Casas Adobes Congregational Church, UCC

Ida Heath has been the parish nurse of CACC-UCC since January 16, 2006. She has lived in Picture Rocks, west of Tucson, since December 31, 1994. She was born in Colorado Springs, Colorado and moved from Colorado Springs to Tucson in November 1994 to attend the post-graduate gerontological nurse practitioner program at the University of Arizona.  She grew up in the rural community of Black Forest, directly east of the U.S. Air Force Academy and northeast of Colorado Springs, and lived there until 1973 when she bought a 10 acre place in Falcon, Colorado to pursue her horse activities.

Ida brings to the parish nurse program at CACC-UCC an array of nursing and life experiences. Her initial college degree was in mathematics and she taught at General William Mitchell High School in Colorado Springs from 1970 - 1979. She worked as a volunteer at one of the hospitals in Colorado Springs from 1973 - 1979 and after a teachers' strike in 1975 and a vision of being able to do something more useful for society, decided to pursue a degree in nursing. She obtained a bachelor of science in nursing from University of Colorado in 1982 and worked as a medical-surgical nurse for a total of 16 years. In 1988, Ida obtained her Master of Science in nursing from CU to enable her to teach nursing. She taught at Pikes Peak Community College, Regis University, University of Southern Colorado, and as a clinical instructor at Beth-El College of Nursing in Colorado Springs. In 1996, Ida obtained her post-graduate gerontological nurse practitioner certificate and has worked in internal medicine and occupational medicine in that capacity. A large degree of interaction as parish nurse involves teaching and the blend of the two professions serves the church well.