Hospital counselors fill spiritual need at Stanford

Judith Dover lay dying in Stanford University Hospital, her liver rapidly failing. The 59-year-old Aptos woman's skin and eyes were a deep yellow, and she was openly hemorrhaging.

She had days, or more likely, hours to live.

Dr. Bruce Feldstein, a chaplain in the hospital's Spiritual Care Service, had been a steady presence during her weeks in the hospital, waiting and hoping for a donor liver.

With none available, Feldstein realized he probably was witnessing her final hours, as he stood by to offer comfort.

A growing number of hospitals provide more than medical expertise. They provide an in-house team of chaplains to calm and support patients and their families.

Christians, Jews, Muslims, Buddhists, Hindus, Sikhs and simply those in need of human support find counselors to buoy their spirits, help them cope with fear or confusion at why they, of all people, fell so ill.

Stanford retains five in-house spiritual counselors and more than 200 volunteer chaplains.

Feldstein is Jewish, but chaplains often counsel those outside of their faith. "We discover that when we get to the bedside, we leave our spiritual ZIP codes behind," he said.

Demand never ceases for the chaplains' services, but they say it's particularly valued during the holidays, when patients remain sequestered inside antiseptic hospital rooms and the world outside celebrates beloved rituals with friends and family.
season of the year, which is supposed to be light, celebration and joy, with the pathos" of a hospital stay, said C. George Fitzgerald, director of Stanford University Hospital's Spiritual Care Service.

Medicine and spirituality have been intertwined for millenniums, Fitzgerald pointed out. "Monasteries were the original hospitals," he said.

But the rise of scientific method in medicine changed that, according to the Web site of the Association for Clinical Pastoral Education, which trains clergy to work within clinical settings. "The advent of science created a chasm between the two," the Web site states.

Yet over the past decades, clergy sought to reunite medical with spiritual practice, first by training ministers to counsel those with serious medical afflictions. "Ministers were good at giving sermons," said Fitzgerald. "They weren't good at dealing with pain."

And in the modern world of health care, that specialized training has become even more important, Fitzgerald said. "They don't get freaked out by the high-tech nature of hospitals."

Then, in the 1990s, a surging interest in the connection between the physical, the psychological and the spiritual accelerated the adoption of in-house spiritual support programs, Fitzgerald added.

"This is coming back," he said. Stanford's program began in the 1960s, and Feldstein said many hospitals don't provide services as extensive.

That day early this month when Dover lay dying, Feldstein said he offered to light a candle during Hanukkah for the Jewish woman. When he asked how he should dedicate the candle, Dover's answer in the midst of her suffering stunned him. "She said 'If only we could all get along a little bit better in the world.' "

"It was such a selfless statement," Feldstein said.

Then, he said, a miracle occurred. Shortly after that conversation, a nurse walked into Dover's room with an announcement: A donor liver was suddenly available. The staff rushed Dover into the operating room, and she emerged 10 hours later with a newly-transplanted liver.

Feldstein remains a regular presence by Dover's bedside, providing spiritual sustenance while medical staff attends to the woman, who's gradually recovering. On Thursday, he elicited a wide smile from Dover as he began singing a Jewish song. She then faintly joined in the song.

Feldstein worked as an emergency-room physician before changing careers to join the hospital-based chaplaincy.

And he deeply believes in the connection between spirituality and healing, citing studies to support his conviction.

"This is my medicine now," said Feldstein. "I stand in the world of spirituality and science."

Source:www.mercurynews.com