Author: Episcopal Cafe

As a chaplain, isolation has forced me to face my own limitations and inadequacies. I think this is the challenge for many if not all health care workers who treat COVID+ patients. As hard as I try, the COVID death usually occurs in ways completely opposite to my training and experience. We try our best through phone calls and ZOOM, yet we acknowledge that our best is less than our previous norm.    

It is not a time to model a stoic, machismo or even martyr-like demeanor.  To confront such tendencies, I have made a conscious practice of encouraging staff to take time away to recharge and enjoy life. During Halloween, I made a habit of asking young parents the costumes and creatures their little ones dressed up as and seeing pictures as often as possible. I am taking the week after Thanksgiving for a time of rest and renewal and I am telling everyone that will listen about my plans. Encouraging them to think about a similar time away.    

Acceptance of one another and willingness to forgive is crucial part of a Christian’s daily walk with the Lord. Verse 14 continues with, “and over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity.” So, if we are to participate in caring, we must weave everything together in a single strand of love, and the result will be the beauty of the unity of God’s people.

One of the things I have done since the beginning of the pandemic has been to walk the COVID+ halls at least twice a week. During these walks, I like to check in with staff to get a sense of morale, and provide an attentive ear, or words of encouragement. I talk with staff to determine especially difficult situations that might be occurring and then follow-up with family to provide support as needed. I often say a quiet prayer for the patients, families and staff. In addition, I count the number of COVID+ patients and those COVID+ patients currently on a breathing machine.

Then I wrote a Family Mission Statement and placed a copy on the refrigerator for a daily reminder of my priorities. The tenets include mentoring her spiritual growth and showing her the importance of helping others. “Remember to add joy and humor to daily life!” I also wrote. When my younger daughter was born, I had a perfect lullaby and thoughtful plan to share.

If I could talk to that frantic new mother in the nursery, I’d say, “Hang in there. The spiritual journey, with its opportunity to grow into a better human being, one who can raise good people, will thrill you.”