As the COVID-19 pandemic continues, hospital staff at the Northeast Georgia Health System are having to make daily adjustments to complete their jobs. The same is true for the Pastoral Care Team, also called the Spiritual Care Team, at NGHS.
The Pastoral Care Team provides comfort and counseling to patients of NGHS and their families. At times their duties can include prayer or religious ceremonies depending on the patients’ preference, but their primary role is to just be a friendly ear for those they help.
Northeast Georgia Health System considers their chaplains to be essential staff, so the role of the chaplains remains unchanged. The primary challenge for this group is communicating with and helping their patients while still maintaining social distancing guidelines.
“As chaplains, we’ve been preparing for many years through our training to be on the front lines,” said Reverend Trey Morrison, manager of Pastoral Education for NGHS. “What’s different is how we’re having to go about doing it, finding ways to do what we’re used to doing in person.”
Morrison said a lot of what the chaplains do involves physical touch, laying hands on their patients during prayer, hugging or holding hands. Currently the chaplains are rarely even going into the same room as the patients, so they’re relying on technology to help establish a connection.
Mandy Reichert, a contract chaplain at NGHS who works in Women and Children Health Services, said technology has been a huge help in her job. Reichert said a challenge she has experienced is trying to connect new mothers and babies who are separated due to the hospital’s no-visitor rule.
Reichert shared a story about a successful contact, where she used a videoconference app to connect a mother to her newborn son, who was still in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit.
“The baby was asleep and as soon as he heard his momma’s voice his little eyes opened,” said Reichert. “To see his mom’s reaction, it gives you a lot of hope in a time like this.”
Morrison said staff is working on an idea to use technology to also help connect patients that are at the end of their life.
“A nurse navigator or the nurse whose taking care of that patient will take an iPad into the room on a stand and then one of our chaplains will be outside the room with another iPad,” said Morrison. “Then the family at home will be sent a Zoom invitation and we will try to facilitate that moment of saying goodbye.”
Abby Post, a chaplain resident for NGHS, said in the meantime staff will do everything they can to make sure a patient is not alone when they pass.
“In other situations where families still can’t be in the hospital, if they’re not COVID-positive then we are at the bedside holding hands of those patients with the staff as those patients are dying,” said Post.
Post said she witnessed a death recently that was non-COVID related, so staff came in to surround the patient and honor them as they passed.
Outside of their patients, these chaplains are also working to soothe anxiety among their fellow staff members.
“While they’re here they’re also away from their families and they’re worried about bringing COVID-19 back to their families,” said Reverend Karen Hoyt, chaplain for Women and Children Health Services. “We really are having to check in with staff more and see what’s going on at home and sometimes they just need to vent.”
The Pastoral Care Team has established a spiritual and emotional support line called the HOPE line for staff after they leave the hospital. Families of patients can also call the line. The number is 770-848-HOPE or 4673.
The chaplains want to encourage the community to get involved in helping during the pandemic. A list of ways the community can help is included on the resource ‘How Can I Help?’ on the NGHS COVID webpage.
Staff will also continue using the Northeast Georgia Health System’s Facebook to live stream worship services from the Gainesville hospital’s chapel.
However long the pandemic continues, the Pastoral Care Team of Northeast Georgia Health System will continue their jobs of providing comfort to patients and their families.
“One of the best things we can offer is that we can almost companion that person and be with them through this crisis… to help them feel that somebody is in their corner,” said Hoyt.
