Our Parish Nurse is Jane Pears, a Registered Nurse and a member of Maidstone Road Baptist Church. Jane was appointed in 2006 and works 2 days a week out of the church in her Parish Nurse capacity. Jane also works 3 days a week for the NHS in Felixstowe as a Junior Community Sister.

Below are a few of the ways Jane gives help and support to people in the community. Being a Parish Nurse enables Jane to provide care in a way that is not fully covered in conventional statutory care. Jane helps people of all ages and from all backgrounds.

What initiatives are being run by Parish Nursing at MRBC?

Jane writes:

Sole Mates

Our skin naturally changes as we get older, for example our skin loses its softness elasticity and smoothness. We need to observe our feet and legs for signs of poor circulation and skin changes. Our suppleness reduces and therefore our ability to closely monitor our own feet and legs is restricted. With our advancing years we may feel isolated due to reduced immobility or ill health/lethargy.

Sole Mates aim is to tackle all these issues in a proactive way.

Waiting for a problem to arise that requires the care of a Nurse/Doctor is the usual way in which those with leg and feet problems are identified. Sole Mates is a service that can provide regular monitoring and early detection of foot and leg problems therefore solving the problem earlier and reducing the need for long courses of treatment from the Nurses/Doctors.

We are a team of volunteer carers from Maidstone Rd Baptist Church who offer our services to all those who have been assessed by our Parish Nurse Jane Pears and identified as requiring our care.
We have undergone a training programme with Jane in order to understand foot and leg care, skin breakdown, infection control, application of compression hosiery, confidentiality and basic skin conditions. Jane will be available for us to refer any concerns too and will monitor the clients on a regular basis.

We have also had a CRB check performed in accordance with our work as Volunteers. This is to ensure no volunteer has a criminal record in relation to the vulnerable…children or adults.

We also consider a valuable part of our work is to interact with the client, building relationships, introduce new social activities and show God’s love through our actions.

This service is open to all over 65 yrs who are unable to wash, dry, apply creams/ointments and/or apply compression hosiery. Referrals from Self, District/Practice Nurses, Doctors, Therapists, Pastors/ Ministers, Specialist Nurses, Pastoral Workers, Community Matrons, are all-welcome.

Now that I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet , you also should wash one another’s feet. I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you.
                                                                            John 13. V 14 - 15

Fit for Life Forever....(written and produced by Sue Prosser)

It is sad to say, but obesity in the Church seems to be just as prevalent (if not more so) as in the secular community. Christians with weight issues have generally looked to diets to try and resolve their problems, the same as anybody else, and have met with the same degree of failure in the long term because dieting is just not God’s best when it comes to our health. He has a far better plan – far less burdensome and liberating – whereby we can learn to work in harmony with our bodies and in obedience to the Holy Spirit who indwells these ‘temples’ of flesh. What a wonderful opportunity we have to demonstrate God’s power and grace to others, and for the Church, instead of being part of the obesity problem, to become part of the answer.

Aims of Fit For Life Forever

The primary aim of Fit for Life Forever is to help people adopt a healthy lifestyle and to regulate their weight in ways consistent with Biblical Christianity. Alongside this (as the primary, fundamental purpose of any group of committed Christians) is a powerful, overarching goal to lead others into a personal knowledge of Jesus Christ and to see them grow in their spiritual experience.

The Fit For Life Forever programme, in addition to its role in promoting health, weight management and nutrition, has been proven to be an effective tool in evangelism. In an interesting, non-threatening way, which is relevant to the needs and concerns of course participants concerned over weight and health issues, Fit For Life Forever gently leads people to a recognition of their inner needs and points to them to God as the One who is able to empower them to achieve their health goals, free them from the roots of mental and emotional bondage to food and to satisfy their inner hunger.

