"The Interest In Faith And Health is exploding, and with it, a huge increase in parish nursing," said the Rev. Deborah Patterson, Executive Director of The International Parish Nurse Resource Center and facilitator of the 16th Annual Westberg Parish Nurse Symposium. This form of nursing is a nurturing of health within a particular church. Besides providing health guidance, the nursing also offers spiritual support.
The late Rev. Granger Westberg founded parish nursing in Illinois in the 1980s. This form of care is based on the deaconess movement of the early Christian Church. The word deaconess, which refers to a messenger, servant, or helper is based on the Greek word diakonos. Phebe, a woman worker in the early Christian community, is mentioned by the Apostle Paul in a capacity that is perhaps a forerunner of today's parish nurse. See Rom. 16:1,2 .
These early caregivers saw the spiritual element as indispensable to the well-being of individuals, and this spiritual connection is obvious in today's parish nurses. Although parish nurses are Registered Nurses, this field of nursing doesn't involve "hands on" nursing care when they are on the staff of a church. They serve as resources and respond to the health concerns of the congregation and of people in the surrounding community while compassionately walking the spiritual journey with them.
