Volunteers are a Necessity in Health Ministry

By Eileen Birch, Parish Nurse

Volunteers are not just a nice group of folks who do good works. They are so much more valuable to parish nurse programs. In this age of "managed health care," people are coming home quicker and sicker than before. The visiting nurse and/or physical therapist do not stay long either so the needs of the frail elderly and others recovering from an illness are greater than ever.

At St. Mary's we call our volunteers "health ministers" because we want to focus on the stewardship aspect of caring. St. Mary's has 2700 families and many of those families are separated from their extended family. What better place to look for support than your parish community?

Health ministers serve a variety of parishioners who need respite, emotional or spiritual support, transportation and shopping. We serve the elderly and the handicapped, homebound, terminally and/or chronically ill and their caregivers, the bereaved as well as infants and children. In addition to respite care, clerical support in the health ministry office and meal preparation in times of crisis are a short list of the many needs. In the past year health ministers have shared themselves with parishioners from age 6 months to age 98 years! The needs here are widely dispersed.

Qualifications for health ministers include a desire to serve one's fellow parishioner with acceptance and compassion. The expectation is that each minister will help meet the needs of the program by committing some time each week or month.

Some weeks, it is an hour or two and sometimes once a month for two hours. It really depends upon what area the volunteer is most comfortable serving and what times they are available. The parish nurse screens all requests and makes a home visit before assigning a health minister (unless there is an emergency).

The health ministry provides training each year for new health ministers. Subjects include: Safety, Universal Precautions, Grief and Loss, Pastoral Visit, Listening Skills. We now have 45 health ministers who provide approximately 1000 hours per year of care. It makes the job of Parish Nurse much easier to be able to offer the nurturing care of their fellow parishioners. For information call: Eileen Birch, Parish Nurse at 508.925.7647.