The Fit for Life forever course is very biblically based and an excellent resource for those who have some understanding of the Christian faith. Prior to using this course I developed a model for a healthy lifestyle ...Balance and Wholeness. This course has run as a prototype prior to Fit for Life. We feel that having run both courses.....both should continue. Balance is a course that is more accessible to the community...giving some information on the Christian faith. We intend to use balance as an outreach to the community and Fit for Life for those committed to the Christian Faith.

Balance

Balance is a group to promote a lifestyle that is wholesome in its approach.
Balance is promoting health in its broadest sense.
Balance is about individuals.
Balance is about working in partnership with individuals to assess, plan, and support a more balanced approach to life.
Balance is about providing resources, by inviting guest speakers, organising affordable social activities, exercise activities, relationship experts, along with continued support for weight reduction, stress reduction, smoking cessation and exercise strategies.
Balance is open to all and free to all in the Walton Community.

Balance:

W eight - What should I weigh? How do I achieve a healthy weight?
H eart - What is a healthy heart and how do I maintain one?
O bsessions - Smoking? Chocolate? Alcohol? Drugs? Spending?
L ove - What relationships are important? How to maintain healthy ones?
E xcercise - What is all the fuss about? Is it really that important?
N utrition - Which foods do I need to eat and which are for pleasure?
E ducation - How can I access affordable education to increase my knowledge and skills?
S pirituality - Why do I do what I do? What is spirituality anyway?
S ocial - How can I find others to socialise with in ways that are affordable
                 and healthy?

Balance is a 10 week programme designed to equip individuals with the resources to seek and maintain a balanced healthy approach to life.

Health Initiatives at MRBC Toddlers

Once a fortnight I attend our Toddler group with Health Initiatives. The Health Visitors locally appreciate that groups such as this are prime targets for health education but regret they are unable to attend sessions due to work commitments. We have a different topic each month. This is a new venture and the aim is to build a trusting relationship with the mums....to enable them the ability to discuss any concerns they have with their and their families’ health in a relaxed informal way. Many mums have already approached me with concerns about themselves of family and we have only run this service since January.

Personal Health Advice at Collimer Court

Once a fortnight I attend our local sheltered housing scheme to hold a drop in clinic for the residents. This has been running for 4 years now and all residents know both myself and the volunteers well. We have built good relationships and are invited to many of their events and vice versa. We are in the process of organising together a sponsored head shave and leg wax(male volunteers from the church!)to be held at Collimer Court, in order to raise funds for Parish Nursing.
We also hold a chair based exercise class once a week at the scheme with some good results. We have a number of attendees who could not get up from a dining chair unassisted prior to the course. they now can stand unassisted!

Healthcare Sunday

We hold a special service each year in October. This year we have a local GP coming to preach. We hold a BP screening session after the service. This proves very popular as it reminds folk that its a year since their last check. We are fortunate to have 5 nurses available to take BPs on that morning!
These initiatives are in addition to one to one personal advice appointments that I am involved in. These are very varied... Visiting GPs with clients, attending case conferences on behalf /or with clients both for social services and health agencies, listening to symptoms and concerns, organising baby sitters fro stressed mums, organising subsidised holidays for families in distress....the list is varied and endless. I love the variety, the challenges and the ability to add the third dimension in every case. God’s love for each individual I am in contact with....Praise Him for this role, this very releasing role in our communities today.

Hospital to Home Service

This is a new service in development at present. I am liaising with the other churches in the town to provide this service. we hope to launch this in the Autumn. I will keep you updated!

Contacting Jane

Jane can be emailed at .

She can be contacted on 07969 901001 on Tuesdays and Wednesdays (messages can be left at other times). Appointments with Jane can be made in person before the Service on Sunday morning and also at the church between 11 and Noon on a Tuesday. Other church contact details are here.

What actually is Parish Nursing?

A Parish Nurse is a Registered Nurse with community experience who works through the local church offering spiritual as well as physical and mental health care. The Parish Nurse will serve the church and community with respect for people of all faiths and none. Parish Nursing is a growing national movement within churches of all Christian denominations and their national website is Parish Nursing Ministries UK

(c) MRBC Felixstowe 2009