Congregational Health Services Moves to Dignity Health Center for Faith Health Partnerships

Our staff and board are very pleased to secure such a great home for our congregational health services. This collaboration with Dignity Health honors the 28 years of dedicated work provided by this service and gives it the sustainable resources to grow with enhanced offerings to faith community nurses. We are grateful to all of the volunteers and donors who created and supported this service for so many decades. Our deepest gratitude to the hundreds of faith community nurses who personify faith in action for the betterment of our community. 

– Executive Director Ann Wheat

What a delight for us to usher in a new chapter for our congregational health services as it moves to Dignity Health Center for Faith Health Partnerships. With Duet’s strategic leadership from the board and staff, a diligent undertaking to explore best practices and models led us to a new collaborative relationship to transition Duet’s congregational health services to Dignity Health Center for Faith Health Partnerships, a program of Dignity Health. This collaboration is a mission-match that allows for this vital service to sustain its foundation and have the ability to flourish in the future with value-added health education, program development, and support for faith community nurses.

In 1994, Duet brought the concept of faith community nursing to Arizona with the support of a $200,000 grant from Robert Wood Johnson Foundation to implement the Nurse Ministries Network, a parish nurse model project. Duet was the only entity in the state offering courses that provided registered nurses the training and certification to become faith community nurses. This program later became known as Duet’s congregational health services and one of Duet’s pillars of service. Over nearly three decades, more than 200 registered nurses have been trained as faith community nurses to answer a calling to care for people intentionally in mind, body and spirit.

Despite concerted efforts to secure new funding over the years, sustainable funding sources of years past are no longer available. As with all major decisions, we look to our values to guide us and dissolving this service area was not an option due to its importance. Knowing the significance of this service to the community, the question became, what organization is succeeding that could not only continue this service, but have the capacity and resources to grow it?

With Duet’s strategic leadership from the board and staff, a diligent undertaking to explore best practices and models led us to a new collaborative relationship to transition Duet’s congregational health services to Dignity Health Center for Faith Health Partnerships, a program of Dignity Health. This collaboration is a mission-match that allows for this vital service to sustain its foundation and have the ability to flourish in the future with value-added health education, program development, and support for faith community nurses.

It is the vision of Dignity Health Center for Faith Health Partnerships to enhance wellness in body and spirit through a relationship between the faith community and health system. Both Duet and Dignity Health programs bring strong reputations and a network of nurses and health ministers who will benefit from this collaborative approach.

The Center for Faith Health Partnerships offers these services:

• Health Information and Education
• Wellness Program Development
• Connections and Support

Duet’s congregational health services will fully transition over to Dignity Health Center for Faith Health Partnerships by January 1, 2023. For additional information or questions about this new collaboration with Dignity Health Center for Faith Health Partnerships, contact Executive Director Ann Wheat, at
(602) 274-5022, ext. 140, wheat@duetaz.org. If you are interested in the faith community nursing program, please contact Denise Viker at denise.viker@dignityhealth.org.