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Faith Community Nurse
Quarterly
May 2023
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National Nurses Week: May 6-12 | |
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You inspire us with your compassion, kindness, and passion to help those in your community live whole and healthy lives.
Thank you for being the amazing nurse you are. We appreciate all that you do. Happy Nurses Week!
Kirsten Peachey
Sue Cox
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In Case You Missed It
Recaps from our recent meetings
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By Sue Cox BSN, RN- BC
Faith Community Nurse Network Manager
Advocate Health Care
Aurora Health Care
Biennial BLS/CPR Recertification: Jan. 25
Fellow Faith Community Nurses and certified AHA instructors, Nancy Romanchek and Nilda Garcia, provided our training for the day. These amazing instructors assured that all students were successful in completing the course and our certification is good for another two years! Tune in for our next recertification course in January 2025.
Current Trends in Cardiac Care and Management: Feb. 23
February is nationally recognized as American Heart Month and on Feb. 23, we met via Zoom for an update on current trends in cardiac care and management. Colleen Roman, RN, and board-certified vascular nurse, gave a wonderful presentation on the history of cardiac disease and treatment in the U.S, along with a review of prevalence and diagnostics. She highlighted new medications and interventional procedures that are common in current treatment approaches for heart disease patients. Colleen emphasized that psychosocial components of cardiac care are gaining importance in the treatment domain, and that Faith Community Nurses can be vital in addressing important lifestyle changes in our communities.
The Loneliness Project: March 21
Faith Community Nurse Network member, LaShondria Purnell, RN, BSN, MAPP, provided a fascinating overview of The Loneliness Project. Shonie was a member of the development team for this project within Faith and Health Partnerships of Advocate Aurora. Loneliness has been linked to higher risks of illness and shorter lifespan, so the team's work focused on addressing the problem of loneliness in our communities. Shonie reviewed statistics on the prevalence of loneliness within varying age groups and highlighted that some repeated patterns from childhood may be linked to the gradual formation of loneliness in later ages. It was shared that the health effects of loneliness can be the equivalent to the ill health effects of smoking 15 cigarettes a day. The concept of a fear of loneliness and how that may link us to poor life choices was introduced by Shonie and the following YouTube segment was shared:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EYncNbM9HMs
Shonie provided a wonderful understanding of how loneliness affects health and how our roles as Faith Community Nurses position us well to address this social determinant of health.
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FCN Network Day Retreat
Tuesday, June 20, 10:00 a.m.-4:00 p.m.
Brushwood Center at Ryerson Woods in Riverwoods, Ill.
Theme: "Telling Our Stories; Our Past, Our Present, Our Future."
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Lee Moarn leaves behind legacy of care | |
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We are saddened to report that Faith Community Nurse Network Member Lee Moarn passed away in January.
Lee served as a nurse for nearly 50 years and was known for his dedication to caring for others. Lee remained active in his community, managing a local COVID vaccination clinic until just before his passing. He was known to respond to calls for help in a crisis, including Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans and the earthquake in Haiti.
Please keep Lee’s family in your prayers as his sister, Mary Wehle, passed away the same day. To view Lee’s obituary click here.
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After serving as a nurse since 1976, and as a Faith Community Nurse at St. Timothy Lutheran Church, Naperville, Ill., for nearly eight years, Kim Runge will retire on June 1.
Kim looks forward to spending more time with her husband, mom, adult children, six grandchildren – and another on the way.
Throughout her career, Kim has served in a variety of roles, including surgical nurse, critical care nurse, and certified heart failure nurse specialist.
“I've always integrated my faith with my nursing career wherever I've served,” Kim said. “Having empathy and compassion for patients and their families helped a lot, especially in critical care because outcomes are not always positive.”
Kim began searching for a new path after seeing the nursing role change. “We went from being very patient oriented to being very data and document oriented, which meant we did a lot of phone interactions,” she said. “I really wanted to do something to get back to a personal relationship with people - starting with the beginning of where problems occur, working through the problems, and then being able to see the outcome.”
Becoming a Faith Community Nurse has allowed Kim to do just that.
Among her highlights of serving at St. Timothy’s:
- Serving as the congregation’s first Faith Community Nurse.
- Helping establish a Care Connection Team, comprised of members who regularly visit and call older members, those who are homebound or who live by themselves. And in doing so, help them feel less lonely and more connected to the faith community.
- Leading a weekly Fit for Life exercise program.
- Working with members to help them carry out their healthcare wishes.
For example, Kim helped an older couple fulfill their goal to stay in their home as they age. Kim regularly visited the couple, did vital-sign checks, and worked with the couple’s son to find home caregivers.
“When I first met the wife, she was 93 – she told me my goal should be to help her reach 100,” Kim recalled. “I said, ‘I will do my best but sometimes that's not within my control.’ Well, she turned 101 this past January.”
