(excerpted from: https://www.huffpost.com/entry/hospital-chaplains-coronavirus-patients_l_5ed15ab8c5b6520bd9fb5501)
Hospital Chaplains Grapple With COVID-19's 'Tsunami' Of Grief
Rev. Michael S. Bell
Episcopal priest and director of spiritual care services at PIH Health Good Samaritan Hospital, Los Angeles
Are you able to be physically present for patients?
While we’re always mindful of respecting cultural and personal preferences with regard to physical touch and proximity, the climate of fear around COVID-19 has made some of our natural comforting instincts taboo. Daring to reveal one’s full face without a mask can now seem startling and yet also more meaningful. Even some cultural and personal preferences about sustained direct eye contact are being challenged, as we all have to read more into what is being communicated with just our eyes in some cases.
What are the most stressful things about your work now?
Keeping my own roller coaster of emotions in check while hoping to be a non-anxious, compassionate presence to others who are expressing strong frustrations and tearful fears as they cope with daily trauma and grief. It’s sometimes painful to witness our care team professionals trying to compartmentalize so much distress while continuing to offer their best care.
What are some things that you do that you’ve found to be especially comforting for coronavirus patients and their families?
In one instance, a patient was dying in an isolation room and the patient’s spouse feared being inside the room due to her own health conditions. One of our chaplains remained at the spouse’s side just outside the room to help share the pain of not being at her partner’s bedside as he died. In another instance, using both smartphones and a camera-equipped tablet, one of our chaplains remotely collaborated with a nurse on a COVID unit to connect family with both their dying loved one and a clergy person from their tradition. Only the nurse and the dying patient were in the physical room, but a sacred virtual space was created whereby people could see and hear from each other before the patient died.
How are you coping with this personally?
Beyond ingesting more emotionally comforting carbs and sugar than I would normally, I’m limiting my exposure to televised news as well as reducing my intake of social media. My prayers at night and in the morning have become more raw, sometimes offered without words, just cathartic tears.
(excerpted from: https://www.huffpost.com/entry/hospital-chaplains-coronavirus-patients_l_5ed15ab8c5b6520bd9fb5501)
