Parish Nursing Continues to Grow
Parish Nursing, a nursing speciality, continues to grow in eastern Iowa! The Iowa District East has 15 parish nurses of the over 1,000 synod wide nurses across the country. The parish nursing district representatives (photo at top) from the synod recently met prior to the 21st Annual Conference for Parish Nursing and Congregational Health Ministries, Concordia Conference at Mequon, WI. The district reps were from New Jersey to CA, and everywhere in between. Dr. Marcia Schnorr, Coordinator, Parish Nursing, LCMS Health Ministries and Maggie Karner, Health and Life Ministries Director lead our day and a half discussions and topics. The State of Parish Nursing in the Synod was given, an overview of the LCMS International Center Structure and the excitement of international growth was shared. Parish nurses from Australia, Germany and Palestine were present. Attending the Concordia conference were four parish nurses from the Cedar Rapids/Iowa City area. Presenters varied from keynote Concordia professors to breakout sessions given by parish nurses.
Locally, Mercy Medical Center, Cedar Rapids, has now sponsored six Basic Preparation Courses for Parish Nursing, graduating 65 nurses with a certificate in Faith Community Nursing. Five part time paid parish nurses have been placed in local congregations/parishes through this institution. Another class is being planned for the fall of 2013, which will be open to any RNs from our district congregations.
As Iowa District East Parish Nurse Representative I am available to promote, support and educate people in our district in regard to parish nursing.
Ronda Anderson RN, Parish Nurse
Bethany Lutheran Church
2202 Forest Drive SE,