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Job Opening: Faith Community Nurse | |
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St. Timothy Lutheran Church, Naperville, Ill., has a part-time Faith Community Nurse position open. Duties include developing and overseeing a congregational health and wellness ministry by providing health education, health counseling, and referrals to congregation members.
Responsibilities include evaluating health and wellness concerns of congregation members; providing information, compassionate conversation, and guidance to address identified needs; planning and carrying out health screenings; and identifying, planning, and leading workshops, presentations, classes and other events that promote health and wellness.
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Book Review: How Successful People Lead
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Thank you, FCN Network Member Shawndra Ferrell, for sharing your thoughts about the book, "How Successful People Lead," by John Maxwell.
Several years ago, I found this book in an airport bookstore and was surprised to have read it completely over a week-long vacation. It’s a small book, so I expected it’d be a short read, but I wasn’t ready for it to open my eyes and hold me accountable. My revelations while reading were:
- Life & faith are unpredictable enough—throw in health and its downright scary. “Am I getting it right? Did I really understand?”
- Understanding leadership, doesn’t only apply when we show up for our fulltime, corporate jobs – leaders continually seek new ways to grow others and themselves.
- Exercising faith isn’t a job or something that happens to most congregants, their faith walk is something they do—on purpose. Whether fueled by excitement or desperation, they come to us for help—by choice.
- People can be strong in their faith and still be afraid of the unknown – even if it’s coming from someone they know.
- Whether it's congregants or other leaders in the ministry, following us should be easy. They should feel safe—safe enough to follow while afraid—because they want to.
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When discussing level 2 of leadership (“Permission”), the book quotes Henry Ford as having asked, “Why is it that I always get the whole person when what I really want is a pair of hands?” The book discusses that in the “Permission” level (1) there is a need to be both relational and productive – depends completely on mutual respect and value and (2) trust is needed in order for the people you’re seeking to help/lead to feel safe enough with that they are willing to share & create with you, question you, attempt new things with you, and take risks for you.
Responding to Henry Ford’s statement: Servant leaders are all about the whole person, it's why we bother to show up – to work for, serve, and grow the whole person (wherever we may encounter them). No matter the levels we climb/attain in leading others, in the ministries of faith, everything we do should embrace permission.
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31st Annual Parish Nurse and Congregational Health Ministries Conference May 17-18 | |
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Concordia University Wisconsin School of Nursing
12800 North Lake Shore Drive, Mequon, WI
This year's gathering is based on Colossians 3:12: As God's chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience.
This annual gathering of nurses, pastors, lay ministers, and others can help us focus on our calling to caring vocations, to share and tell the love of Christ, and to serve God in all we do. Together, we can gain new knowledge, network with peers, and share resources to help us all develop new programs and ministries in congregational health.
Questions?
Contact Dr. Carol A. Lueders Bolwerk,
Carol.luedersbolwerk@cuw.edu
262-243-4233
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Wesley Theological Seminary offers Health the Sick program, designed to prepare leaders to advance whole-person health and wellbeing of individuals, communities, and congregations, especially those in underserved communities. | |
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The Faith Community Nurse Knowledge Sharing Platform provides a safe, private community for all faith community nurses and those interested in spiritual care in nursing.
Nurses from around the world interact individually and through the many interest groups that make up the FCN Knowledge Sharing Platform.
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Journal of Christian Nursing is a peer-reviewed, quarterly, professional journal helping nurses integrate issues of faith and nursing practice. | |
The Lutheran Faith Community Nurse Association offers links to videos, books, and articles, and other resources for faith community nurses and congregation members. | |
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Faith Community Nurses International has created a digital prayer book to encourage patients, family, and fellow nurses.
Submit your original prayers by first filling out this release form. Your prayers will then be read by others to provide strength and support.
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May 12
10:00 a.m.-2:00 p.m.
Aging Network Summit
Wilson Park Senior Center
2601 W. Howard Ave. Milwaukee
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Mark Your Calendars for the HMA Annual Conference:
"Moving Forward with Action, Balance, and Clarity"
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Ever have a congregational member look to you for a referral for services? Or have a family that needs extra support and you aren’t sure where to send them? Need to know more about programs that are available in the neighborhood you are serving?
Advocate Health Care and Aurora Health Care offers FindHelp.org, an online directory that provides up-to-date, reliable, tested list of community services that are easily accessed with a click of a button.
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Philosophy of Faith Community Nursing | |
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Faith community nursing is a recognized specialty practice that combines professional nursing and health ministry. Faith community nursing emphasizes health and healing within a faith community. The philosophy of faith community nursing embraces four major concepts: spiritual formation; professionalism; shalom as health and wholeness; and community, incorporating culture and diversity.
~Westberg Institute
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