Gate Keeping Nurses and New Missionaries/Transfers
Sister Barfuss was assigned to be a mental health nurse, but after the SLC, UT training and counsel from President Sainsbury, it is more about teaching the missionaries good self care and "Mom Medicine." We talk a lot on the phone, check up on the Elders and Sisters, refer the missionaries to a great booklet the church created, "Adjusting to Missionary Life" and become sounding boards for the stresses that accompany this amazing training ground. Most of the issues are stress related, anxiety, sleeping problems and home sickness. Many miracles come forward from all the hard work in the trenches, both from the missionaries and the nurses.
Sister Jackie Dillard and Sister Patricia Rochetto are church service missionaries and share the alphabet caring for the medical needs of the missionaries. They both are career nurses with 40 yrs and 35 yrs of nursing experience. Sister Charmaine Prosch is a service missionary with 40 years of mental health work that is a great blessing for our missionaries. Sister Barfuss feels so lucky to be a part of this amazing team of efforts. They are gently training the ropes of "gate keeping" to facilitate the missionaries both physically and mentally. President Sainsbury requests that each missionary has a nurse to accompany them for each physician appointment. This keeps everyone very busy.
Sister Rochetto went to an appointment with an Elder that badly sprained/strained his ankle playing basketball yesterday and he was placed in a walking cast. Our new Area Medical Advisor is a retired orthopedic surgeon, Sister Puls, who sends us powerpoint presentations on correct exercises,(before and after healing) splinting etc. We can call her any time we have questions, even though she is over 6 missions!! I was privileged to train with her at Mission Medical in SLC, where we enjoyed visiting over lunch and meeting each other's spouses.
Elder Call is a retired Counselor who I visited with yesterday about an Elder who requested counseling after a difficult encounter. The counselor assigned to our mission is out of Atlanta, Georgia with Church Social Services and has six weeks before he is credentialed in Alabama. Elder Call stepped up and did the screenings(MOQ and Performance evaluation) counseled him over the phone and the Elder was good to go. I was so thankful for this because our resources are slim right now. We would have to rely on the private sector which is very expensive and takes longer to get authorization to set the missionary up for appointments.
The mission has fourteen new missionaries flying in today with transfers tomorrow. The nurses are involved in interviewing each new missionary to establish baselines of functioning, history and getting to know them. There is insurance paperwork, release of information and church insurance cards to distribute.
The new missionaries stay at hotels the first night and have companionship assignments tomorrow. They go through an intense 2 day orientation and are given a handbook guide on Car Protocol/maintenance/Tiwis/Safety and Security/Safe practices in housing/weather radios/CO2 monitors/Pest Control. The guidebook covers bicycling in Alabama(no sidewalks anyplace), self care, planning for Emergencies, Missionary Funds Support Card, housing, linens, cell phone use, Survival Skills, Baptism records, referrals, postage, internet use, and driving times and distances in AL.
Of the 14 new missionaries, 4 of the Elders from Herriman, UT where Blair's family lives. Elder Cluff, Elder Butterfield, Elder Yokoo and Elder Marshall who told us his father is in law enforcement and he took a class from Blair last year. Three Sister missionaries are all Spanish speaking and one was bilingual from birth. One attended the MTC in Mexico, the other trained at the Provo MTC.
Sister Jackie Dillard and Sister Patricia Rochetto are church service missionaries and share the alphabet caring for the medical needs of the missionaries. They both are career nurses with 40 yrs and 35 yrs of nursing experience. Sister Charmaine Prosch is a service missionary with 40 years of mental health work that is a great blessing for our missionaries. Sister Barfuss feels so lucky to be a part of this amazing team of efforts. They are gently training the ropes of "gate keeping" to facilitate the missionaries both physically and mentally. President Sainsbury requests that each missionary has a nurse to accompany them for each physician appointment. This keeps everyone very busy.
Sister Rochetto went to an appointment with an Elder that badly sprained/strained his ankle playing basketball yesterday and he was placed in a walking cast. Our new Area Medical Advisor is a retired orthopedic surgeon, Sister Puls, who sends us powerpoint presentations on correct exercises,(before and after healing) splinting etc. We can call her any time we have questions, even though she is over 6 missions!! I was privileged to train with her at Mission Medical in SLC, where we enjoyed visiting over lunch and meeting each other's spouses.
Elder Call is a retired Counselor who I visited with yesterday about an Elder who requested counseling after a difficult encounter. The counselor assigned to our mission is out of Atlanta, Georgia with Church Social Services and has six weeks before he is credentialed in Alabama. Elder Call stepped up and did the screenings(MOQ and Performance evaluation) counseled him over the phone and the Elder was good to go. I was so thankful for this because our resources are slim right now. We would have to rely on the private sector which is very expensive and takes longer to get authorization to set the missionary up for appointments.
The mission has fourteen new missionaries flying in today with transfers tomorrow. The nurses are involved in interviewing each new missionary to establish baselines of functioning, history and getting to know them. There is insurance paperwork, release of information and church insurance cards to distribute.
The new missionaries stay at hotels the first night and have companionship assignments tomorrow. They go through an intense 2 day orientation and are given a handbook guide on Car Protocol/maintenance/Tiwis/Safety and Security/Safe practices in housing/weather radios/CO2 monitors/Pest Control. The guidebook covers bicycling in Alabama(no sidewalks anyplace), self care, planning for Emergencies, Missionary Funds Support Card, housing, linens, cell phone use, Survival Skills, Baptism records, referrals, postage, internet use, and driving times and distances in AL.
Of the 14 new missionaries, 4 of the Elders from Herriman, UT where Blair's family lives. Elder Cluff, Elder Butterfield, Elder Yokoo and Elder Marshall who told us his father is in law enforcement and he took a class from Blair last year. Three Sister missionaries are all Spanish speaking and one was bilingual from birth. One attended the MTC in Mexico, the other trained at the Provo MTC.
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