希望和治愈的信息
Posted on June 5, 2024 by 市场推广及传播
许多病人和访客 at 美国健康 hospitals hear Chaplain Kim Crawford Meeks’ messages of hope and healing 在他们见到她之前. Most days, she makes her way to the communications office 在孩子们的 & Women’s Hospital, greets the staff and then heads to a small room 离开大厅.
There, she dials into the intercom system, introduces herself and invites those who can hear her to pause for a moment — a meaningful moment.
“It’s OK to not be OK,” she says on a recent morning, her warm voice echoing softly 沿着走廊. “治愈是一段旅程，而不是终点. 给自己许可 不让一切都在一起. Remember, healing takes time, and progress isn’t always 线性. 让我们一起在希望中前行吧.”
For 美国健康 employees who aren’t able to hear the messages, Crawford Meeks also 通过电子邮件给她发送有意义的时刻. 她和她的同事们至少每个月一次 pen longer messages through the health system’s newsletter, and they fan out every day across hospitals and medical practices offering scheduled and unscheduled opportunities 去安慰那些需要帮助的人.
“As chaplains, we meet people where they are,” she says. “我们踏上了旅程 with those in our care, regardless of where on the journey they may be.”
The 精神ual Health and Counseling Department was formally established at 美国健康 in early 2022, when Crawford Meeks was hired, to offer spiritual and emotional support 对病人、他们的护理人员和员工. 今天，这个部门有四个 委员会认证的牧师和顾问.
The group is part of a growing number of chaplains working in hospitals and academic 美国的卫生系统. 美国医院协会的一项调查 in 2015 found that some 70% of 4,862 hospitals surveyed offered pastoral care services, 这比2002年的53%有所上升.
Chaplains have been caring for the spiritual needs of patients (and healthcare workers) 至少从20世纪20年代开始. 研究 and anecdotal evidence shows that providing the services of a chaplain in a hospital setting often improves a patient’s satisfaction with care, and even increases how a patient perceives their quality of life, which can lead to improved mental and physical outcomes.
Physicians, nurses and other hospital staff often call on members of the spiritual 护理部门在危急时刻提供帮助. 在任何一天，美国的牧师 Health experience the full spectrum of life and death. 在医院里，家人庆祝 when a child is born, they gather to grieve those in their final hours, and they seek hope and healing for the sick and injured who are fighting to regain their health.
Outside the hospitals, Crawford Meeks speaks at dozens of events, including an annual memorial service held at 默尔顿塔 and 校友 Plaza to recognize members of the 已经通过的美国社区. Another, every other year, honors the lives of donors 美国解剖赠予计划. That program plays an integral role in the education 医学院学生住院医生和医生.
Throughout the year, Crawford Meeks visits healthcare workers and support staff face-to- face in their units to perform a blessing of the hands. 她闭着眼睛 她伸出双手说:
“祝福 be your hands that offer love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, 忠诚、温柔和自制. 愿上帝保佑你的双手，给我希望 的伤害. 祝福 be your hands that offer security to those who are afraid. 祝福 做你的手，为病人提供医治. 愿你的手蒙福，使他们得以 receive love in abundance of what you ask or imagine. 愿上帝保佑你慈爱的双手.”
The setting varies, but the words and support are a constant.