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Parish Nursing in St. Louis was initiated in 1989 through the efforts of Rev. Dr. Richard Ellerbrake, CEO of Deaconess Health System, to commemorate the centennial of the founding of the Deaconess Sisterhood and the Deaconess mission in St. Louis. In March of 1995, the Deaconess Parish Nurse Program was recognized by the Council for Health and Human Service Ministries of the United Church of Christ as "Innovative Program of the Year."
In 1997, the Deaconess Parish Nurse Program became a part of the
Deaconess Foundation and in May 2001, it became the separate entity, Deaconess Parish Nurse Ministries, LLC. Currently there are parish nurses serving approximately 50 sites in the St. Louis metropolitan area through the Deaconess network. Its leadership shares their office location with the IPNRC on the campus of Eden Theological Seminary in Webster Groves, Missouri.
The St. Louis Evangelical Deaconess Sisterhood, 1891. Sister Superior Katherine Haack, front center, with Sisters Philippine Buehn, Lydia Daries, Louise Lix, Magdalene Gerhold, Charlotte Wellpot, and Sophie Brunner.