US nurses for LNAA introductory course

The Lutheran Nurses Association of Australia’s (LNAA) Introduction to Parish Nursing course has been adopted by the Parish Nursing Council of the Lutheran Church Missouri Synod as their distance education program.

It will be monitored by Dr Marcia Schnorr, with other local parish nurses doing the assessment and providing responses to students.

The first US enrolee for the course is Lynn Batchelder of Yorke Beach, Maine. Lynn has been a nurse for 45 years and a nurse practitioner for 20 years. Parish nursing was the focus of her master’s thesis.

‘I see the significant connection between mind, body and spirit all the time. Educating people about health and prevention has always been an integral part of my practice. Parish nursing is a good fit for me at this time. Since I live in Maine, the distance learning model is the best way for me to accomplish this goal.’

Dr Schnorr said that several other nurses have their registration on the way.

The course was originally written for the LNAA by Lynette Wiebusch and her husband Pastor Robert Wiebusch. It was adapted for US students in consultation with Dr Schnorr, who drafted an additional module focusing on local conditions, to add to the other 16 modules.