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Connect: Introducing Our New Parish Nurses

By May 15, 2016 February 18th, 2018 No Comments

Introducing Our New Parish Nurses

By: Danielle O’Brien

One of many things St. John XXIII Catholic Church is blessed with are parishioners with great talent and want to use that talent to serve the Body of Christ. Parishioners, Helen Tuffy (pictured left) and Judy Balyeat (pictured right) are a true example of that. Both registered nurses with active licenses, Helen and Judy are taking their passion of nursing and combining it with their faith as they have just been commissioned as the Parish Nurses at St. John XXIII. The program, headed by Lee Memorial Health Systems, aims to bring a spiritual component to the encouragement of health and wellness making for a successful plan to focus on whole person health.

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Judy and Helen will be the first ones to say that they won’t be able to make your health problems go away, but they will do their best to understand what is happening and explain it to you in a way that you can understand.

Danielle O’Brien: Tell us a little bit about your nursing experience.

Judy Balyeat: I worked for forty years as a nurse. Since my husband and I were raising a family many of those years, I was part-time. I retired from Ohio State University after 27 years. I worked in individual departments such as critical care, peripheral vascular disease, trauma and same-day surgery. I also worked for five years in home health, three years for an allergist and three years volunteering for a pro-life clinic.

Helen Tuffy: I have been a nurse as long as I can remember! Since before we couldn’t tell our patients what their blood pressure was! I worked mostly in the Emergency Room and Intensive Care Units. My transfer to Home Health opened up a new world where I had one-on-one with my patients. I love it.

DOB: How did you first hear about the Parish Nurse Program?

JB: I was intrigued by the parish nurse program when I first came to St. John XXIII 10 years ago. I didn’t know anyone in the program at the time, so I got involved in home health ministries. Then about six weeks ago, Helen approached me about the parish nurse program. I was so honored and blessed to be asked. I can now combine the faith and profession that I love and cherish.

HT: Parish Nursing has become increasing in popularity over the past 20 years. Presently, there are only two Catholic Churches in Lee and Collier County that have the same program that we are involved in. Nancy Roberts of Lee Memorial Health Systems met with Holly and me to explain its advantages. After some discernment, we thought it might be a good ministry for St. John XXIII.

DOB: What are you most passionate about in nursing?

JB: All my life I wanted to be a nurse! I love helping people in all aspects of need and care.

DOB: What exactly does a “Parish Nurse” do?

Here’s an idea of what we do:

A.We’ll speak at the Parish Advisory Council (PAC) meetings and offer services, collaboration and resources to all parish groups and ministries.
B. We assist parishioners who are being discharged from the hospital and rehab facilities. We’ll make sure they have food, care and an understanding of the discharge instructions.
C. We assist with community resource referrals.

DOB: Why is the Parish Nurse program an answered prayer for many parishioners at St. John XXIII?

So many of our parishioners are very sick and need education and care in physical, emotional and spiritual areas. We are now beginning to offer assistance and hope to be fully operational in the Fall of 2016.

We hope to prevent problems for our parishioners before they rise to a crisis level, and lessen hospital re-admissions when we can, through the use of resources and education, as we share God’s love and mercy.

DOB: Talk about the process you had to go through in order to be commissioned as a Parish Nurse?

JB: Lee Memorial System has an awesome community program available to all parish nurses. Nancy Roberts will serve as our mentor and is guiding us through the learning and set-up process. We’ve had to get training through Lee Memorial Health System, CPR certified, Florida Nursing licenses and take a minimum 35 hour Parish nurse education program.

DOB: Can the parish nurses assist in helping non-members of St. John XXIII?

JB: Sure. While our parishioners come first, we can try to help any referrals given to us by the priests or parish office.

If someone would like to speak with you about one of your services, what should they do or how do they go about getting in contact with you?

Right now folks can contact the parish office, (239)561-2245. The office will pass the information on to us. Once we have visited a patient/parishioner, they will contact us directly for their future needs.

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