COVID affects chaplains
The restrictions at care facilities brought about by COVID-19 have left chaplains around the state lamenting, being unable to comfort those who are isolated and dying.
The restrictions at care facilities brought about by COVID-19 have left chaplains around the state lamenting, being unable to comfort those who are isolated and hurting.
Hospitals and care facilities in midMarch began banning visitors to prevent further spread of the virus and that’s meant that community priests, rabbis, imams and other spiritual leaders have been restricted from visiting some patients.
Hospital chaplains have tried to bridge that divide, either coordinating virtual sacraments or using alternatives for rites such as the anointing of the sick.
But not every sick person is at a hospital, and not every care facility has an on-staff chaplain who can continue services throughout the restrictions.
For some facilities, that’s meant their spiritual services have had to be heavily modified or paused altogether to comply with state and federal guidelines.
Some volunteer chaplains spoke with The Arizona Republic about their fear that people have died and will continue to die without receiving their “last rites,” final prayers and consolations offered at the very end of one’s life.
Though they acknowledge the ability to meet with people virtually, they say it’s not the same as an in-person session and hope for a quick, yet safe, return to traditional ministry.
‘Night and day’ difference between virtual, in-person chaplain visits
Wayne Basye, 71, is pastor of the First Southern Baptist Church in Yucca, Ariz., a small unincorporated community that’s about a half-hour drive south from Kingman.
He said there’s been four people in the area who have been hospitalized since the pandemic, and subsequent hospital visitation restrictions, began.
One of them died. Basye said it’s hard to tell people, some of whom have been in his congregation for 10 years, that he cannot physically visit and comfort them in what could be their final days.
“We believe in touching, the laying on of hands,” he said. “I do understand the virus and the nature of the virus but I also know that there’s ways of getting pastors and spiritual leaders in to visit people.”
He added that having a pastor present during someone’s final moments isn’t just for the person themselves, but for the mourning family.
“[The pastor] brings the family through that situation — if they can’t be there with the family and it’s just done over the phone, it’s hard to assess the damage,” he said. “You can turn what might be a horrible situation into a beautiful situation. That person knows the Lord, he’s going to be with Jesus, the people there know the Lord and they’re happy for him ... a lot of times people need a pastor there when they so-called ‘pull the plug.’”
That hasn’t been able to happen for the last three months. Though Basye can speak to hospitalized people over the telephone, he said it’s not the same.
“It’s night and day,” he said. “It’s the difference between someone calling you up and saying ‘hey, how you doing?’ and somebody taking care of you when you have a broken leg, but that’s all that’s been available and there’s nobody to blame ... it’s just one of the stories that’s going to come out of COVID.”
Chaplains provide “medicine for the soul”
Pastor Charles Ross, 47, knows the importance of having a spiritual leader present during a hospitalization — having needed one himself, at a point in his life.
During that time, Chaplain Paul Vescio regularly visited Ross, who told The Arizona Republic that his stay would “absolutely not have been the same” without the chaplain’s reassurance.
“On the days my wife couldn’t make it, my church members couldn’t make it ... I always knew I would at least have Chaplain Paul come sit with me,” he said. “Not for five, 10 minutes but sit with me for hours. We’d talk about life, we’d talk about the word of God, we’d talk about everything.”
For the last few weeks, he’s been conducting virtual bible study via FaceTime with one patient at the facility, though he hopes to eventually hold the sessions through Facebook Live so more patients can join in. And in an ideal world, he’ll soon be able to return to in-person bible studies with those who are hospitalized.
Like Basye, Ross believes having a pastor or other spiritual leader around when one dies can help the person pass peacefully and comfort their family through their mourning.
“It’s extremely important to have someone that you feel is connected to God and has a relationship with God in your time of need and grief,” he said. “In those times, you don’t feel like you’re capable of reaching God or that he hears you, so you rely on pastors, you rely on someone else to get that message to God on your behalf.”
Ross said it’s “unfair” that many patients across the state are unable to see their spiritual leader because of the COVID-19 restrictions.
He said he wishes every hospital or care facility in the state had an in-house chaplain, saying that they are “just as important as doctors, nurses and CNAs (certified nursing assistants).”
“He was that person in my ear that reminded me that God hasn’t forgotten about me, and that’s just as important as medicine, because it was medicine for my soul,” he said.
Chaplains get creative to combat resident depression at facility
Providing spiritual care to residents is a top priority for LifeStream Complete Senior Living, according to President and CEO Ron Estes.
The Christian company has four communities across Arizona, with a full-time chaplain assigned to each one. They provide services including oneon-one meetings with residents, bible studies, group worship services and counseling. That’s all had to change because of the pandemic.
Campuses are closed to everyone besides “essential” personnel directly involved in resident care, Estes said, which has meant an abrupt stop to the spiritual services as residents know them.
Instead, they’ve had to “be creative” in connecting with residents, which, according to Estes, has taken the form of delivering meals, handing out printed devotion materials and creating videos of themselves singing hymns and uploading them to YouTube so residents can sing along.