---

When a health scare landed Rev. Thomas Krupa in the hospital this summer, his parishioners joined forces to supervise him upon discharge.

Father Krupa, pastor of Sacred Heart parish in Castleton, was put out of commission when the percentage of blood leaving his heart as it contracts plunged to a dangerous level.

After his condition stabilized and he went home to the rectory, he required a stairlift to get to his bedroom and was at risk for further problems, he told The Evangelist.

So the parish health ministry team - created just months before - shepherded their shepherd 24 hours a day for two weeks. Parish staff checked on him during the day and a total of 22 volunteers took turns staying after-hours or overnight in the guest room, listening for problems through a monitor. If that device failed, Father Krupa kept an airhorn by his bedside.

"People would just come forward [to help] - no questions asked," said Dan Forget, who was certified as the parish nurse in May.

Big picture
Father Krupa now wears a medical alert bracelet and started celebrating Mass again this month, but similar needs exist throughout the parish community.

Likewise, other parishes throughout the Albany Diocese benefit from the help of faith community nursing, an outreach ministry that promotes wholeness and wellness within a religious congregation.

These licensed professional nurses serve as health educators, referral sources, personal health counselors, volunteer coordinators, advocates for those who cannot articulate their needs and liaisons between the sick and the parish community. (They cannot perform hands-on services like starting an IV.)

Of about 30 Christian nurses currently certified by Seton Health in Troy, approximately 20 are Catholic.

Rev. William Pape, rector of the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception in Albany, had approached Seton Health in the late 1980s with the parish nurse idea after he read about the movement, which was started by a Lutheran minister from Chicago.

St. Michael's in Cohoes and St. Ambrose in Latham became the first parishes in the Diocese to adopt the program, in part to prevent elderly parishioners from falling through the proverbial cracks.

Decades later, participants in long-time and novice nursing ministries all sing the movement's praises.

Host of aid
Mr. Forget and his team of nine nurse volunteers, two pharmacists, a massage therapist, a nurse practitioner and a consulting physician collaborate to offer monthly blood pressure screenings. They visit homebound parishioners or those recovering from things like chemotherapy or surgery.

One Sacred Heart parishioner, a woman in her mid-80s who doesn't drive, recently called the team when her husband was admitted to a nursing home an hour away following a stroke. Volunteers now drive her there three weeks a month.

In the process, Mr. Forget discovered the woman hadn't been to church in more than 40 years and started sending volunteers to pick her up on Sundays.

This exemplifies why Mr. Forget, a second-career nurse, enjoys faith community nursing: He can check on parishioners' medical needs, but also their emotional and spiritual ones.

"For better or for worse, we've gone from what medical care had been," he said - echoing a sentiment many area faith community nurses shared about the medical field becoming less about comforting patients and more about curing them.

Parish nurse ministries, he added, allow for that element of comfort.

Next on the agenda for the Sacred Heart team will be workshops on nutrition and weight management, cardiac and blood pressure health, stress and caregiver support, as indicated by a recent survey of about 100 parishioners.

Necessary program
"People are starting to realize how important this really is," said Harley McDevitt, diocesan director of pastoral care, of faith community nursing. "These are the kind of things that affect everyone: health, illness, age."

Mary Linton has been parish nurse at Immaculate Concep-tion parish in New Lebanon since 1996. An occupational health nurse since the late 1960s, she says faith community nursing is about presence.

When the daughter of a man she visited called her before anyone else in the parish after the man died, Mrs. Linton realized how important her role was: "I just thought, 'Wow. She didn't know me. I didn't know her.'"

Maureen Norris, parish nurse at St. Edward the Confessor Church in Clifton Park, agreed: "They're always thanking us. It makes us feel good."

During one blood pressure clinic at St. Edward's, a man who was about to take an airplane trip approached the volunteers expressing physical discomfort. When his blood pressure registered as 230/130, the volunteers directed him to an urgent care center, which led to a stay in the hospital.

How they help
St. Edward's also offers flu shot clinics, blood drives and an education program about living wills, do-not-resuscitate orders and hospice options.

At St. Michael the Archangel parish in Troy, parish nurse coordinator Ginny Amsden developed a course on critical decisions on health care for the aging parish population.

Topics included healthcare proxies, wake, funeral and cemetery issues and end-of-life treatment. Ms. Amsden also acquired an automated external defibrillator (AED) for her parish and started CPR classes.

At St. Jude's parish in Wynantskill, the nursing program solicits speakers like elder law attorneys and representatives from senior communities. Johanna Flanigan, parish nurse, said that additional care for elderly parishioners is always appreciated.

"They're just so happy that people haven't forgotten them," Mrs. Flanigan said. "When you haven't been able to get out of the house in a while, you feel disconnected. This connects them to the Church."

Mary Linton, parish nurse at Immaculate Conception parish in New Lebanon, developed a fall-prevention program with funding from the Capital District Senior Issues Forum in Albany. She warns of hazards making seniors susceptible to falls, such as home safety, use of certain medications and loss of balance or muscle tone. To combat risks, she counsels exercise, inventorying the home for dangers, seeing an eye doctor and asking a pharmacist to review medications.



WEEK OF EVENTS: Celebrating care

National Pastoral Care Week is Oct. 24-30. Pastoral care includes the ministries of pastoral care coordinators, volunteer visitors, hospital chaplains, nursing home chaplains, faith community nurses and deacons who have taken clinical pastoral education courses.

To note the week, Our Lady of Mercy Life Center in Guilderland will offer a Mass and anointing of the sick Oct. 20.

Notre Dame/Visitation in Schuylerville celebrated early with an orientation for greeters, servers, eucharistic ministers, prayer shawl ministry members and bereavement group facilitators.

Pastoral care volunteers from Christ the King parish in Westmere, Albany, will gather for an evening of reflection at the Dominican Retreat and Conference Center in Niskayuna Oct. 26. The parish recently developed a prayer service to bring to the homebound and their friends and family. In May, parishioners learned about keeping the focus on God as a loved one is dying.

The theme of Pastoral Care Week is "Healing Presence." (AC)

(10/21/10) [[In-content Ad]]

---