Happy Easter everyone! It was a wonderful day, absolutely gorgeous and sunny in southern VA. The day started out with a beautiful Easter service at Osborne in Eden, NC followed by a delicious breakfast with family.
Around 12 noon the phone rang and it was a hospice emergency. Can I find a Catholic priest to go to the hospital on Easter Sunday to perform the Anointing of the Sick? Hmmmmm....it was a mission, but I was up for the challenge.
First, I called the church. No answer. Then I called the rectory. No answer. I kept calling for about 30-45 minutes. I discovered that there was a service at 11:30am and I figured it would be over by about 12:30pm and perhaps I'd ben lucky enough to catch the priest before he headed out for Easter dinners with his parishioners. I was getting nervous.
I grabbed my Bible and headed out to the hospital. If worse came to worse, I would pray for God to work through me. I wasn't going to actually pretend to be a priest or pull Olive Oil out of my pantry and pretend like it was anointed, but I was armed with the proper prayers and was willing to speak them to the best of my ability.
As I was driving to the hospital I went by the Catholic church and noticed that the 11:30 mass was letting out. Praise God for long Easter services!!!!! I whipped a U-ey and pulled into the nearest spot, hopped out of the car and pushed my way through the crowds piling out of Sacred Heart.
There was a line of parishioners waiting to greet the priest and wish him a happy Easter. I thought for a minute that actually getting in the line and asking this priest who had never met me and perhaps never met the dying woman at the hospital, might put him in a position that he couldn't say no. PERFECT!!
I slipped into the line and waited my turn. "Hello, Father. My name is Lisa Marie, I'm a hospice nurse. There is a woman in the hospital, just a few blocks away. She's dying, Father. She needs the Anointing of the Sick. Will you please come with me?"
"Of course. What is her name and what room is she in?" the priest answered.
Score!!!!!!! Approximately 15 minutes later he met me at in the patients room and granted this dying woman's wish, to be absolved of her sins, receive Holy Communion, and her Last Rites.
Easter does not get any better than that. Jesus Christ is risen today!
Sunday, April 8, 2012
Wednesday, April 4, 2012
Jesus Loves Me
If I had a nickel for every time someone said to me, "I don't know how you do what you do" I would be a very wealthy woman. I promise you, the rewards for working in hospice are bountiful. It is an enormous blessing and the stories we have to tell can move even those with hearts of stone. For example:
I was working in hospice only about 6 months when I was first shook to my core. My job was as an admission nurse. I performed 2 admissions a day which allowed me the opportunity to meet a number of families and learn about the various types of disease processes that would lead someone to hospice. A big part of my job was orienting patients and families to hospice and setting them up with our agency.
This day in particular, I was admitting a patient with end stage dementia. Patients who fit hospice criteria for end stage dementia are generally bed bound, require 100% assistance with their activities of daily living (feeding, bathing, dressing, toiletting, etc.), and often have little to no ability to have any meaningful communication. The patient I was admitting, in this instance, had not spoken in months. He had no idea who any of his family were, although he was very comfortable with his primary care person who was his niece.
Patients with dementia need and respond positively to routine. When you change their routine by introducing new people, moving them to a new location, etc. this upsets them tremendously. Admitting a patient to hospice who has dementia can be a challenging transition for them and we do everything we can to make this as comfortable an experience as possible.
I asked the patients caregiver to give me some personal information about him so that I could find something that he would respond to positively. She told me that he had been a music minister. She said that he was extremely involved in his church and that she would often play music for him as a means of easing his anxiety. Perfect! I told the caregiver that I enjoyed music as well and asked if it would be okay if I sang him a song before I started my assessment. She agreed.
I went over to my patients bedside and I sat down in a chair next to him. He looked at me with these huge eyes that couldn't possibly open any wider. He was completely thrown off by my presence. I told him my name and that I was a nurse and that I was there to help him feel better. I told him I had heard that he loved music and ministered to people through song. He continued to stare at me. Reaching out to hold his hand, I told him I too loved music and wanted to sing him a song. Then I took a deep breath and began to sing:
I was working in hospice only about 6 months when I was first shook to my core. My job was as an admission nurse. I performed 2 admissions a day which allowed me the opportunity to meet a number of families and learn about the various types of disease processes that would lead someone to hospice. A big part of my job was orienting patients and families to hospice and setting them up with our agency.
This day in particular, I was admitting a patient with end stage dementia. Patients who fit hospice criteria for end stage dementia are generally bed bound, require 100% assistance with their activities of daily living (feeding, bathing, dressing, toiletting, etc.), and often have little to no ability to have any meaningful communication. The patient I was admitting, in this instance, had not spoken in months. He had no idea who any of his family were, although he was very comfortable with his primary care person who was his niece.
Patients with dementia need and respond positively to routine. When you change their routine by introducing new people, moving them to a new location, etc. this upsets them tremendously. Admitting a patient to hospice who has dementia can be a challenging transition for them and we do everything we can to make this as comfortable an experience as possible.
I asked the patients caregiver to give me some personal information about him so that I could find something that he would respond to positively. She told me that he had been a music minister. She said that he was extremely involved in his church and that she would often play music for him as a means of easing his anxiety. Perfect! I told the caregiver that I enjoyed music as well and asked if it would be okay if I sang him a song before I started my assessment. She agreed.
I went over to my patients bedside and I sat down in a chair next to him. He looked at me with these huge eyes that couldn't possibly open any wider. He was completely thrown off by my presence. I told him my name and that I was a nurse and that I was there to help him feel better. I told him I had heard that he loved music and ministered to people through song. He continued to stare at me. Reaching out to hold his hand, I told him I too loved music and wanted to sing him a song. Then I took a deep breath and began to sing:
Jesus love me this I know
for the Bible tells me so
little ones to Him belong
they are weak but He is strong
I noticed that as I was singing his lips began to quiver a bit. Don't forget, this gentleman had not spoken in months. But to my amazement as I continued:
Yes, Jesus loves me
He started singing!! He pushed through like someone trying to speak who has junk stuck in their throat (which he probably did from not speaking for so long) but he got the words out and sang with me:
Yes, Jesus loves me
Yes, Jesus love me
the Bible tells me so
The family was in tears and I was in tears, but this man was singing! He kept singing the chorus over and over and over again. He let me take his blood pressure, listen to his heart and his lungs, although it was hard to get a clear assessment because all I could hear was his singing, but it was awesome! He sang Jesus Loves Me until I left the house and who knows how long until he stopped.
That day will be in my heart for as long as I live. It's not only because it was so amazing to witness such a miracle but because it reminds me of how precious life is and what a difference serving, as Jesus intended us to, can make in a persons life.
I challenge all of you to make a difference in someone's life by taking the time to serve them. There are so many ways we can just be there for people. The Bible says:
As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another, as good stewards of God's varied grace.
What is your gift? How can you use it to serve someone today?
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