Carolyn Neubauer
Sauk Rapids
Carolyn Neubauer was commissioned on Reformation Sunday with church members wearing red and the music of trumpets. Her pastor teasingly told her it wasn’t “all for her” on the occasion, but what a great celebration day for her to be blessed and introduced to the parishioners as the new parish nurse. Living Waters is an ELCA church started in 2001 and now has 600-700 members, with a lot of young families. One unique note is they rent four preschool and daycare classrooms to a Montessori School. They have an active Youth Group and youth have some joint programs with Celebration Lutheran Church in Sartell, MN. Carolyn says Pastor Todd Mattsen approached her to talk about her interest in parish nursing because he had parish nurses in other churches he served. She took the parish nurse class in Sauk Rapids June, 2012.
Carolyn has her Master’s in Nursing Education. She has taught nursing education at the St. Cloud Technical and Community College in St. Cloud for the past three years full time in the RN program. Her nursing background includes work as a paramedic, working in the float pool, and ER. She is the Customized Training representative for Emergency Services which includes Friends and Family training. Since her role is new, she is just starting out and has a Health Ministry Team that met once so far. Her church has a Care Core group which meets with pastors and discerns the needs of the Congregation; who is in the hospital, who had a baby, who is newly ill, etc. They are set up like this: Carolyn is one of 6-8 “Herders” (of the Good Shepherd) and every member of the congregation is a sheep and has a “Shepherd”. So she has 68 parishioners she directs who do outreach to 6‐8 church members, so all members of the congregation are able to be in touch with others for support and care. Family unit have a Shepherd. It is an organized way of providing the church ministry and very personal. Other Outreach Ministry programs such as the Teddy Bear Ministry, which (from the website),” provides hand sewn teddy bears, made from clothing of a deceased friend or family member. These bears are a wonderful way to remember someone special. Members of this special ministry completely handmade the bears ‐cutting, sewing, stuffing and sewing some more!”, Prayer Shawl Ministry, Card Ministry, Body Image workshops for girls and young women, a Holiday Brunch for those experiencing grief, and a Compassionate Friends Service and a food shelf open to those in the community and stocked by the parishioners are other examples of the many outreach activities they provide.
Carolyn attends the Central MM Parish Nurse Ministry Committee meetings the second Wednesday of the month at the St. Cloud Hospital for support as she develops her ministry. She and her husband are raising three children and so life is very full and busy. Her position is Volunteer and has wonderful support from her fellow members at Living Waters. She feels all the experience she has and the wonderful church community she is part of has come together to present this opportunity for her to serve God in a new extended way. We welcome you Carolyn and we thank your church community for supporting you so heartily.
