Pastoral Care News

Pastoral Care News
Volume 1, Number 3 Spring/Summer 2011

Welcome
Summer brings vacation time for many people. School's out, schedules change, and perhaps things are a bit less hectic than usual. This third issue of our newsletter for clergy and pastoral care-givers throughout WNC will inform you about what's going on at Mission, introduce you to some of our Pastoral Care staff and volunteers, and give you resources to help you and your parishioners stay healthy.

We want to hear from you as well! If you have questions, comments, or suggestions, please e-mail Chaplain James Garrison at james.garrison@msj.org

Information on Visting Hours by Rev. Beth Darling, Director of Pastoral Care

Department of Pastoral Care

Rev. Beth Darling, M.Div., Th.M., Director

B309 Memorial Campus

828-213-1080 (10:00 - 5:00 M-F)

On Call Chaplain Pager 24 hours a day 828-257-5630

It used to be possible for faith leaders to have unlimited access to hospitalized members of their congregations. Now, visiting hours in the Intensive Care Units and other areas apply to everyone. The nurse has the responsibility to decide if/when these rules can be bent or broken. In all cases, if a patient is actively dying, the family is alowed to remain at the bedside. However, for the care and comfort of other patients in the unit, the nurse may restrict the number of visitors at any one time or ask visitors to step out of the unit briefly.

Our Most Important Tip for Hospital Visiting: Wear your Mission Hospital picture ID badge and understand that you are entering a very structured environment. Sad to say, some people will claim to be pastors and family members when they are not, and they expect the rules to be for everyone else.

"What if I live a long distance away, and I have a very busy schedule?" you may ask. We hope these ideas may help.

Contact the family and make arrangements with them for the best time to visit. The family will know about access to the patient and they will look forward to your visit. Patients in intensive care units are very sick. Your pastoral care services may be needed more by the family at this point. Your prayer and presence with them is very important.
Before you leave home, call the nurses' station in the intensive care unit, and speak to the nurse. See if it is possible to arrange a time outside of visiting hours to visit the patient. Write down the name of the person to whom you talk. Remember, the bedside nurse is always the decision maker about visiting. The family may not be allowed to visit at the same time you do. Also, if another patient is being admitted or the unit has gotten very busy, you may be asked to wait. It is wise to plan extra time if needed.
Use the telephone and send a get well card. The paper card can be a tangible remiinder of your caring 24 hours a day - more time than you could ever spend with a patient.
Leave your business card with the family to give to the patient if you cannot see him or her during a visit. The family can communicate your concern, and the patient can keep the card by the bed.
If you have problems visiting: ask to speak to the Person in Charge on the unit or ask them to connect you to the Chaplain of the Day. Do this immediately. It is harder for us to help you after the fact. You can always reach the Chaplain of the Day through the hospital operator: 828-213-1111.
To contact individual nursing units call the hospital operator at 828-213-1111. Ask to be connected to the Nurses' Station for the particular unit.

Concerns and questions, please contact Beth Darling, Director of Pastoral Care, 828-213-1090.

Visiting Hours for Units

Medical-Surgical ICU (MSICU) and Neuro-Trauma ICU (NTICU)
4th floor, J Tower, Memorial Campus
9:00 - 9:15am; 11:30am -12 Noon; 2:00 - 2:30pm; 5:00 - 5:30 pm; 8:30 - 9:00 pm

Cardiology ICU (CICU)
3rd floor, Memorial Campus
8:00am - 1:00pm; 3:00 - 6:00pm; 8:00 - 10:00pm

Cardiovascular Recovery Unit (CVRU)
3rd floor, Heart Tower, beds E368 - E378, Memorial Campus
11:00 - 11:15am; 2:00 - 2:15pm; 5:00 - 5:15pm; 8:30 - 8:45pm

Cardiovascular ICU (CVICU)
3rd floor, Heart Tower, beds E379 - E388, Memorial Campus
11:00am - 1:00pm; 4:00 - 6:00pm; 8:30-9:30pm

Mother - Baby Unit
G Tower, Memorial Campus
No Visitors at Rest Time: 2:00 - 4:00pm

Neonatal ICU (NICU)
G Tower, Memorial Campus
Only parents and grandparents allowed to visit.
Faith leader may come as guest of a parent. Need to make an appointment with parent.

Coli Critical Care ICU
St. Joseph's Campus
9:30-10:00am; 11:30am - 12:30pm; 2:00-5:00pm; 9:00 - 10:00pm

Copestone Adult Units (Psychiatric Services)
St. Joseph's Campus
Tuesday 3:00 - 4:00pm South Unit and Geriatric Unit
Thursday 3:00 - 4:00pm North Unit and Geriatric Unit
Saturday 3:00 - 4:00 pm South Unit and Geriatric Unit
Sunday 3:00 - 4:00pm North Unit and Geriatric Unit

The patient must request a visit from their faith leader and provide their privacy code.
Any visits outside of visiting hours are by physician's order only.
If you need assistance, contact Chaplain Jerene Broadway or the Chaplain of the Day.

Pre-Surgery Visits
If the surgery is scheduled ahead of time, we suggest faith leaders try to visit the patient the day before the surgery. The pace can be more leisurely, and a meaningful conversation will not suffer interruption. The day of the surgery, support for the family can be very important. Your pastoral presence with family , especially if the surgery is long, uncertain of outcome, or delayed by emergencies in the OR can be especially meaningful.

