Children's National Parish Nursing Program

The Children's National Parish Nursing Program, in alignment with parish and faith community nursing, focuses on promoting holistic health and wellness, and preventing or minimizing injury and illness in the faith community. In collaboration with the faith community and health promotion programs, the Children's National Parish Nursing Program plans and implements disease and injury prevention in order to improve the health of the pediatric and young adult populations in the areas served. Children's National Medical Center partners with the Church Health Center/International Parish Nurse Resource Center to offer the Foundations of Faith Community Nursing Course, a requisite course to becoming a Faith Community Nurse. Registration for the course is open to nurses nationwide.

The goal is to increase awareness in faith-based communities regarding preventative care for children and services available at Children's National Medical Center for patients and families.

The Parish Nursing Program will train eight nurses to become Faith Community Nurses in Summer 2013.

In Summer 2013, the Children's National Parish Nursing Program will train more than eight nurses to become Faith Community Nurses. The program established an inter-professional advisory board representing Pastoral Care, Social Work, Faith Community Nursing, Advanced Practice Nursing, Nursing Education and Professional Development. The program also provided health education at faith-based organizations and to staff at faith-based schools in the Washington, D.C./Maryland/Virginia metropolitan region. Experts from the Children's National Parish Nursing Program's Speakers Bureau are invited as speakers at faith-based health and faith forums. In addition, the program developed partnerships with 10 faith-based organizations, the District of Columbia Department of Health Places of Worship Advisory Board, and Wesley Seminary Heal the Sick Program to promote healthy faith-based communities in D.C.