Happy Pastoral Care Week!

Today’s the last day of Pastoral Care Week! So if you run into a chaplain, tell them thanks for all the work they do!

I’d like to tell y’all what hospital chaplains do, at least here in Gainesville (and Braselton and Barrow):

✅ We listen. We hear all kinds of things: life stories, fears and worries, medical concerns, funny jokes, swear words, frustrations that need to be vented, confessions and desires for reconciliation... We’re here lots of times just to listen.

✅ We accompany families when loved ones have had a terrible accident or are having a risky surgery. We talk to doctors and nurses and sit with families when they get the news after a traumatic event; good news, bad news, or the worst news - we’re often there.

✅ We witness last breaths. We sit with families at the bedside as they tell their families “I love you” one final time. We say a lot of, “I’m so sorry.” We get chairs. We get coffee. Sometimes we catch people when they collapse from grief. We hand out tissues. We dry tears. We sit with people who are dying with no family here so that they do not die alone.

✅ We run. We run to code blues, to rooms when vital signs drop, when trauma patients arrive in the emergency room. We run between patients and families to make sure everyone has what they need. I usually walk 3-4 miles each shift. Once, I walked/ran 7 miles in 7 hours here.

✅ We perform rituals. The first baby I ever baptized was a dead baby girl. And sometimes, we weep. I’m telling you, I wept with that mama and daddy. I’ve anointed dead bodies. I’ve accompanied the dying with song. We offer communion and last rites. And I believe in the power of the rituals of sharing meals with grieving families, and the ritual of touch. Holding a hand, rubbing a back, offering a hug.

✅ And sometimes we pray. Not always. Not always out loud. We pray when it is requested. We often pray for families and patients and hospital staff when we leave the room. But I believe prayer is more than just words. It’s in the touch, the embrace, the tears, the coffee, the smile; there’s prayer in running feet and cold water offered. Simply being present is one of the holiest forms of prayer I’ve experienced.

{and we do so much more}

Oftentimes chaplains are associated with religion. Sometimes I wish we weren’t. People will turn down a chaplain in some of their hardest times in a hospital because they don’t want to be preached to. But we are here for everyone. So let us in. Let us be present with you. Let us hold your hand. Let us bring you a mediocre cup of coffee. Let us laugh and cry with you.

I’ve had multiple families tell me that this job must be so hard. They’re right. It’s brutal. But it’s also incredibly beautiful. I love it.

Happy Pastoral Care Week ❤️