What Parish Nurses Do – “Jose’s” Story

Almost every day, QHFP nurses are in the community using their specialized assessment skills, knowledge base and familiarity with the healthcare system to serve people who, for various reasons, don’t come into clinics for their medical care. The following story is one example of how Parish Nurses touch lives.

A 49-year old man we’ll call Jose came to see the QHFP Parish Nurse when she was working at the shelter one day last fall. He said that his left hand was hard to close, especially in cold weather. After a nursing assessment and medical history, the Parish Nurse was convinced the problem with his hand was a recurrence of his past stroke, and she knew he would need long term care. Soon a church member, with the nursing assessment/referral in hand, drove Jose to the County-USC ER, where he was admitted and the stroke was confirmed.

Six weeks later, Jose was discharged from Rancho Los Amigos. He was discharged to a homeless shelter because he had no family in the area and had lost contact with his siblings in Mexico. He was able to get in touch with the Parish Nurse, who was then able to follow up with his case manager at Rancho Los Amigos. She learned that Jose had a hematology appointment at County-USC the day after his discharge. However, Jose didn’t know about this, a typical result of the memory, mood, and information processing deficits of right-sided strokes. In addition, Jose arrived at the shelter without one of his anti-seizure medicines, which he needed for a secondary seizure disorder.

The Parish Nurse sent a church volunteer with Jose to an LA County urgent care clinic. By cell phone, she coached the worker on what to say to help get them past the triage nurse. Since then, Jose was also diagnosed with a serious blood disorder and liver disease. The Parish Nurse has continued to work with Jose, to help him with all his medical care. She has accompanied him to primary care, neurology, hematology, and liver clinic appointments – inevitably in different facilities. She has also helped him keep track of his appointments and medicine refills, monitored him for symptoms related to his multiple medical conditions, and communicated between providers and with community homeless services workers about Jose’s special needs.