Some faith leaders have reported difficulty seeing their members before a surgery. This has been addressed, and we hope the problem has been solved. Still, on the day of surgery, once the patient has gone into the pre-op area, it may take some waiting to see them. And once the patient has left pre-op and moved to the surgical area, it is even more difficult for family and clergy to be with them. We offer these suggestions for surgery day:

Wear your Mission Hospital picture ID.
Arrive at the same time as the patient. You can visit with them until they are called back to pre-op. Then you can remain with the family as long as you desire or you can easily go on to other visits.
Arrive at least 1 1/2 hours before surgery time. A patient may be taken from pre-op into the surgery area as much as an hour before surgery starts.
If you have problems: go to the Surgery Registration desk and ask for the Manager or the Director. Or you may ask them to call a chaplain to assist you. Please do this immediately. We have a better chance of helping you in the moment.

Concerns and questions, please contact Beth Darling, Director of Pastoral Care, 828-213-1090.

New Feature - The Chaplain's Corner
Each issue, members of our chaplain staff will share reflections on what it means to minister in the hospital setting. In this issue, Rev. Hank Jackson, night chaplain , and Chaplain Gerry P. Smith, a long-time night chaplain and Roman Catholic Eucharistic Minister, share their thoughts.

"Images of God"

There is a well known story of a child in an art class drawing a picture. The teacher comes along and says. "What are you drawing". The child replies. "I am drawing a picture of God". The teacher says. "How can you do that?. Nobody knows what God looks like." The child replies. "When I finish this picture, everyone will know what God looks like." Most of us, regardless of what faith tradition we come from, have early childhood memories of what God looks like to us. I remember thinking of God as an elderly man with a white flowing beard. Adults seem to have many and various images of what God looks like. That is what I would likie to explore here.

Recently, a friend of mine sent me an internet link titled IMAGES OF GOD. It was pictures sent back from the Hubble Telescope. It starts out by saying you would have to travel 670 million miles per hour for 13 billion years to reach these places. I feel that I am probably too old to start that kind of journey. The images are spectacular and awe inspiring, The colors and hues of colors are beautiful. If we get more into our home territory, what can match the beauty of a starlit night or blue skies painted with billowing clouds. Is there anything as complex and beautiful as a person, a baby or even a single human cell. These are all things we can stare in wonder at, but they are creations of God,

God created us in His own image. This does not mean that He has brown hair and blue eyes. The image God was thinking of is far more important than that. He is a Being Who has the ability to think and process thoughts, to create (in His case from nothing) and to a love. We have those same abilities on a much smaller scale. Our abilities are on the level that we can handle. We can think, tho sometimes we are guilty of not doing so. We can create as long as we have the raw materials He gave us. We have that wonderful gift of being able to love. Unfortunately, we many times put restrictions on the love we share. God's love is unconditional.

Every person has these same abilities. So what is an image of God? It is an image of the beautiful young being who serves God as a healthcare worker. It is the wonderful minister who guides his or her congregation. It is the poor homeless individual with a dog on a rope leash. It is the one who is addicted to drugs and or alcohol. We are all reflections, no matter how imperfect or unfortunate, of a wonderful, perfect God Who loves us each and individually every one of us with a perfect and all powerful LOVE.

~Gerry Smith
Chaplain, Mission Hospital

Notable Pastoral Care Resources

http://www.caringconnectionsonline.org/ -- A free online journal for clergy and pastoral caregivers produced by a consortium of Lutheran churches, with a variety of articles around a central topic for each issue. Well worth a look... Recent issues have focused on dementia, returning military personnel and families, addictions, and much more.

http://www.oremus.org/ -- A website which contains links to daily prayers, hymns, Scripture readings, and liturgies throughout the worldwide Anglican tradition.

http://www.upperroom.org/comfort/article_flora.asp -- From the website of The Upper Room in Nashville, Tennessee, an article from Flora S. Wuellner entitled "Seven Suggestions for Healing and Renewal in the Midst of Stress and Anxiety."

What's New at Mission?

The Pastoral Care office has moved to room B309 [next door to the Chapel on the third floor of the Memorial Campus]. Office hours are 10:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m., Monday - Friday.
Construction continues at various sites around both campuses. Construction Alert: Starting March 1, 2011; the south St. Joseph entrance drive at Biltmore Avenue and Victoria Drive will be temporarily closed for construction. View the new traffic map. (pdf)

Life is a River - A Cliché Revisited
Thoughts on Self-Care for the Chaplain

Life is a river whose normal ebb and flow may be temporarily swelled by minor storms of trouble but which most Persons can navigate, if with some difficulty. But storms of crisis sometimes turn the river into a raging flash flood that threatens to thrust them beneath the depths and drown them.

It is often during those times of crisis that the Chaplain appears on the scene and finds the Person locked in a struggle with Life. The natural impulse may be to jump into the river and brace the Person against the current, seeking to maintain a firm foundation underneath, holding on to rocks of training, faith, and compassion. If the flash flood of crisis subsides quickly, both the Person in need and the Chaplain may emerge unharmed but exhausted.

But if the flood continues unabated, and more Persons are caught up in its onward rush, the Chaplain may find that his strength wanes in the effort to keep all of them in place at once against the force of the river. At those times he must be content to be an Non-anxious Presence that seeks only to stay with one Person at a time, holding his head up above the foaming waters with encouraging words, making some headway through small acts of kindness, while at the same time being content to flow along with the coursing waters until a safe eddy or shoreline can be reached. This is an act of self-care, resisting the temptation to boldly fight Life's raging tide but rather to allow oneself to be caught up in it and be carried along. Self-care allows the Chaplain to preserve his energy so that the next person in danger of drowning can be helped. For if the Chaplain struggles to exhaustion in the assistance of one Person, there is little strength left for the help of the Many.

H. Jackson