nurse@oakridgeumc.org

Phone: 336-430-7565 x217

Jerry is a Registered Nurse with a Bachelor of Science in Nursing. She served as a Public Health Nurse in Guilford County for 35 years prior to her retirement in 2006. She was the second nurse hired in the Women Health Program and later served as Director of the program for 12 years. Following retirement she served as the interim Nursing Director for the Nurse Family Partnership at Guilford Child Development. In 2007, she wrote a grant to the Moses Cone Wesley Long Community Health Foundation to start a Congregational Nursing Program at our church and in partnership with the Oak Ridge First Baptist Church. This 3-year grant was funded in 2008. Jerry serves as a volunteer who seeks to provide preventive health information as well as needed support to church members mind, body and spirit.

Jerry’s background in disease preventive and health promotion is a good match for congregational nursing. Jerry has served on foreign mission trips through our church outreach. She serves locally in mission work related to the underserved populations. The challenges and rewards to faith based nursing are many including the opportunity to connect professional nursing to the spiritual dimension of health; provide health care to the whole person; body, mind, and spirit; and to connect the faith community in healing and care of each other.

Jerry is married to Dan, they have two daughters, Jennifer and Catherine, and 3 three grandchildren, Fletcher, Campbell and Riley. They joined our church in 1982 and love calling this congregation their family. Jerry and Dan enjoy activities including camping, hiking and travel.

Responsibilities: To be a part of the Cone Health Congregational Nurse Program I must maintain an active nursing license, maintain required continuing education units (at least one related to Faith-based nursing), maintain an up-to-date CPR certification, maintain liability insurance, participate in at least one community care event annually for underserved, keep my TB and Flu shot up to date, attend an annual skills lab at Cone Health, have our Blood Pressure equipment calibrated annually, keep our First Aid and AED equipment current, submit monthly reports to Cone Health and obey all confidentiality and HIPAA guidelines, attend at least 50% of the Congregational Nurse Monthly meetings, provide preventive health information to our congregation/RidgeRunner, provide annual flu shots to congregational and health fairs as needed (BP, blood glucose, etc.). Cone has performance excellence awards given annually to programs meeting these requirements and our church has met them every year since our grant qualified in 2007. I generally work with the minister in charge of congregational care and serve as a resource to Stephen Ministers and congregants as privately requested; this can take place in many forms: visits, information, prayer, etc.