Meaningful moments

We have begun shadowing the resident and staff chaplains as part of our daily schedule. Yesterday, I tagged along with Chaplain N. as she made visits to the palliative care patients. I had brought my Reverie Harp to the hospital; I was planning on calling on a person I had met at the Tampa UU Church who is scheduled to have open heart surgery this week.

I watched how N. washed her hands before and after every visit, sometimes with soap and water, sometimes with foam cleaner from dispensers that are both in the hall and in the patient rooms. I played for B, who is suffering from advanced cancer and was having a bad day. As I sang, N. stroked her hand. She seemed to relax into the soothing sound. As I the simply words, "the sky is blue, the grass is green and the light is yellow," I concentrated on soothing my voice, communicating through sound all the love and good wishes that I could in the moment.

N. closed her eyes and listened. After a bit, the palliative care nurses came into the room to do their assessment. They asked me how they could reach me and I gave them my pager number.

We moved on to the next order, a request from a man who was feeling depressed and had requested a Spanish-speaking chaplain. N. asks him if he wants to listen to some music. The man opts to talk. Our visit is interrupted by a team of two from the psychiatric department. Rather than tell them to come back, N. encourages the man to speak with the doctor, that they can help him and that she will return in the afternoon.

We continue from there. We visit a woman who is in restraints and is agitated. After a bit, when she understands that we will not untie her, she asks her to leave. Another palliative care patients declines an initial visit, saying we should come back when he is further down the line.

We go back to the pastoral care office so that she can file her notes on the visits. It helps with closure, she tells me, categorizing the visit.

Chaplaincy is a series of small interactions that occur throughout the day. Sometimes they are connected, sometime not. The point is to have them all be meaningful. Even if it's someone asking you to leave.