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LUTHERAN
FAITH COMMUNITY NURSE ASSOCIATION

(LFCNA)


Welcome to Region 6!

Region 6 Includes:

Southeast Michigan Synod, North/West Lower Michigan Synod, Indiana-Kentucky Synod, Northwestern Ohio Synod, Northeastern Ohio Synod. and Southern Ohio Synod

POSITION OPENING

There is an opening for a 15 - 20 hour per week paid Faith Community Nurse at St. Timothy Lutheran Church in Naperville, IL. For more information see the link below and contact Pastor Sarah Swindoll, Associate Pastor at pastorsarahswindall@gmail.com

FCN Job Description 


Region 6 Calendar


Directors:

Mary Ann Mette
Cincinnati, OH

Norah Bertschy
Cincinnati, OH

Welcome to LFCNA-the Lutheran Faith Community Nurse Region 6 web page.

As your Region 6 Directors, we would like to introduce ourselves


Mary Ann Mette
Currently, I am a Registered Nurse who has volunteered as Chair/Parish Nurse of Lutheran Church of the Resurrection’s Health Ministry program since its inception in 2002 and am active with the Boy Scouts of America.  I graduated from Ball State University, Muncie, Indiana with my BSN in 1975, and pursued a Master’s degree.  I have had an interest in Faith Community Nursing since the mid 1990’s and subsequently have taken 3 Fundamental courses.  The most recent March 2014.   I have been a member of the LFCNA and our local Episcopal Retirement Services Parish Nurse program (1998-2020).  Our church has participated in many of their programs. My career has been predominately in the Community Health arena, including Ambulatory Clinics, Public Health, Home Health, Occupational Health and Hospice.   I find that my community health experiences has enhanced my ability to identify and intervene in a variety of members’ needs, and to provide and promote health and wellness programs. I look forward to continue working with the LFCNA board members and Norah Bertschy as a representative of Region 6.

My continued goals are to promote membership and education of our organization by identifying, providing guidance and encouragement to other parish nurses and/or interested nurses, churches in our region and synod; and to impact our organization in participation through meetings, committee work.

Norah Bertschy
I am a new Parish Nurse, yet a RN with 50 years nursing.  Isn’t that the brilliance of nursing!!!  I completed my Foundations course in mid-2019 and was installed as the first Parish Nurse at Trinity Lutheran, Cincinnati, OH a few months before the world changed with COVID! 

My initial nursing education was at a wonderful diploma program – a 1972 graduate of Idabelle Firestone School of Nursing in Akron, OH.  Upon graduation,  I then served 2 years in the Navy at Philadelphia Naval Hospital.

Upon returning to Ohio in 1974 I resumed a civilian life, nursing in a community hospital working in Med-Surg, Pediatrics, OB, infection control and employee health – oh the versatility of nursing!  Along the way I completed my BSN – thanks to the GI bill. And then in 1995 I completed an MSN in Child and Adolescent Primary Care and became a PNP.  Both degrees were earned at the University of Akron.

Our family moved to Cincinnati in 1998, to enable me to work as a PNP to serve the under-served in school – based public health programs, eventually living the dream of providing primary care in a full-fledged School Based Health Clinic.  I retired from full time employment in 2018.

I re-affiliated with the Navy Reserve in 1989 and retired with 24 years of service in 2011.  I did see the world – joining military medical teams in Thailand, Nicaragua, Dominican Republic, Gabon-Africa, and in 2010 on the USNS Comfort providing care to earthquake victims.  A life lesson of traveling the world; we are so much more alike than we are different!

Becoming a Parish Nurse is a realized desire of my heart since the 1980s when I met Granger Westberg. And now finding our way through the Pandemic, I feel God has put me in the right place at the right time.   Another life lesson: networking – it is so important to find kindred spirits, working with LFCNA!

I am blessed with a loving and extremely supportive spouse of 50 years, 3 adult children and 3 teenage grandsons.

Programs and Resources

Click here to register for this event!


Cancer Support Group for Spanish Speaking Persons

Spanish Cancer Support Group: Pilar Flores, social worker at Holy Cross Health Centers in Aspen Hill and Silver Spring, is facilitating a virtual cancer support group for Spanish speaking adults who are currently in treatment for cancer. It is held on Teams and it is every 4th Monday from 6:00 - 7:00 PM. Please see attached flyer and promote as appropriate. For more information please contact Pilar Flores at pilar.floresramirez@holycrosshealth.org or 301-754-8583

Flyer in Spanish



Information Request

We would like to identify all Lutheran parish nurses working in congregations of Region 6.  Please send an e-mail with your information to  Norah Bertschy or Mary Ann Mette.  The contact information is in the Board Directory found in the Members Only section of this web site.  That way we can keep an updated list of Lutheran parish nurses in this region.

Funds are available to provide displays for synod meetings if you are interested in presenting the concept of parish nursing to groups within your synod.  Please let us know how we can help.


Last updated: 02/05/24

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LFCNA Brochure

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