Partnering with Parish Nursing

Goals and Services

As part of our mission, St. John Providence Health System is focused on promoting physical, mental, social and spiritual health to the communities we serve. We are eager to partner with faith communities who are committed to improving the health of its members and community.

Partnership Services

As a partner with St. John Providence Health System, faith communities are eligible for the following:

• Consultation services
• Preparation classes
• Liability insurance
• Networking opportunities
• CEU offerings
• Referral information
• Program resources
• Start up supplies

A formal covenant is needed for partnership services and the faith communities need to be located within the St. John Health service areas. To become a partner with St. John Providence Health System, call Community Health at (586) 753-1484 or e-mail Community Health at  parishnurse@stjohn.org.

Philosophy of Parish Nursing

Parish nursing is a specialty practice and professional model of health ministry distinguished by the following beliefs:

• The parish nurse role reclaims the historic roots of health and healing found in many religious traditions. Parish nurses live out the early work of monks, nuns, deacons and deaconesses, church nurses, traditional healers and the nursing profession itself.
• The spiritual dimension is central to parish nursing practice. Personal spiritual formation is essential for the parish nurse. The practice holds that all persons are sacred and must be treated with respect and dignity. Compelled by these beliefs the parish nurse serves, advocating with compassion, mercy and justice. The parish nurse assists and supports individuals, families, and communities in becoming more active partners in the stewardship of personal and communal health resources.
• The parish nurse understands health to be a dynamic process, which embodies the spiritual, psychological, physical, and social dimensions of the person. Spiritual health is central to well being and influences a person's entire being. A sense of well being can exist in the presence of disease, and healing can exist in absence of cure.
• The focus of practice is the faith community and its ministry. The parish nurse, in collaboration with the pastoral staff and congregants, participates in the ongoing transformation of the faith community into a source of health and healing. Through partnership with other community health resources, parish nursing fosters new and creative responses to health and wellness concerns.

-- Solari-Twadell, A., McDermott, M.A. & Matheus, R. (Eds.) (2000) Parish Nursing Education: Preparations for Parish Nurses and Parish Nurse Managers/Coordinators: Promoting Congregational Health, Healing and Wholeness for the Twenty-First Century, Park Ridge, IL: International Parish Nurse Resource Center.