I had this weird feeling that I was being punked by the staff of one of Canada's largest hospitals on Wednesday. I drove to Sunnybrook to see our member who is still struggling to regain his health after an almost-fatal motorcycle accident. He's in patient care 5c I am told. Except that a nice person at the 5c nursing station tells me he has returned to Critical Care on the second floor. She was nicely wrong. I pick up the patient phone on two and...find out he is ICU on the fourth floor. Another pleasant person apologizes and sent me back up to five, this time to ICU rather than the regular patient rooms.
After close to twenty minutes of hospital snakes and ladders I pulled on the gown, mask, and gloves to spend less time with Ron than it took to find him. Yet talking with him, realizing that he is "back in the land of the living," praying with him and finding out that the prayer shawl from the last visit mattered to him were all good.
I have spent a lot of time in a lot of hospitals through the years and I don't like them much. They are dedicated environments that aren't all that "user friendly" for clergy. They are just part of the reality of ministry.
How do you do in hospitals? As a patient? As a visitor? Do you avoid them when folk you know are sick, are you okay to visit?
3 comments:
Of course, like most people I have a million stories..the ones that stand out are the 'bad' ones. But I would like to tell you about the good one. The Palliative Unit at the Cobourg Hospital is what every hospital should strive for. I have had the privilege of visiting and then being at the end of life moment for two people there. The nurses are non-obtrusive, caring, respectful to both patients and visitors, gentle - and the list goes on and on. Of course, last year the talk was that they were going to close it due to budget restraints. Luckily that did not happen - they should be talking about enlarging it!
Hats off to this facility!
I had a similar, recent experience akin to Lynn's.
My Uncle David entered Ajax/Pickering hospital at the start of May and died in mid-July from cancer.
During that time, I have never seen such overwhelming care and compassion on behalf of another as I did from that rotating cycle of nurses and care workers that attended the big man. Uncle Dave was treated with complete dignity, and the care he received was well above the call of duty on any given day. He was grateful, comfortable and peaceful when he passed away on July 14th.
Our family is so lucky to have had those folks behind us during that difficult time, and words, cards and letters really can't convey our gratitude for their efforts.
Hospitals can be grim places, but the people who work in them are capable of small miracles.
Thanks for these personal reflections on palliative care from both of you. I feel that any hospital in which persons die -- in other words, all of them -- should include palliative care.
I should say that everyone I spoke with at Sunnybrook was quite helpful. It's just that this wonderful medical facility seems a lot like a factory, by virtue of its size. I had a good experience two weeks ago when I visited someone else in the Peterborough hospital. Two staff members in hallways actually asked me if I needed help.
Hospitals just aren't my favorite places to spend time!
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