On the Side of Angels
As they make rounds in Emergency rooms, critical care units, waiting
rooms, nurses stations and even gift shops, the chaplains at IU,
Riley and Methodist hospitals actively minister to a diverse congregation.
The sight of a chaplain coming down a hospital corridor used to
mean the worst. Whether someone was nearing the end, or loved ones
needed consolation, the chaplain's role was most often identified
with offering assistance in the darkest hour.
But today, equipped with pagers, cell phones and sometimes wearing
white lab coats, the soul doctors of Clarian Health's Chaplaincy
Service and Pastoral Education program at IU, Riley and Methodist
hospitals take a more proactive role in spiritual healing. The eight
chaplains at Methodist, the four at IU and the four at Riley make
rounds much in the same way as physicians, serving a diverse "congregation"
of patients, families, doctors, nurses and staff.
"The significant and enduring value of our program is that
we seek to provide for a patient's total care, including mind, body
and spirit," says Stanley Mullin, director of Clarian's Chaplaincy
Service and Pastoral Education program. To ensure the spiritual
dimension of this value, our approach is a people-centered, caring
approach to ministry that addresses issues of meaning in life, work
and health in the hospitals where we serve."
Parish The Thought
Welcome to the "parish" of the Rev. Dr. Richard "Dick"
Bailey - the Neuro Critical Care Unit at Methodist Hospital. "If
I'm in my office all day, then I'm not doing my job," he notes.
A neatly trimmed gray beard frames Chaplain Bailey's warm smile
and kind eyes, which have brought comfort and peace to patients
at Methodist for almost twenty-five years.
"Everyone doing all right in here?" Chaplain Bailey asks
softly, peeking his head inside the door of a dimly lit critical
care room. A young man lies in a coma with his parents and pregnant
wife standing vigil at his bedside. Their eyes are wide with worry
and fatigue
and they drift toward the chaplain's voice.
"He's better than this morning, isn't he?" he asks, referring
to a difficult physical therapy session he helped mediate. The family
nods and sighs in relief, their looks of gratitude speaking volumes.
To Believe Or Not To Believe
Awareness and respect are crucial to serving as a hospital chaplain,
and resident Chaplain Susan Conforti takes these qualities to heart.
A reformed Jewish rabbi, she is in the midst of her first three-month
clinical pastoral education (CPE) unit on Methodist's cardiopulmonary
floor as part of her seminary stay.
"I want to know how to relate to someone on that level,"
she says of the importance of clinical exposure. "Seeing someone
as a patient is not the same as seeing them in a church or synagogue;
we need to learn how to bring love and security to the patient."
Clarian pastoral education follows the same model as a medical residency.
The full-year program consists of three three-month units of CPE,
including clinical time and classes. A full month of purely clinical
work follows each unit, rounding out the year. After the fourth
unit, the resident can apply for certification with the Association
of Professional Chaplains, a requirement for hospital staff chaplains.
All hospital chaplains minister to people of varying religious
faiths; priests and other specific clergy, sacraments and rites
are available upon request. The chaplains try to be particularly
sensitive to each patient's spiritual preferences, careful not to
force prayer or religion where it is not welcome.
"We don't give everyone prayer because not everyone believes
in God," notes Rabbi Conforti, who also has served in the chaplaincy
at IU and Riley. She likens prescribing prayer for every patient
to a surgeon giving every patient a heart transplant, regardless
of which organ is ailing. "Our job is to help the patient find
the place within them that gives them the strength either to become
well or to face death."
Lessons From Young Sages
Likewise, chaplains need to tap into an inner strength. While for
each patient or loved one those moments of fear and loss pass with
time, chaplains face them day after day. Chaplain William A. Taylor
III serves in the newborn intensive care unit at Riley Hospital
for Children. Even though he witnesses innocent lives suffer and
slip away all too often, his optimism prevails.
"Actually, with children there's a lot more life and hopefulness,"
Chaplain Taylor explains. "Unlike adults, they don't have all
the tremendous history to carry with them as they contemplate their
illness."
Chaplain Taylor completed his residency at Riley and IU Hospital
five years ago and was chosen in a national search. He agrees with
his colleagues that religion takes a back seat to more basic comfort,
support and caring.
"All people are spiritual, but not all are religious,"
he says. "Children look for meaning, contact and a sense of
normalcy, and I help them continue on by giving them assurance."
From playfully engaging in karate moves with a young boy receiving
a platelet transfusion, to allowing grieving parents to laugh about
something sweet and funny their infant daughter did before she died,
Chaplain Taylor looks for the good in every situation.
"The children teach me how to live - they're my sages,"
he says. "It's very difficult because often we're dealing with
life and death. The parents feel guilty because they've not had
a long time with their child, and they go through a range of emotions.
They have all kinds of questions, and doctors often don't have the
time to go over them. That's where I fit in."
Keeping The Circle Unbroken
Sometimes even the caregivers need caregiving. Physicians, nurses
and other hospital workers ride the emotional roller coaster in
crisis situations and call upon chaplains for their support. Chaplains
often provide prayer services and "meditation moments"
to hospital units.
"We're available when someone needs a listening ear,"
says the Rev. Dr. Lorraine Coufal, senior chaplaincy coordinator
at IU Hospital and Riley Hospital for Children and a member of the
bereavement team for IU Hospital's obstetrics intensive care unit.
"Many of our staff participate in the blessing of hands service,
affirming the sacred work of healing that they do."
Indeed, as Rev. Coufal views it, chaplains are integral players
on the health care team. They frequently are presenters at classes
for residents, nurses, parish nurses, and other IU medical staff
on spirituality, ethics, and working with dying patients and also
serve as liaisons to clergy in the community.
Remembrance Is What Counts
A few times a month, Chaplain Bailey expands his rounds at Methodist
to include the hospital gift shop, where the older lady behind the
counter rushes to grab him in a bear hug.
When she lost her daughter to breast cancer last year, Bailey was
there until the end. Now he continues to fulfill the daughter's
dying wish that he give her mother a hug from her on occasion. On
the way back from the gift shop, Bailey passes a patient in her
hospital bed in the radiation treatment waiting area. She's startled
as Bailey approaches, the tumor in her brain wreaking havoc with
her memory.
"It's okay, it's not your job to remember me," he says,
stroking her hand to calm her. "I remember you and that's what
counts."
He asks her about her treatment, phrasing his questions so she
need only nod yes or no. She begins to tell him she's afraid of
feeling sick after the treatment, and he prompts her to ask for
medicine to calm the nausea. She relaxes and smiles, calmed by the
gentle encouragement. Holding her hand as she drifts off to sleep,
he whispers prayerfully for angels to watch over her.
"I know I'm doing my best work when a patient can fall asleep,"
Chaplain Bailey says with a smile.
|
