News from our Sector Ministers
Parish Nursing
Revd Dr Helen Wordsworth
Revd Dr Helen Wordsworth founded Parish Nursing Ministries UK and now works as an advocate and educator for the charity, alongside international consultancy work with the Westberg Institute for Faith Community Nursing. Here’s a glimpse of the work that she supports.
Niki Lownds RGN, Parish Nurse at Bridge Baptist Church Gillingham writes:
“Parish Nursing is an incredibly rewarding ‘calling’ for a Registered Nurse, it is something I feel very blessed to be a part of.
I work out of ‘The Sunlight Community Centre’ in a very deprived area of Gillingham, supporting members of the many amazing groups that are run from there, as well as people who attend the church. My role is very varied and wide-ranging, from encouraging the worried well to supporting adults with multiple complex health issues affecting them physically, mentally, socially and spiritually. It is a joy and a privilege to be able to step into their often messy, complicated lives and help them find order, and eventually healing, and an even greater joy to pray with some of them, which is something many mainstream Nurses are not allowed to do.
What I do cannot be put ‘in a nutshell’. Often, it’s a case of patiently listening and unravelling the issues, doing a thorough health assessment, then signposting or referring that person onward to the most appropriate help. I spend a lot of time writing to GPs, enabling my clients to be seen and treated, as many are unable to cope with post-Pandemic systems of care. I also care for carers whose vital role in healthcare is so often hidden. And everything I do is underpinned with Spiritual care, whether or not it is overt.
My clients often say: ‘I honestly couldn’t have done it without you’ or ‘I just don’t know where I’d be now if you hadn’t been there for me’ and that’s exactly what I say to the Lord; He directs me, He equips me, He enables me to do and be the best I can for them…and ultimately for Him.”
In case you didn’t know…
Parish Nurses are fully trained, experienced Registered Nurses who either work for a Church or a Christian organisation, in association with Parish Nurse Ministries UK. There are now well over 100 of us in the UK and 3 working in Kent. We support people with all aspects of their health – ‘wholistic’ support – supporting the whole person physically, mentally, socially and spiritually. On average around one third of our clients don’t attend church regularly, so it is very much an outreach activity. Integrating faith and nursing is a joy and a privilege, especially when we get to pray with our patients.
Your church could have a Parish nurse too…
Find out more by joining a one hour session during the online information day on August 30th…details here; https://parishnursing.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/online-explore-general-Final-Copy.pdf
To join please email enquiries@parishnursing.org.uk