Hope Church in the Community
Keeping you informed of the agencies Hope Church supports through the Community Ministry
The Lakeshore Parish Nurse Partners program works to assure health care for members of our community by providing education and support for parish nurses. In addition to monthly gatherings for sharing experiences and learning, the organization hosted a June conference at St. Patrick’s Catholic Church in Grand Haven; the theme was “Identifying the Strengths of Your Congregation.” Among the most valuable in-service educational topics was one presented by Ottawa County Mental Health on issues of guardianship.
Lakeshore Parish Nurse Partners also speaks on behalf of individual parish nurses, looking for closer collaboration with Holland Hospital. They’d like better notification of hospitalization of faith community members, for example, and to work together to reduce readmission rates for chronically ill people. Their research shows that a faith community and parish nurses can keep these patients from repeated hospitalizations. And Lakeshore Parish Nurse Partners were present at the recent luncheon for Healthcare Clergy of West Michigan.
The opportunity to learn from each other is invaluable to the parish nurses. All of them have had exercise programs like Hope Church’s “Go and Glow”; many offer additional classes, including first aid, hospice awareness, and diabetic care training offered in Spanish.
Through bringing individual parish nurses together, the Lakeshore Parish Nurse Partners is able to amplify their voices, share knowledge, and provide support, first for the parish nurses and then for members of all of the extended faith communities.
~Lois Maassen, Community Ministry Member