In September 2007, our Parish Council and Pastor have agreed to

the beginning of a Parish Nurse Ministry at St. Charles Parish

supported by the Northwest Parish Nurse Ministries!

This program, now in many parishes throughout the country, is

rooted in Catholic Church teaching on the dignity and value of the

human person, body, mind, and spirit from conception until natural death.

The Parish Nurse Ministry consists of a team of health professionals and volunteers

who are governed and advised by a Parish Health Ministry Board to accomplish the following:

       l)  Educate parishioners in healthy life styles, nutrition, exercise practices, and various health issues.

      2) Encourage and provide preventative medicine and health screening

     3) Provide advocacy within the community health care systems so that individuals get the medical care  they need and deserve.

There is a vast array of services this ministry might provide and the Parish Nurse Ministry will be surveying the parish about what parishioner needs are. The ministry has begun at St. Charles with a six week training course for Caregivers this September and October.  They will be offering blood pressure screening in the near future at the parish. Stay tuned through the parish bulletin and our website!

Feel free to contact the coordinators Alice McCarthy and Barbara Fritz by contacting the parish Office at 503-281-6461 about your health needs, how you would like this ministry to serve you, or if you wish to serve on the Parish Health Ministry Board or Team.

Alice McCarthy and Barbara Fritz have completed the basic training for Parish Nurses and both are registered nurses in the State of Oregon. Alice has worked as a visiting home health nurse, as a hospital discharge planner and in a college student health clinic.  Barbara has spent 20 years in occupational and environmental health and served as a volunteer school nurse and  Red Cross nurse.  We thank these generous parishioners for their leadership as volunteers in our Parish Nurse Ministry!