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Judi Messer
'Nurse Judi' finds the face of Christ in the homeless, needy
By Joyce Coronel, letters@catholicsun.org
December 18, 2008
MESA — Judi Messer spent 26 years as a cardiac care nurse at St. Luke’s Hospital in Phoenix, where the pressure was constant and relief was elusive. The stress got so bad she finally walked away.
“I didn’t want to have a code cart anymore,” Messer said, referring to the often frantic — and sometimes fruitless — efforts to save those entrusted to her care.
Eight years later, Messer still has nightmares about losing patients.
Her career took a different direction after leaving the frenetic pace of critical care nursing behind and turning instead to ministering to the homeless and needy of the Valley. For five years Messer worked for Healthcare for the Homeless, even venturing into the river bottom in Tempe where many of the poor and downtrodden congregate.
Today she does her work on a strictly volunteer basis, traveling to four different Valley locations throughout the week, tending to those many would rather forget.
“Don’t judge,” is Messer’s approach. “You don’t know their story. Everybody has a story and everybody’s lovable,” she said.
Her job title is short and sweet: Nurse Judi. And to those who wait in line patiently to speak with her on Wednesday nights at Paz de Cristo in Mesa, she’s a source of compassion and tenderness seldom, if ever, experienced by these desperate souls.
Mostly, she listens thoughtfully, looking into their eyes and finding their humanity, seeing a hidden sweetness that shines in their souls. Messer often measures their blood pressure, and even though observers might question the wisdom of not using gloves, Messer has a different take.
“These are people,” she said, “not homeless people, but people with a story.” She routinely grasps the client’s arm as she takes a pulse and pressure reading. One man had tears rolling down her cheeks as she did so.
“You’re the first person to touch me in a year,” he said to her quietly.
“I touch everybody’s skin that comes in here,” Messer said, “that broke my heart.”
It’s her heart for God that drives this mother of two grown sons and wife of a deacon to reach out to the many lost and forgotten street people that roam the city’s highways and byways. Nurse Judi has forged relationships with hundreds of them, and knows many by name. Sharing compassion and building trust are the key ingredients in her work.
“You have to be their friend first before they can trust you to take your advice,” Messer said. She has a secret weapon for reeling them in: new pairs of socks, and the occasional pair of shoes.
For many years, Messer was the school nurse and kindergarten and first grade P.E. teacher at St. Louis the King in Glendale. That community, as well as others around the Valley, collects socks for her. Others donate shoes to the cause.
Messer recalled one incident where she did the donating and God used it for a greater purpose. Evidence of God’s providence seems to regularly shine through the nurse’s experience with the needy.
It was a cold winter’s day and Messer was caring for the poor in Tempe. A young couple in their 20s approached and the girl was barefoot, clad in very thin pajamas. Nurse Judi gave her a sweatshirt and felt prompted by God to remove her own shoes and give them to the girl. But she couldn’t go through with it, and the girl left.
Messer felt bad and told God that if the girl returned, she would surely part with her shoes. A short while later, God called her on it.
With only a pair of fleece-lined men’s slippers to wear to her next gig at Paz de Cristo in Mesa, Messer was somewhat irritated. But when Clarence, a longtime client, commented longingly on her cozy footwear, Messer turned them over, much to his joy.
“If I hadn’t given my shoes to the girl in Tempe, that never would have happened,” she said.
What’s your favorite quote?
I always go back to Genesis. My favorite is the encounter Elijah has with God, not in the fire, not in the earthquake, but in a whisper. God talks to people in whispers, and every now and then He smacks people with a two by four and says, “You’re not doing this My way.” Be aware of God all around you.
What do you tell people who have lost hope?
I tell them all the time, God doesn’t make junk. As long as you are breathing, there is a reason for your life and you find it.
If you could meet one person…
I’d like to meet Elijah or King David; David because his love for God was so spontaneous and unique. He threw pretense behind him and took God as a friend and not as something “up there.” And I think that’s how I am.
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Photo: Joyce Coronel/CATHOLIC SUN
Nurse Judi Messer chats with Marty and others seeking assistance at a church in downtown Tempe.
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