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Evangelical Lutheran Parish Nurse Association
(ELPNA)


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Welcome!


Welcome to the website of the Evangelical Lutheran Parish Nurse Association!  We seek to be the light of Christ as we integrate faith and health in the ministry of parish nursing.  Here you will find information about parish nursing, tools to assist you in your ministry, as well as updates on our progress and activities. May God bless you with peace and joy!


Rising News

Hat Not Hate!

ELPNA is continuing to add materials to the Members Only site. One of our recent additions is the ELPNA Edge (project step-by-step sheets) on Hat Not Hate. Hat Not Hate is an annual recognition for reducing bullying by wearing blue hats, and thus the Hat not Hate title! Knitting or crocheting blue hats for your community is a project that you could add to your health ministry or contribute to individually! Check out the ELPNA Edge Hat Not Hate by clicking on the link. Generally we will try to feature one of these initiatives on the website, but then accumulate them on our Members Only page for future reference.


Position Openings!

We would like to announce our newest addition! ELPNA has started posting Position Openings for Parish Nurses/Faith Community Nurses on our website (see lower right corner). They will be featured under the Parish Nurse index tab and for now on our Home Page!

"We must develop and maintain the capacity to forgive. He who is devoid of the power to forgive is devoid of the power to love...There  is some good in the worst of us and some evil in the best of us. When we discover this, we are less prone to hate our enemies." 
~Martin Luther King Jr.

The COVID Corner


Breakthrough Cases and Vaccinations

The information being reported on COVID-19 breakthrough cases may have you worried about your risk of acquiring the disease if you have been fully vaccinated. The Pfizer and Moderna vaccines were first administered in December 2020. The virus has changed since that time. The Delta variant is highly transmissible. Scientists monitoring the efficacy of the vaccines over time report that there have been breakthrough infections in fully vaccinated individuals.  But what the science continues to confirm is that those vaccinated against COVID-19 are less likely to suffer from severe illness or be admitted to the hospital. Vaccination against COVID-19 continues to prove the safest path to ending this pandemic.

https://www.consumerreports.org/covid-19/questions-about-covid-19-breakthrough-infections-answered-a8995775819/?EXTKEY=NH18HTHP4&utm_source=acxiom&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=20210829_nsltr_health&utm_nsltr=health

Contributor:  Jeanine McGrath, RN, CCE, CD(DONA)/
Silver Spring, MD 20906-1042
Region 8

CDC Guidance for
Fully Vaccinated Individuals 
Updated September 1, 2021

If you have not had access to this information, please use the link below to access the newly updated CDC interim guidance for those who are fully vaccinated.  

https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/vaccines/fully-vaccinated-guidance.html

Covid Vaccine Facts for Nurses
Another GREAT Resource 

https://covidvaccinefacts4nurses.org/

The American Nurses Association is proud to partner with the American Nurses Foundation and other leading nurse and healthcare organizations to bring critical and current COVID-19 vaccine information to nurses on the frontlines of the pandemic.

Upcoming Educational Event / October 15.
Register soon, if interested!


29th Annual Nursing Conference

Healing from Within:
Addressing Brokenness Within and Beyond the Nursing Profession

Online via Zoom (Link Provided to Registrants)

DATE:  October 15, 2021

TIME:  9:00am-1:00pm PDT; 10:00am - 2:00pm MDT; 11:00am-3:00pm CDT; 12:00pm-4:00pm EDT

Objectives:

  • Identify sources of conflict within our own profession and the impact it has for the well-being of nurses and those we serve

  • Explore the dissonance between the respect for nurses as the most trusted profession and the direct and indirect violence against nurses

  • Address inequalities in the context of the communities nurses’ serve

  • Discuss the role of moral resilience in supporting nurses’ capacity for healing

This activity provides 3.0 contact hours of nursing continuing professional development. Cizik School of Nursing at UTHealth is accredited as a provider of nursing continuing professional development by the American Nurses Credentialing Center’s Commission on Accreditation

Click Here to register.  



Join today!




End of life issues and the Role of the Faith Community Nurse

By Annette Langdon 

We welcome this article from Annette Langdon, who was a parish nurse for many years before taking a position with Fairview Health Services working with Advance Care Planning. Annette is also a deacon in the ELCA on the Word and Service Roster and a member of the Deaconess Community of the ELCA/ELCIC. During her time as a parish nurse, she also helped teach the Faith Community Nurse Foundation Course through Concordia University in Moorhead, MN. She has recently retired and has agreed to share her expertise in the areas of Spiritual care and assessments, and end of life issues"

End of Life Issues - Aug 2021.pdf


Loving Heavenly Father,
We serve in your name and stand in awe of your faithfulness. Help us to listen for your still small voice as we seek to love you more deeply, serve others with compassion and justice, and share with them Your grace and peace. Shower us with your reckless and abiding love.  In Your precious and Holy name we pray.  Amen

Upcoming Events


Grants Available for Parish Nurse/Faith Community Nurse Ministries

We have an exciting opportunity for Lutheran congregations! Members of the ELPNA have long been supportive of new parish nurse ministry start-ups and are acutely aware of the challenging financial situations of congregations. In response to this need, the ELPNA will annually provide funds for start-up or development of a new focus in an existing parish nursing ministry, for a minimum of two (2) Lutheran congregations. Congregations can request up to $750.00 in grant funding.

Click here for more information and for the application form.

“Here’s another way to put it: You’re here to be light, bringing out the God-colors in the world. God is not a secret to be kept. We’re going public with this, as public as a city on a hill. If I make you light-bearers, you don’t think I’m going to hide you under a bucket, do you? I’m putting you on a light stand. Now that I’ve put you there on a hilltop, on a light stand—shine! Matt 5:14-15 (The Message)




First ELPNA Lifetime Member Emeritus

by Phyllis Bruce, RN, MA

In August ELPNA Membership Committee made a recommendation to the Board of Directors that Valborg Tollefsrud become our first Honorary Lifetime Member Emeritus. Valborg is pictured here holding her framed certificate. 

I had the privilege of meeting with Valborg in her apartment and presenting this certificate to her. She asked me to convey her deep appreciation for this honor.  Although she is unable to drive anymore, she still keeps in contact with a few of those she used to visit and also has some special people who call and check on her as well. She recently went through rehab for a compression fracture, and continues to receive home physical therapy.  She remains determined to maintain her independence and mobility.  She is truly an amazing lady! 

A Valborg Tollefsrud Scholarship Fund was started by some of her former students in her honor and the Board of Directors recommended that these funds be used for an educational event once a year.  When I checked to be sure that would be okay with her she stated, “That would be just what I wanted.”  She believes strongly in nursing education and especially in the true value of parish nursing.

For as the heavens are higher
than the earth,
    so are my ways higher than your ways
    and my thoughts than your thoughts.

For you shall go out in joy,
    and be led back in peace;
the mountains and the hills before you
    shall burst into song,
    and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands. Isaiah 55:9,12 (NRSV)


Position Openings

  • No upcoming events

Not a member yet?

ELPNA exists to support Parish Nurses/Faith Community Nurses who are Lutheran or who serve in Lutheran Congregations. If you are from another denomination please contact
elpna.national@gmail.com for further information.

Read More About Membership!

 Visit us on Facebook at: Evangelical Lutheran   Parish Nurse Association (ELPNA) | Facebook

ELPNA©
Please contact us with any website recommendations or corrections at elpna.national@gmail.com

Click for ELPNA brochure:
ELPNA_brochure.pdf

Email us at:
elpna.national@gmail.com

Mail us at:
ELPNA
PO Box 8117
St. Paul, MN 55108

Last updated: 10/10/2021

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