Abstract
Abstract
The COVID-19 pandemic brought many changes to the healthcare delivery system. Parish nurses, faith community nurses, and congregational nurses found their practice frequently adapting to comply with government issued restrictions and the changing needs of the community. QueensCare Health & Faith Partnership (QHFP), a parish nurse program which is part of QueensCare, a non-profit public benefit corporation, and St. Dominic Catholic Church in Los Angeles, California designed a replicable model for safely reopening parish nurse sites. QHFP provides supportive healthcare services and case management services at no charge to underserved and vulnerable populations in cooperation with numerous churches, temples, synagogues, mosques, faith-based schools, and social services agencies.
The collaborative partnership involved creating a standardized procedure for policy approvals; updating standing orders; renewing licenses; safe COVID-19 vaccination storage, transportation, and administration policies; physical environmental safety procedures;safety requirements for staff and volunteers; and process maps for event layout and workflow. These workflows tested at St. Dominic Church were replicated at 26 other sites.
Parish nurse and community health worker roles evolved as well to enable maximum scope of practice while expanding services to the underserved and under-resourced populations in post-pandemic practice conditions.
Key words: parish nurse, faith community nurse, post-pandemic, COVID-19 pandemic, reopening
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