Page 26 - SFHN1218pagesFINALSP.qxp_Page layout

SPIRITUALITY IN HEALTHCARE...SPIRITUALITY IN HEALTHCARE
Coming
next month in Learn from What the Patient Needs.

South Florida
Hospital News Listen to What the Patient Wants.

and Healthcare The role of spirituality in hospice care
Report...
A chaplain is a key • The impact of rituals ily, pets or memories they’d like to share.
member of every interdis- and traditions of their Remembering good times can change the
• ONCOLOGY UPDATE in ciplinary hospice team. As faith tradition, and how tenor of the day.
South Florida: a hospice chaplain with that person, in that
VITAS Healthcare, it is my moment, experiences No preaching
Innovations and job to address the spiritual their spirituality. What I don’t do is impose my own the-
Innovators pain of dying. ological or philosophical beliefs. If a
I do this by learning Coaching patients patient wants to hear a favorite reading
• 2019: A Look Ahead what the patient needs, As a hospice chaplain, I or a passage from a holy book or a faith-
• Financially Sustaining and listening to what the don’t provide answers; I specific prayer, or to talk about their
a Healthcare patient wants, a basic pre- don’t fix anything. faith, I can usually accommodate. If they
cept of hospice. Quite sim- Instead, I coach. I help need a religion-specific ritual, I can
Organization or ply, I meet the patient others find their own request that a leader from within their
Practice wherever they are. It’s BY KEVIN STOWE, DMIN strengths. I support spiritual community who shares their
called “being present,” patients. I listen without faith visit the patient and fulfill the
• Healthcare Banking & and it may be the hardest interrupting or correct- request.
Financial Options thing I do as a chaplain. ing. I encourage them to express what Over the years, I have come to expect
Spiritual pain exists at the end of life, they are feeling. the unexpected; hospice chaplaincy can
• Healthcare Recruitment whether or not a patient embraces a spe- Sometimes I sit with patients and their be challenging, but immensely reward-
& Retention cific religion or faith. It might manifest families in silence, reminding myself that ing. But I know I can count on this:
as: silence is often most powerful when it Learn from what the patient needs, and
• Medical IT/Software • The inevitable pain of “Why me?” allows deeper feelings to emerge, most listen to what the patient wants.
Trends • Fear of the unknown, from physical comforting when two souls simply share
symptoms to the existence or lack of an the silence together. If I feel compelled to Kevin Stowe is a bereavement manager

afterlife. say something, I try to repeat what the for VITAS® Healthcare, the nation’s leading
For more information • Anguish about loved ones and patient has said, as confirmation that provider of end-of-life care.
on advertising and friends who will be left behind. they are being heard. Call (866) 759-6695 or
editorial opportunities, • The desire for forgiveness, reconcili- I might ask patients and their families visit VITAS.com to learn more.
call (561) 368-6950 ation and to love and receive love. about the pictures on the wall, their fam-
today!

AS® H
Days, nights, w eekends, holiddays, a VIT A ealthcar e clinician is
ay
c

How Sooon Can Hospice Care alwways av ailable to answ er questiions, ev aluate a patient, discusss goals of car e
y phone or our mobbile app
.
withh a family or accept a hospice eferral be r

o
Begin foor Y our P ti a eni ? t • Your seriously ill patients roY ece eeeiv compassionate hospice ca e and theirar
faamilies/pr o xies r eceiv e support as they make difficult end-off-life tr eatment
VIT A v d decisions
ASS is A
vailable 24/7//365.
A
VITASAA
i
id d
i
fit fr
• • YYYour staffo tff bbenefits f om VITAS-pr o vided continuing education, our secur e
d
i
m mobile technology platform annd our exper tise with high-acuuity r esidents
• Your hospital and practice oY r edduce r eadmissions b y enablingg patients to
e receiv e hospice car e at home, wwher ev er they call home
Contact us for 24/7/365 hospicee care.
800.993.VITAS • VIT A Download our referral app
A
AS.com
26 December 2018 southfloridahospitalnews.com South Florida Hospital News