An Idea Takes Hold
The program's concept arose as a result of some information Leland Kaiser, internationally recognized health care futurist, shared about community health and its effects during a speech in early 1993. By spring of 1993, a task force of representatives from various parts of the hospital and the community began to focus attention on the congregational nursing concept. Their first task was to develop a proposal to present to the hospital's administration. The proposal outlined what the program would look like and how it would be shaped in this community.

Congregational Nursing is based on the theory that parishoners will be more likely to contact and seek advice from a congregational nurse (who is readily available and dedicated to listening to them) than they would their minister or personal physician. The congregational nurse often sees the problems much earlier and can help.

Mark Chambers, Memorial Health Foundation Vice President, was part of the task force and remembers that, "there were several questions that we wanted to answer in the formation of our proposal. They included: how do we identify the congregations?; how do you identify the nurse?; how do we fund the nurses?; what will the nurses actually do?; how can we evaluate this program?"

In order to learn more about the concept itself and to answers some of these questions, the task force contacted Lutheran General Hospital in Park Ridge, Illinois, the pioneer of parish nursing. The task force acquired information and materials that helped them create a job description, budget and other information critical to the proposal. They modeled the congregational nursing program after the one at Lutheran General Hospital.

Getting Started
Even though they had the information from a successful program there were still issues that arose as a result of their own program formulation process. First, the issue of the nurse's employer presented itself. Would the hospital or the religious institution be the employer of the nurse?

As they began to develop the nurse's job description the second issue arose. Because they would be asking nurses to perform non-clinical types of activities (with a religious base), the job description would be different from that of a traditional registered nurse. How would they deal with this issue?

And finally, the task force structure itself added an interesting dimension. The task force included a couple of nurse practitioners who may have been interested in acting in the congregational nursing capacity. This created some tension within the task force.

It took the task force approximately four months to develop a framework for the Congregational Nursing Program. In August 1993, the task force presented their proposal to the Community Health Advisory Group (CHAG) who approved funding for partnerships through the hospital's Community Benefit Fund (tithing policy). According to Mary Sweet Rooney, Director of Pastoral and Social Services and one of the founding members of the task force, "the committee approved the project and we were off and running."

The Letter
Mary Sweet Rooney and her predecessor and co-initiator, Ella Goodman, signed a letter dated August 16, 1993 that was sent to 230 churches and synagogues. Click here for an except from the letter.

That initial letter received only three responses. According to Mary Rooney, "It was very hard sell. People didn't know what in the world a nurse would be doing in a congregation. They couldn't even imagine how he or she would be used or even helpful to the congregation. This was such a new concept that people were skeptical about its effectiveness and need. Many just didn't see the connection between a nurse and the congregation."

In order to bring awareness to the community and to try and recruit more congregations, Mary Rooney and the newly hired Coordinator of Congregational Nursing, Sara Hake, spoke throughout the community at area churches, synagogues, Rotary and Lions club meetings and anywhere else someone would listen. They even resorted to inviting themselves places.

"The initial recruiting months were extremely difficult. We tried everything to get people to listen and open up to the idea, we even came with healthy snacks," confesses Sara Hake. "You have to be persistent and willing to work hard to get people interested. It doesn't come naturally or quickly."

The three original respondents to the letter included two churches and one synagogue. Mary Rooney recalls that, "just getting these congregations signed-on was a challenge. It took a long time." There were many different factors that played a role in this delay. The church/synagogue politics and structures were each very different. Getting the partnership agreement through all the administrative and political authorities at each religious institution was difficult. There was a lot of questioning from the institutions. Many wanted to know what was in it for Memorial Hospital and why Memorial Hospital was even interested in offering this program.

According to Sara Hake, "the more we de-institutionalized the idea of community health and congregational nursing the more receptive the religious institutions became. The fact that the nurse is an employee of Memorial Hospital was accepted because her job function, direction and duties would come from the religious institution itself."

The Congregational Nursing Program staff emphasized the need for a spiritual base for wellness and health. They assured religious leaders that returning health and wellness to a religious base was a very logical and practical thing to do. Historically, religion and healing have been closely connected. By participating with area churches and synagogues, Memorial and the Congregational Nursing Program witness to the strong link between faith, health and healing. It took some time to get the word out, but as more and more learned about Congregational Nursing, more and more churches and synagogues became interested.