By A.M. Kelley
Catholic Herald

Parish nurses work with both body and soul

SUPERIOR -- Ann Jelinek's ministry touches body and soul. She's a parish nurse at St. Mary in Tomahawk and St. Francis of Assisi in Pier-Willow, and when confronted with a problem -- spiritual, psychological or physical -- the first remedy out of her bag is prayer.

"But it's not just for healing," she said. "Prayer is also good way to let people know that you care for them."

Jelinek is one of the nine nurses in Tomahawk who volunteer time and wear many hats on the job.

"It's holistic heath care," she said. "We focus on the prevention of disease and look at a person's entire self."

Tomahawk's nursing program began more than six years ago under the leadership of parishioner Mary Bailey. She studied with Concordia University of Mequon, Wis., which brought its parish nursing course to a hospital in Rhinelander.

"It was a new vocation then," Bailey said. "A parish nurse coordinator helped train us and helped any way she could."

The parish nurse program is a relatively new movement founded in 1984 by Rev. Granger Westberg, a Lutheran minister in Illinois who recognized a need to link health care systems with church communities. It's grown into an international movement with parish nurse programs scattered throughout Wisconsin. Each parish's program is a little different. Some are limited to Sunday blood pressure screenings while others carry the ministry into their communities. Most nurses are volunteers but at least one parish in the Superior Diocese has a salaried nurse on staff.

Kathy Graham is a paid parish nurse for St. Francis Xavier in Merrill and in the past seven years of her employment there she's done it all, from accompanying a woman into the labor room, to transporting an ailing dog to a veterinarian for his homebound owner.

She's also gotten a call for help from a gas and electric company. One of its customers could not pay her bill and was known to require oxygen. Graham helped connect the parishioner to social services for heating assistance.

But not all her offers of assistance are accepted -- at first. When a vulnerable, homebound senior was asked if she'd like a visit, the answer was no. Graham sensed that a different approach was necessary and asked if she could come by and bring Communion. This compassionate approach opened the door.

For the parish nurses in Tomahawk, variety is also routine. Their referrals come from hospitals, social workers and fellow parishioners. They help people who are part of their parish family but also those with no church affiliation.

"A lot of our work is caretaking for the elderly," Jelinek said.

The nurses counsel, give advice, help with exercise or diabetic programs but don't do hands-on work like giving shots or taking glucose tests. When appropriate, the nurses also connect people with other agencies and programs in the Tomahawk area and help seniors get bathing equipment or walkers when those needs are apparent.

There are many health care systems but they can easily miss their targets.

"Some people fall through the cracks," Bailey said. "People are released from hospitals so early now. If they don't qualify to have a home health nurse come in, they're left on their own."

Some family members live far from their sick or elderly parents and call on parish nurses for help. The nurses visit and do what they can.

"Some of the (elderly) need 24-hour care, and we can't provide that," Bailey said. "We make an assessment. If it's really not safe for them to be at home by themselves we can help find assisted living (facilities)."

Although the visiting nurse program is not a hospice program, they do not shy away from visiting the dying, especially when the friends and family members of the patient are reluctant to step in.

According to Bailey, their payment is often gratitude.

"These people are so appreciative," Bailey said. "Especially the people who are terminal. A lot of times they don't get much attention. Friends and family don't know what to say. They stay away."

The nurses don't stay away and this gift of time means a lot to the ailing.

"Often they cry when I visit," Bailey said. "We pray. Talk about their treatments. Talk about things which hamper their comfort. It's very touching. I think I get more out of it then they do."

Not all parish nurse work involves seniors or dying patients. Jelinek recalls a new mother they were able to help.

"She had back surgery and had two little ones to get off to school," she said. "Nurses arranged to have parishioners come into the house for housekeeping."

When they find a need, they try and fill it. In Tomahawk, the nurses have also made some changes inside the church. They wrote an emergency exit plan, made first aid kits and installed a telephone in the back of church. It was a good idea.

"A grandmother got sick during a First Communion service," Jelinek said. "We had to use that phone to call an ambulance."

The list goes on. Every year they sponsor a baby shower for new clothes and furniture to give a needy family expecting a baby.

Jelinek, who writes a column with healthy living tips in the church bulletin each week, now has the job of coordinating the parish nurse program. Recruiting volunteer nurses is not an easy task, according to Bailey, her predecessor.

"So many nurses work and retired nurses sometimes let their registrations lapse," she said. "(Nurses) have to have current registration to be a parish nurse."

Most are registered nurses, but there are a few practical nurses under Jelinek's supervision.

Jelinek is currently employed in the emergency room at the Sacred Heart Hospital in Tomahawk and Bailey is retired from the Lincoln County Health Department as a public health and school nurse.

Betty Renko is also a parish nurse. From her home parish of St. Francis Xavier in Superior, Renko, a retired nurse anesthetist, helps with the monthly blood pressure screenings after Sunday Mass.

St. Francis' 12 parish nurses do not go on home visits, according to Eileen McDonald, the head of the program there. They host a couple of evening workshops a year and bring in speakers for programs on topics like exercise or prostate cancer. McDonald is also a retired nurse.

Of the parishes with nurse ministries, each is distinctive, but all have the same role model, according to Jelinek.

"Jesus came to heal," she said. "Nurses heal."

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© Superior Catholic Herald, 2006