The Visiting Christian Science Nursing Service of New Jersey is very grateful to have served the needs of Christian Scientists in New Jersey for over 80 years.
Our service began in 1943 and we were the first visiting nurse service for Christian Scientists in the world! Dorothy Rader, a Christian Science practitioner and teacher from East Orange, recognized the benefit of having Christian Science nurses visit clients in their own homes and was instrumental in organizing the “Nursing Service for Christian Scientists.” It served Essex County, a 30-mile radius from East Orange.
Clara Parkhurst, a graduate of the Benevolent Association in Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts, was our first visiting Christian Science nurse, and the first in the world.
In 1951, a second service, the “Bergen-Hudson Nursing Service for Christian Scientists” was established. The Monmouth Ocean Nursing Service was organized in 1963.
Eventually, all three services were merged into one service.
On July 21, 2016 our name changed to “Visiting Christian Science Nursing Service of New Jersey, Inc.” Our name change was made to conform with the new government meaning of the term nurse which now refers to a medical nurse. This change of meaning required the adoption of a change by The Mother Church from the term “nurse” to “Christian Science nurse.”