Pastoral Care
in the Hospital
Chaplain José
Garcia
Former Kennewick General Hospital Chaplain
Pastoral care has to do with
understanding our relatedness to God. Based on that understanding,
persons in crisis or distress are assisted and supported.
The chaplain comes to a crisis
situation not just as a generally caring person, but with an
identity that has been formed in the interaction of the sacred
stories of his or her religious tradition. These narratives and
rituals shape a way of seeing the world, of understanding the
nature and purpose of human beings and their relationship to
God.
One of the ways in which I see
my role of hospital chaplain is by acting as a sort of intermediary
between the patient and family in one hand, and the hospital's
professional staff on the other. I ensure that the family's questions
are understood and answered and that the patient and family in
turn understand what they are told about the medical options
facing them.
On some occasions, when communication
and collaboration between staff and patients have broken down,
my role becomes that of an advocate, working to insure that the
voice of the patient is heard and given attention rather than
lost in the midst of institutional policy, hospital procedure,
and sheer routine.
There are ways in which the chaplain
is an especially apt and accessible person to act as facilitator
between healthcare givers and those for whom they care.
One of those ways that I can
clearly see is that as a chaplain, I'm already a part of the
hospital community. Amid a sudden universe of strangers in a
form of rotating staff and new practitioners, the chaplain is
a familiar face and a person with whom some level of trust already
exists.
But, familiarity is not all that
the chaplain brings at this crossroad of science, medicine and
spirituality. At their root,
the issues that sick people face are largely spiritual because
they seek to deal with questions about life's meaning and purpose,
freedom and justice, life and death. These are the very questions
chaplains have been exploring with people since they first appeared
at their bedside.
Grace and Peace,
José Garcia, Chaplain
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