Harold G Koenig & Sybil Smith 
Parish Nursing 
A Handbook for the New Millennium

Make parish nursing an alternative to shrinking healthcare resources!



Because of shrinking healthcare resources, both human and monetary, parish nurses in the future will be called upon to deal with rising numbers of elderly and the end-of-life issues that accompany aging. Parish Nursing: A Handbook for the New Millennium is a guide to designing programs that can complement a congregation“s ministry priorities for senior adults, identifying strengths to reinforce and weaknesses to avoid. Stories from the fields of service capture the sweat equity and history of the re-emergence of nursing in churches.



Parish Nursing: A Handbook for the New Millennium is a practical planning guide for parish nurses and congregational committee members with limited experience in program development. Suitable for use with multiple faith traditions, the book demonstrates how to take responsibility for health ministries without leaning on direction from local hospitals. Parish Nursing presents multiple practice models, intervention strategies, and methods of program evaluation responsive to boundaries and traditions of various communities of faith.



Parish Nursing includes:

• conceptual frameworks


• program design options


• outlines from field-tested training modules


• program evaluation options and challenges


• and much more!

In 2001, there were 35 million people over the age of 65 living in the United States—a number that’s expected to double in the next 10 years. The American Academy of Family Physicians estimates that nearly 20 percent of family doctors are no longer accepting new Medicare patients. Parish Nursing: A Handbook for the New Millennium is an essential resource for nurses, pastors, and church leaders starting a parish nurse ministry to deal with the growing number of “forgotten” elderly persons.