Parish Nurse Survey

What a great asset it would be to have a parish nurse -- someone who could help educate us in health matters, answer members’ questions about medications or preparing for doctor visits, someone who could guide us in finding available health resources at the local and state level, someone who could hold blood pressure clinics and emergency preparedness workshops and more.

Well, good news, Ascension. Diana Doerfler, retired nurse and long-time member of our congregation, will be leading a pilot study for a parish nurse -- a special volunteer post under the Community Concerns Committee that she will begin by taking on herself. An early 2016 start is being tentatively planned.  Parish nursing offers nurses a new opportunity in a whole and congruent way. It is a vision of what it means to care for one another as well as promote health and well being.

Diana notes that the parish nurse, or nurses, “will identify and hopefully educate the congregation about different health needs and community resources. We’ll set up lectures; get experts in different fields to come and speak. We’ll look at diseases and address different things you can do for yourself. If the congregation has questions, we’re going to have them call the church office. For routine matters, we’ll get back within 48 hours; for more urgent matters, as soon as possible.”

A cardiac nurse at Los Robles Hospital for two decades, with another 10 years’ experience as a home health nurse (and non-medical stints including earning an MBA in marketing at Cal Lutheran and working for Thrivent Financial Services), Diana has found that “People don’t know the resources they have here. What can we do for the caregivers?” Beata Lundeen and Diana ran a caregivers support group here at Ascension a few years ago. “If the congregation wants something like that, we can certainly do it again,” she says.

To begin, Diana would like to find out what services Ascension members are most interested in.

Please fill out the following survey: