Welcome to LFCNA-the Lutheran Faith Community Nurse Region 6 web page.

As your Region 6 Directors, we would like to introduce ourselves

Mary Ann Mette
Currently, I am a Registered Nurse who has volunteered as Chair/Parish Nurse of Lutheran Church of the Resurrection’s Health Ministry program since its inception in 2002 and am active with the Boy Scouts of America.  I graduated from Ball State University, Muncie, Indiana with my BSN in 1975, and pursued a Master’s degree.  I have had an interest in Faith Community Nursing since the mid 1990’s and subsequently have taken 3 Fundamental courses.  The most recent March 2014.   I have been a member of the LFCNA and our local Episcopal Retirement Services Parish Nurse program (1998-2020).  Our church has participated in many of their programs. My career has been predominately in the Community Health arena, including Ambulatory Clinics, Public Health, Home Health, Occupational Health and Hospice.   I find that my community health experiences has enhanced my ability to identify and intervene in a variety of members’ needs, and to provide and promote health and wellness programs. I look forward to continue working with the LFCNA board members and Norah Bertschy as a representative of Region 6.

My continued goals are to promote membership and education of our organization by identifying, providing guidance and encouragement to other parish nurses and/or interested nurses, churches in our region and synod; and to impact our organization in participation through meetings, committee work.

Norah Bertschy

I completed my Foundations course in mid-2019 and was installed as the first Parish Nurse at Trinity Lutheran, Cincinnati, OH a few months before the world changed with COVID!  Navigating a pandemic and after has been a challenge, but so rewarding professionally and personally.  Cultivating relations with church members and gaining their trust to partner with them in the most personal moments has been a true blessing.

My initial nursing education was at a wonderful diploma program – a 1972 graduate of Idabelle Firestone School of Nursing in Akron, OH.  Upon graduation, I then served 2 years in the Navy at Philadelphia Naval Hospital.  Returning to Ohio in 1974 I worked in a community hospital working in Med-Surg, Pediatrics, OB, infection control and employee health – oh the versatility of nursing!  Along the way I completed my BSN – thanks to the GI bill. And then in 1995 I completed an MSN in Child and Adolescent Primary Care and became a PNP.  Both degrees were earned at the University of Akron.

Our family moved to Cincinnati in 1998, to enable me to work as a PNP to provide care the underserved students in school – based public health programs, eventually living the dream of providing primary care in a full-fledged School Based Health Clinic.  I retired from fulltime employment in 2018.

I re-affiliated with the Navy Reserve in 1989 and retired with 24 years of service in 2011.  I did see the world – joining military medical teams in Thailand, Nicaragua, Dominican Republic, Gabon-Africa, and in 2010 on the USNS Comfort providing care to earthquake victims from Haiti.  A life lesson of traveling the world; we are so much more alike than we are different!

I am also a member of another marvelous group – the Cincinnati Nurses Honor Guard.

My husband and I recently celebrated 52 years of marriage, with 3 grown children, 1 son-in-love and 3 nearly grown grandsons.  

It is a pleasure and honor to serve Region 6 on the LFCNA Board with such dedicated folks!