily basis when we are in crisis, or when we need a helping hand
  • coordinates obtaining assistance for us, whether it be
    • providing meals and arranging for rides or accompanying us to office visits
    • arranging for prayer shawls to be given to us or our family members who needed them and always upholding us in prayer
    • completing home assessments i.e. arranging and planning for assistance in the home
    • assisting us to navigate the health care system
    • referring/partnering with physicians, Social Development and other services to obtain needed health care and home services, and
    • filling in the gaps in the health care system.

Client Contacts in 2015:

  • 380 contacts with congregational members
  • 102 hospital and home visits
  • 167 telephone visits/consultations
  • worked 773 hours, on call 24/7
  • organized events where 830 clients attended, and
  • coordinated the many volunteers in the Health Ministry.

Confidentiality: Much of the care and ministry that the Parish Nursing team offered was confidential. There are strict privacy standards and provincial legislation to protect the privacy of our personal health information. In a faith community this can be a challenge, but the Parish Nurse upheld this standard.

Comments from parishioners:

  • “Your kindness and thoughtfulness have been appreciated by Mom in her tough journey.”
  • “The shawl has been such a comfort. It is as though God is wrapping His loving arms around me and filling me with His Peace and Love.”
  • “The comfort it gave me to know that I could call Isabel and ask for help. All I had to do was make one phone call, and help was there, in the form of a prayer shawl, meals, and more importantly prayer!”
  • “Isabel saved my life.”

health2 What the Parish Nurse does for our Wider Community (Outreach):

The Parish Nurse has

  • made partnerships with the wider community to draw people into our community and to Christ
  • established growing partnerships with Horizon Health Authority and Social Development
  • developed partnerships with Community Health Clinics, including the Downtown Clinic
  • collaborated with UNB Nursing students to participate in the Monday Morning Outreach activities
  • assisted in providing space in the Hall and support for Prenatal Classes and a Breastfeeding Support Group, and
  • was anticipating providing space for Social Workers and Counsellors to meet with clients in the Hall.

Why do we need to continue this ministry?

Congregational trust, expectation and reliance: The members of our congregation

  • have developed trust and expectation that we will continue to support them when needed, and
  • are relying on the Parish Nurse and the Health Ministry Team.

Christian Witness: What better example of Christian ministry and discipleship to the Diocese could we offer? We may be able to work with other parishes in supporting their congregations to develop this ministry.

Professional community partnerships: This is an opportunity to draw people into our community, to draw them into the love of God, while at the same time allowing us to reach out to them in love and service. We do not want to lose this momentum that the Parish Nurse Ministry has established.

nursing_handsWhat will we lose without a Parish Nurse?

  • No Parish Nurse to minister to us as noted above.
  • No Coordinator for the Health Ministry Team. The Monthly Teas and the Prayer Shawl Ministry will continue as the volunteers are able to support. The Helping Hands and the Cathedral Visitors will eventually cease if there is no coordination (also the Blood Pressure Clinics, Health Information Sessions, Fit Club, etc.).
  • No expansion of community partnerships e. outreach to the wider community

Funding: Bishop and Chapter supports the concept of hiring a Parish Nurse, but at the moment sufficient funds are not available. Money is the issue. The Health Ministry Team is working with Bishop and Chapter to provide a solution to obtaining funding for a salaried part-time Parish Nurse position.

We have a long-time congregational member who has undertaken the Parish Nursing Certification Training (funded by the Cathedral) and feels she has a vocation to this ministry. She is willing to take on this role.

Dr. Chris Stevenson
On behalf of the Cathedral Heath Ministry Team
14 February 2016

Words of Thanks and Farewell

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To Isabel Cutler on her retirement

 

The church family of Christ Church Cathedral bids farewell to Isabel Cutler who is retiring from her position as Parish Nurse. Isabel has been Parish Nurse for 10 years and Chair of the Health Ministry Team for the past twelve.

Isabel had a vision and a calling to serve her church family and in this way be able to do God’s work.

John 10:10 says: I come that they may have life and have it abundantly. I believe this has been lived out by Isabel in many ways.

Parish nursing had been circling in Isabel’s thoughts well before her retirement from her position at the Chalmers here in Fredericton.

As a beginning,the Cathedral Health Ministry was established with members of the congregation serving on the Team. Members were already serving the church family in very many ways and these were all co-ordinated under the umbrella of the Health Ministry Team. As a certified Parish Nurse, Isabel began leading us on a remarkable journey.

A pebble dropped in a still pond sends out waves in an ever increasing circle. It all began here with Isabel’s vision, the support of Dean Joyce, Bishop and Chapter and of course our Cathedral family. Her vision slowly and surely began to spread outward to embrace and be embraced by the greater community.

Today the CCC Parish Nurse is a respected partner with River Valley Health, UNB Faculty of Nursing, Brunswick Street Community Health Clinic, and many other health related organizations in the community. There are close links with Parish Nurses ,other faith communities in the city and throughout the province and indeed the country.

As co-ordinator of the Health  Ministry Team and as Parish Nurse, Isabel’s one day of office hours was in reality a full time plus job.

Her days were filled with visiting in home and hospital, telephone calls, meetings, education programs for the public, for professional learning, UNB nursing community experience, the Monday morning outreach with UNB nursing students, office hours, staff meetings, Red Cross certifications for staff and congregational members. Did I mention telephone calls both incoming and outgoing working with families, health care and long term facilities to achieve safe living environments for clients but keeping the clients preferences in front all the time. Not an easy mutually satisfying outcome to achieve. There are BP clinics, fit club, visiting, helping hands and traveling throughout the Archdeaconry and beyond to spread the Parish Nurse vision. Did I say telephone calls, at any time, anywhere?

Isabel accomplished this and more with a deep, confident and abiding faith.

She will tell you this was not accomplished on her own and indeed one person could not do it! Our church family, health ministry team, the support of Bishop and Chapter, Dean Hall and the staff as well as many others made this vision a reality. It was Isabel’s gentle and determined leadership that made it all happen. As part of of the Health Ministry Team and the Parish Nurse team, we have been privileged to walk this path with Isabel.

John 10:10 says: “I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.”

I join the rest of our church family and Isabel’s family in wishing her a happy, peaceful and fulfilling retirement. May God continue to richly bless you.

Thank you.

Michele LeBlanc

The Canadian Association for Parish Nursing Ministry

 

 

From the Cathedral Parish Nurse

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This is my last week as Parish Nurse. I retire at the end of this year after ten years as your Parish Nurse and two additional years as coordinator of the Health Ministry. I wish to say to you all I have been honoured and feel truly blessed to have been accepted so willingly by so many of you over the years as we have shared good times and some challenging times in our lives. Thank you for your love and care of me.

This is a team ministry and I could not have coordinated all that we have provided without the active help and support of the dedicated Parish Nursing Team: Michele LeBlanc, RN, Wendy Brien, Marilyn Lewell, Carol Hynes and Kathleen Snow RN. Alongside too are the multitude of congregational members who have provided their circle of care as Visitors, Helping Hands and in many other ways to our congregation at critical times in their lives. Thank you to Bishop and Chapter, the Health Ministry Team, Dean Geoff, Fran and the staff who have worked alongside to make this ministry work.

We do not know what the future holds for this Ministry at the Cathedral but we know God always has a plan, so we trust in Him to show us the way. God Bless you all and have a very blessed Christmas Season.

Isabel Cutler, RN