TriHealth Parish Nurse Ministry

Neda Esfahani, Summer 2011

When I found out that my assigned site for urban health project was Parish Nursing, I wasn’t sure what to expect. I wasn’t familiar with the term parish nurse, let alone certain of what kinds of tasks and responsibilities their job entailed. After spending this past summer with them, I can truly say that I have the utmost respect and appreciation for the countless services that these nurses provide. I had the opportunity to spend at least a week at each of the different sites or churches that cater to the various neighborhoods within the city of Cincinnati including Walnut Hills, North Fairmount, Price Hill, Clifton, Winton Hills, and Over-the-Rhine. The parish nurses work out of their churches and promote well being within the community by doing home visits, checking up on patients in the hospital, running blood pressure clinics, and connecting people with health community workers. The majority of the clients seen are low-income and from medically disadvantaged populations; over half are senior citizens and many are young, single women with children. I chose to enter the field of medicine with the hope of working with the underserved, as my personal goal is to help bring such patients the health care that they are entitled to.

The community health workers at Winton Hills have a large clientele of young pregnant women and had wanted to put together reading materials for them that covered topics that would be particularly important during their child’s first year of life (safety, vaccinations, nutrition, developmental milestones from birth to 12 months, when to call the doctor, etc). And so I undertook this feat as my project for the summer; I gathered information to further educate women who are soon expecting on these various topics with the hope that it could serve as an initial source of reference for them. The community health workers plan on passing along these materials to their patients during post-partum visits.

The most valuable aspect of my summer with UHP was getting the chance to talk with patients one-on-one and hearing about the challenges and struggles that they face everyday. While I was able to take patients’ blood pressures and help organize their mediset pill boxes, I found some of their stories especially inspiring. One man on dialysis who was taking care of a grandson and out of work seemed optimistic and upbeat despite all the hardships that he had endured. Whether it be transportation, stable housing, or emotional support, the parish nurses all went above and beyond offering routine health guidance to ensure their clients’ quality of life in every which way possible. My internship experience will affect my future as a physician by serving as a reminder of the types of obstacles patients deal with after leaving the doctor’s office. It is easy to forget, for example, that some patients living under less than ideal circumstances are forced to make sacrifices on a regular basis. If a single mom is the sole provider for her family, she might choose to go a week or longer without her expensive medication just to make ends meet for her household.