Parish Nurse Provides Health Education - St. Francis Seraph Ministries

Parish Nurse Provides Health Education

Parish nurses work to improve the health of their parishes and neighborhoods in a variety of ways. One way is through health screenings, primarily blood pressure and blood sugar screenings. Screenings help to identify the presence of disease (hypertension and diabetes respectively) as well as help clients and their health care, diet, exercise, and stress management) and possibly medication.

Phyllis Kemper, the St. Francis Seraph parish nurse, holds regular blood pressure screenings at the St. Francis Seraph Soup Kitchen, at the Our Daily Bread soup kitchen, and after the parish Sunday Liturgy. Besides taking blood pressures, Phyllis provides health education about managing blood pressure and refers clients to their health care providers as needed. Because some of the guests at the soup kitchens do not have health insurance and/or health care providers, Phyllis works with them to obtain the health care that is needed. This may be a referral to a clinic, the Homeless Van, or as has happened several times, even to a hospital Emergency Department. Some participants in the screenings choose to meet Phyllis on an on-going basis, so she can monitor their blood pressure and provide further health education.