That afternoon the chaplain visits Mrs. Green.
Chaplain: “Hello, I’m Susan, the chaplain on this unit. We met before when you were here for some chemotherapy. How are you doing today?”
Mrs. G: “It’s a bit of a rough time. I’ve had some hard news and I’m afraid my children will be upset. My daughter goes to the same church as me. She expects God to cure me and wants me to keep on with treatments. I trust God too and know He can perform miracles, but I’m tired and ready to go home if God thinks it’s time. I just don’t want to leave my children orphaned.”
Chaplain: “What a hard place to be. You’ve been in treatment for a while now and I know how tired you are. It sounds like you and your daughter have different ideas about how God’s healing might happen. I understand that your pastor’s been to visit. Is his guidance helpful to you and your daughter?”
Mrs. G: “Well he prays for me and for a miracle of healing, but I haven’t really talked with him about how hard it is to keep on with treatments that make me so tired.”
“Chaplains have skills for personal interaction…Chaplains are alert to the expressed needs of patients. They are counselors who take time to listen, discern the significance of words they hear and intuit the importance of what is unspoken.”
- Rev. William A. Purdy, M.Div., S.T.M. Journal of Palliative Medicine Volume 5, Number 1, 2002